Why We’re Crushing on Jessicka Addams (And Why We Want You to Be One)

Allyship in action: What one badass artist can teach us about showing up for the people we claim to support.

By Jack Knoxville | Founder & Executive Director, Trans Empowerment Project

I’ve been a fan of Jessicka Addams for more than 20 years. If you’re familiar with the alternative music scene, you probably know her as the founding frontwoman of Jack Off Jill and scarling. She’s also an accomplished visual artist whose work explores identity, vulnerability, grief, and the beautifully strange corners of being human.

I’ve admired her creativity for a long time. But recently, I’ve had the opportunity to get to know the person behind the art, and what I’ve discovered has given me an entirely new reason to appreciate her.

It’s also why we created the Be a Jessicka campaign.

She understood the assignment. Then went further.

When we first approached Jessicka about supporting Trans Empowerment Project, we asked her to help us amplify our work through a video.

She could have recorded something, shared it with her followers, and called it a day. We would have appreciated that, too.

Instead, she took things further. Jessicka organized a fundraiser that raised more than $2,500 for TEP, bringing her own community into the work and continuing to amplify our mission.

Now, $2,500 might not sound like much to someone with a giant nonprofit budget. But for a small grassroots organization like ours, that money matters. It helps us put resources behind programs that provide direct aid, education, and community support for 2Spirit, Trans, Intersex, and Gender Expansive (2TIGE) people, particularly those who are Disabled and BIPOC.

And what really stuck with me wasn’t just the amount she raised. It was that she recognized an opportunity to help and decided to do more than we’d asked.

As someone who spends an enormous amount of time asking people to care enough to take action, I can’t overstate how meaningful that feels.

There’s a difference between claiming to protect women and actually doing it.

We’re living through a period where some of the loudest voices claiming to defend women are actively supporting the exclusion and harassment of transgender people.

And I keep coming back to one question: How exactly are we protecting women by creating a culture obsessed with proving who is and isn’t one?

When we encourage people to scrutinize someone’s appearance, question their body, or decide whether they belong in public spaces, we’re not making women safer. We’re creating an environment where anyone who doesn’t meet somebody else’s expectations of womanhood can become a target.

That’s one of the reasons we created Sisterhood Not Cisterhood at TEP. Because we cannot build genuine solidarity between women while deciding that some women are less deserving of dignity, safety, or respect.

We need more people who are willing to challenge those narratives instead of quietly watching them spread.

And that’s another reason Jessicka’s advocacy matters to us. She’s using her own voice and platform to help support a community being targeted by those narratives. Her actions demonstrate that protecting people should involve actually doing something to improve their lives.

Allyship should never be a spectator sport.

I’ve met plenty of people throughout my years of organizing who call themselves allies. They have the right opinions, share the occasional social media post, and tell us how much they support our community.

But when it comes time to actually do something, too many disappear.

Sometimes they’re afraid of saying the wrong thing. Sometimes they don’t want to upset their friends or followers. Sometimes they’re just waiting for someone else to take the lead.

Meanwhile, the people experiencing the harm are expected to keep educating everyone, defending their humanity, raising their own resources, and somehow finding the energy to keep going.

It’s exhausting.

And that’s why I want to celebrate people who help carry some of that weight.

Jessicka didn’t need to become an expert in nonprofit management or grassroots organizing. She simply found a way to contribute from the world she already knows.

That’s what makes her example so accessible. She didn’t have to reinvent herself to make a difference. She used her creativity, her platform, and her connection with her audience to help fuel something bigger.

And you can do that, too.

So, what does it mean to Be a Jessicka?

It means recognizing that you already have something valuable to contribute.

Maybe you’re a musician who could organize a benefit show. Maybe you’re an artist who could auction a piece of your work. Maybe you’re a gamer who could turn a weekend stream into a fundraiser.

Maybe you’re a baker, a teacher, a small business owner, or somebody with 200 Facebook friends who would happily throw in five bucks if you gave them a reason.

You don’t need to have a huge audience. You don’t need thousands of dollars of your own. And you certainly don’t need to be famous.

You can fundraise in your own way, using the talents, relationships, and resources you already have.

And if you’re not ready to fundraise, there are other ways to become a more effective ally. Start learning. Challenge harmful rhetoric. Make space for marginalized voices. Get involved with organizations already doing the work.

We created Liberation Lab to help people build those skills. Our Sisterhood Not Cisterhood program creates opportunities to learn about inclusive solidarity and examine the biases that too often divide our communities.

Because being an ally shouldn’t be something you simply announce about yourself. It should be something people can experience through your actions.

Why we’re crushing on Jessicka

We didn’t create this campaign because Jessicka is a celebrity. And we’re certainly not suggesting that one fundraiser makes somebody a perfect ally.

We created it because she offered us a powerful example of something we wish happened more often: someone recognizing that they have the ability to make a difference and choosing to act on it.

I also believe it’s important to celebrate people who are doing good work. We spend so much of our time responding to cruelty and fighting systems designed to exclude us that it’s easy to forget to recognize the people helping us build something better.

Jessicka deserves that recognition.

And I hope this campaign inspires more people to discover what they can contribute, because the equitable future we’re building is going to require a hell of a lot more than good intentions.

So here’s our challenge.

Find your lane. Use what you’ve got. Raise some funds. Make some noise. And help us build a world where everyone gets to thrive.

Be a Jessicka.

Ready to put your allyship into action?

Start a fundraiser for TEP using your own creativity, skills, or community.

Explore Liberation Lab to build your skills in allyship and organizing.

Learn about Sisterhood Not Cisterhood and help build a more inclusive future for all women.