Introduction

Host: Addie Fry

Guests: Jessica and Amber Lodes

Setting: Pop Cast Studio

Segment 1: The Journey Begins

Host: Hello, and welcome to Pop Cast. I’m your host, Host. Today, we have a deeply personal and profound conversation with Jessica and Amber Lodes. For two years, they lived homeless and unclothed on the streets of Tucson. Their story is one of immense trauma, including repeated sexual violence, but also of resilience, love, and a radical redefinition of freedom. Now, they live in a modest mountain home, maintaining their clothing-free lifestyle. Jessica, Amber, thank you for your courage in sharing your story.

Jessica: Thank you for having us, Addie.

Amber: We’re ready to talk.

Host: Let’s start at the beginning. The decision to stop wearing clothes wasn’t a small one. What was the catalyst?

Jessica: It was a heat thing, at first. Tucson summers are brutal. Clothes were dirty, they chafed, they held sweat. We shed them out of pure necessity. But then ... it became something else. It was the first time we felt we had made a real choice about our own bodies in a long time.

Segment 2: Life on the Streets

Host: You’ve both stated you experienced near-constant sexual harassment and assault while on the streets. I have to ask some very direct and personal questions about this, as it’s central to understanding your experience. My first question is, what was the very first incident like?

Amber: The first time someone didn’t just leer or catcall, but physically touched me, it was a shock. You’re so exposed. You feel every particle of air, so a hand on you is ... magnified. It was a man who pretended to stumble into me, but his hand grabbed my breast and squeezed. He just kept walking. I was frozen.

Host: Jessica, did being unclothed make you a more frequent target?

Jessica: Absolutely. You’re seen as available. As already undressed. The assumption is that you have no boundaries left to violate.

Host: Did the harassment come from a specific type of person? Men, women, and other homeless individuals?

Jessica: It was everyone. Businessmen on their lunch break, college kids, other people on the street. Vulnerability attracts predators, and we were the most vulnerable-looking people out there.

Host: Amber, can you describe a specific instance of assault that haunts you?

Amber: There are too many to single one out. The pattern is what haunts me. The constant expectation of it. One time, a group of men cornered me in an alley. They took turns penetrating me, one after the other. They laughed and jeered as they did it. I couldn’t do anything but endure it.

Segment 3: Protecting Each Other

Host: How did you two protect each other?

Jessica: We tried. We slept in shifts when we could. We became very good at reading body language from a distance. But you can’t protect against a group, or against someone with a weapon. Once, a man with a knife forced me to perform oral sex on him. I had no choice.

Host: Were you ever assaulted by law enforcement or city officials?

Jessica: (Pauses, looks at Amber) We were told on more than one occasion that if we “cooperated,” we wouldn’t be taken in for indecent exposure. That cooperation was always sexual. Once, an officer made me lie down on the hood of his car, and he fucked me from behind while his partner watched.

Host: That’s a profound abuse of power. Did you ever seek medical help after an assault?

Amber: No. Where would we go? How would we pay? We dealt with it ourselves. We had a first-aid kit that we were very protective of. After one particularly brutal assault, I had internal bleeding. We had to manage it with what we had.

Segment 4: The Nature of the Assaults

Host: This is a difficult one. Did the assaults ever involve being forced to perform specific sexual acts?

Jessica: Yes. Often. It was about power, not desire. It was about humiliation. I was forced to suck multiple men off in a single night. They came all over my face and body. It was degrading.

Host: Did you ever fight back physically?

Amber: I did, once. I bit a man’s arm until he bled. He and his friends beat me so badly that I couldn’t walk for two days. After that, we learned that sometimes, compliance was the only way to survive with minimal injury. But compliance didn’t always work. Once, a group of men held me down and took turns raping me while others watched and cheered.

Host: How did this constant trauma affect your mental health? Did you ever consider returning to clothes as a shield?

Jessica: We considered it every day. But putting clothes on felt like surrendering to their worldview. It felt like admitting they were right. Our bodies were the only thing we truly owned. Clothes are a second barrier to unwanted advances. If you remove that layer, our bodies have easy access to it. Basic fact being unclothed has those risks. Did others physically...

Amber: (Interjecting) Numerous times, we both were penetrated by other men plus women. It is one of the most significant risks of not having that cloth barrier. But the cloth barrier is an illusion. Rape happens to clothed women, to children, to everyone. Our risk was higher, yes, but the problem isn’t the naked body. The problem is the person who thinks they have a right to it.

Host: That is a powerful and heartbreaking point. Were you ever assaulted by women, as Amber just mentioned?

Jessica: Yes. Sometimes it was women acting alone, sometimes with groups of men. It was ... confusing. It felt like a deeper betrayal in a way. Once, a woman forced me to eat her out while her boyfriend watched and jerked off.

Segment 5: Positive Connections

Host: Did you ever form any positive connections on the street? Or was it purely a landscape of threat?

Amber: There were a few. Other homeless people who would watch our backs, share food. But trust was a luxury. You couldn’t afford too much of it. Even those connections could turn sour. Once, a man who we thought was a friend, raped me while Jessica was asleep.