In Part II of this mother-daughter sex ed series, I talk to House of Puff founder & CEO Kristina Lopez Adduci about growing up in Dr. Salas-Lopez’s house & talking openly about sex with your mom from a doctor’s perspective, the pitfalls of getting sex ed in a catholic school, the importance of being able to ask adults questions in sex ed, having all your friends come to your mom for sex ed, how learning about bodily autonomy leads to confidence, the lasting benefits we get from quality sex education, the importance of LGBTQ inclusive sex ed, how Kristina plans to raise her daughters, and more.

In Part I of this mother-daughter sex ed series, I talk to Dr. Debbie Salas-Lopez about growing up in a religious household & the silence around sex education, becoming a mother and choosing to raise children with honesty and openness about sex, the power of creating safe spaces for kids to ask questions, how being a doctor helped prepare Deb with the resources to educate, walking the line of creating age-apprirate sex education moments at home, the long term relationship benefits of creating a foundation of trust and mutual respect between parent and child, what role grandparents can play in the sex education of their grandkids, and more.

In this episode I talk to Cleo Stiller about growing up in an open household & talking to parents about sex, developing breasts early and how that adultifies young girls, why the Aziz Ansari story felt so familiar to so many people, redefining the concept of virginity, how we tell virginity stories in the media based on gender, why fantastic hook-ups are pretty rare, the importance of teaching pleasure-centered sex education, the possibilities of human redemption, and more.

In this episode I talk to Soraya Chemaly about the hyper sexualization of women, how blanket censorship policies online suppress women’s free speech, why these censorship decisions are always deeply political, why sexual violence/harassment aren’t the same thing as sex, withholding healthy information as an expression of power/dominance in culture, why learning about social and emotional intelligence is sex education, the necessity of community support in rejecting social norms, and more.

In this episode I talk to Tabú founder & CEO Mia Davis about Gossip Girl as sex ed, bi-racial representation, learning to associate shame with pleasure, sexually empowered women, being hyper-sexualized from a young age, vaginismus & sexual pain, the importance of hiring qualified sex educators, and more.

In this episode I talk to Mariah C about how having bodily autonomy protects young people, navigating sexual trauma, creating safe spaces for learning about sex, shame & fear based sex ed, growing up in a deeply religious household, the importance of trauma informed sex ed, and more.

In this episode I talk to Mia Schachter about The O.C. & Sex and the City as sex ed, the power that small comments can have on impressionable young people, the experience of gender as a fluid identity, how a lack of sex ed can shape the rest of our lives, the process of unlearning gender stereotypes, the importance of a nuanced understanding of consent, and more.

In this episode I talk to Jesus Casado about the power of media representation for queer youth, the fear that comes with having to grow up “in the closet,” messenger chat rooms as sex ed, floppy disc porn, the catharsis of starting a new life in a new place, and more.