The Hotties of Harm Reduction (HOHR) was born, like so many good things in the harm reduction community, during an inebriated conversation at a house party. This one was in Albany, CA during the summer of 2003 among a group of friends/comrades/colleagues who worked or volunteered at some combination of the Berkeley Free Clinic (BFC), Needle Exchange Emergency Distribution (NEED) of Berkeley and (the original) Points of Distribution (POD) of Oakland and San Francisco.

During the party the conversation turned to the fact that there were so many HOT people in the harm reduction community! Full consensus was immediate- with various people confessing to a variety of crushes on people that they knew from the local/ national/ international harm reduction scenes. A recent news story of a nude charity calendar had been in the press and someone, lost to the mists of time and inebriants, suggested “Wouldn’t it be funny if there were a nude calendar for the harm reduction community?” to many giggles and much excitement.

The team behind Hotties is mostly the same as it used to be (although slightly older). Catherine Swanson and Arielle McKee are still the organising powerhouses they have always been. Kasper Koczab (the original photographer) has stepped away from the project (but has given his approval for us to continue). The talented Nigel Brunsdon is taking over photography and website duties. Jae Rodriguez is wrangling all the social media accounts.