We’re On It

Over the past few years, We Are Survivors has experienced an increase in gay men, bisexual men and ‘men who have sex with men’ reaching out and asking for help in relation to something they experienced whilst partying and in particular, involving ChemSex.

So in recognising the need for us to do something, we reached out to our friends at George House Trust to ask them if they would join forces with us to create a campaign that would tackle the intersection bewteen sex, chems, HIV and consent – the four main topics that seem to come up for this population.

Both We Are Survivors and George House Trust share an Ambassador in the international superstar, drag and performance extraordinaire… Cheddar Gorgeous! (or Dr Michael Atkins to you and I).

Michael has been with We Are Survivors from the moment it was born, you could say he was a birthing partner in the delivery room, and has been a constant source of support, love and knowledge. In fact, it was during Dr Atkins own anthropological work at the University of Manchester that he and our founder, Duncan, began trying to understand the story of the environments where sex and consent meet. As a hugely well know performer on the Manchester scene, it felt like maybe Cheddar could ask the questions we couldn’t and so we embarked on a journey that would result in the publication of a report:

and the start of a brilliant campaign and the launch of a fantastic microsite that we hope many people will visit to get great advice from Drag Royalty Cheddar Gorgeous, Sister Bang Bang Ledesh, and Shazza Fierce, along with professionals who will get to understand what people engaged in ChemSex activity need to be safe and need if things go wrong.

Check out our George House Trust / We Are Survivors website www.onit.org.uk