about
Alison Turkos is a movement architect, sexual assault survivor, and advocate dedicated to systemic change. With over a decade of experience, Alison has been at the forefront of initiatives that challenge oppressive systems and uplift survivor voices.
Whether through telling their story publicly, working behind the scenes with organizations and companies, filing litigation to hold systems accountable, or supporting survivors as they come forward, Alison pushes the narrative to be more survivor-centric.
In 2011, Alison organized NYC’s first SlutWalk, sparking conversations about victim-blaming and sexual violence. They have demystified reproductive health by openly sharing personal experiences, such as live-tweeting their first IUD insertion. Alison has also been a vocal advocate for abortion access, leading chants on the steps of the Supreme Court.
As an outspoken survivor of sexual assault, Alison has fought to challenge the systems that further harm and silence survivors. During the 2018 Congressional confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Alison joined thousands of protesters in the halls of Congress and personally confronted Joe Manchin about his expected vote to confirm a perpetrator of sexual assault to the nation’s highest court.
After Alison was kidnapped at gunpoint by a Lyft driver and gang-raped in 2017, they refused to stay silent about how system after system failed them and so many other survivors. On January 31st, 2019 Alison filed a lawsuit against the New York Police Department because of the callous disregard and negligence they were met with when reporting their sexual assault. The following September, they filed another lawsuit—this time against the rideshare company Lyft, for continuously dismissing their story and refusing to take any meaningful action to make the company’s platform safer.
“I do not believe there is one pathway to justice. I believe sometimes you have to work within a system to change the system. And sometimes you need to tear the whole system down and rebuild it,” says Alison.
In 2020 Alison founded the NYPD Survivor Support Group, working with survivors to build collective power in their communities. The group has supported one another in preparing testimony for City Council meetings and navigating the civil and criminal legal systems. In June 2022 their relentless incrementalism played a major role in the Department of Justice announcing their investigation into the NYPD Special Victims Division.
Alison worked exhaustively alongside other survivors to pass New York’s Adult Survivors Act (ASA). This landmark law opened a lookback window giving survivors the opportunity to file a civil lawsuit against the individual who harmed them or the institution that knowingly covered up the harm. The ASA is the law that granted E. Jean Carroll the ability to sue, and win, against Donald Trump.
Alison has been interviewed about their experiences and systems change work across dozens of national news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, CBS This Morning, New York Magazine’s podcast The Cut on Tuesdays, The Huffington Post, ABC News, Bloomberg, and NBC News.
In addition to their advocacy with sexual assault survivors, Alison’s work also focuses on the reproductive health, rights, and justice field. They have worked to increase access to abortion and contraception in the US and Latin America. They served on the steering committee of the All* Above All Action Fund for many years and on the board of the New York Abortion Access Fund. They previously worked at the National Institute for Reproductive Health and Planned Parenthood of New York City.
Originally from Vermont, Alison graduated college in New Hampshire and spent 11 years in New York City. Their commitment to justice and equity continues to drive their work across various platforms and communities.