LOS ANGELES—Adult model GoAskAlex opens up about the highs and lows of her health issues in a recently published first-person piece for Newsweek magazine, "I’m a Disabled Sex Worker."
The flame-haired performer recounts her difficult childhood: “I was diagnosed at the age of 10 with ulcerative colitis, which is a bowel specific autoimmune disease, so much of my early years were spent in the hospital in British Columbia, Canada, where I grew up,” she recounts.
Adulthood presented its own set of challenges. “My mental and physical health were suffering. People with ulcerative colitis often go through cycles of flare ups and remissions. I ended up losing [my] job and from there, despite odd bits of work in retail, I had to visit food banks and a local Sikh temple to get free meals.”
She launched a live cam modeling career in 2014, which afforded her a flexible schedule and high salary, but “my physical health was also affecting my work every day ... talking about your bowel health is awkward and embarrassing when the image you're trying to portray is one of being sexy. But over time, I started sharing my health issues with my chat room and fans.
“I had my entire colon removed, and my small intestine was re-routed out through my abdomen in July 2019 … I returned to camming in September 2019 and I was received with a lot of love and compassion. I started mostly by wearing girdles or high waisted underwear to hide my ostomy ... but over time, there were a lot of instances where I was fully naked and my medical device was visible.”
In addition to performing, “I also do advocacy work, which brings me a lot of joy ... I am passionate about the representation of disabled bodies. I want people to know that being disabled and having a healthy sex life and being sexy are not mutually exclusive.
“I do get negative comments sometimes. People say, ‘Why would I want to look at that?’ but those kinds of comments remind me that this work is still necessary ... disabled people consume pornography just like everyone else, so they deserve to be represented just like everyone else.”
Read the full article at Newsweek.com and find out more about GoAskAlex and her advocacy work at GoAskAlexOnline.com, Twitter and Instagram.
