SAFE SPACE

This is a blog dedicated to sex education. It's a place to keep up to date with current news on the topic and factual articles regarding sex education and all the things that fall under that umbrella.

[thickthighscreampies]

Alright ya’ll let me tell you about this hella rad app called sex positive. It was developed by the community health center of the university of Oregon (who’s partnered with the community health center in CU Boulder which is were I’m interning at) and it’s a super wonderful non heteronormative, kink (and vanilla) friendly app that gives a lot of tips and advice on how to have fun clean safe consensual sex. I really recommend it and I hope you love it as much as I do! (Too find it in the App Store search “sex positive Oregon”)

[indiestatik]

HappyPlayTime Aims To Remove The Social Stigma Surrounding Female Masturbation

[zeezoutenijs]

Read the article!

I feel very dubious about this like, the problem with making something like this into a game is that games are goal oriented. That’s what makes a game a game: there’s a winning condition or at least a goal to work towards. Which seems to me is just entirely the wrong way to treat sex if you actually wanna enjoy it??? The whole GALS YOU CAN DO BETTER gives me the same impression, I mean seriously is there some kind of achievement you’re gonna get if you do it daily??? or if you don’t do it at all? ARE WE SETTING RECORDS FOR QUICKEST ORGASMS I mean, yeah I’m kidding (I hope), but I think the mindset for games and for sex are kind of… incompatible

I do appreciate the effort to make it into a topic of conversation though, and to make it more accessible. Because tbh, games rarely have a mature approach to sex (particularly in regards to women), so any one that does is a plus.

[thesexuneducated-deactivated201]

I agree. I think its really important that comprehensive sex positive educational tools are created using the technology popular among the youth, but its a slippery slope associating sex and masturbation with a goal or winning of some kind (as well as cis-centrist) . But its good to see people exploring and being creative! 

[positively-educate-blog]

I agree that this is an important topic to cover, but I’m not 100% sold that this is the right approach. It’s an interesting way to get the conversation started.

[zerostatereflex]

[thesexuneducated-deactivated201]

Although I really dislike scientific gender designations, this is one of the most comprehensive graphics on fertilization I’ve seen. 

[positively-educate-blog]

I’m in agreement about the gender specificity, but this is a really comprehensive look at the fertilization process.

[elvenelegy]

If anyone ever tells you that Asexual Visibility and Awareness isn't important, just remember that when I told my therapist I was asexual, she told me I probably had a hormone imbalance.

I tried to tell her that no, I’m simply not attracted to members of any gender, and that many people identify as asexual. She suggested that I bring it up to a “different doctor.”

When I told my cousin and his boyfriend, they both told me that everyone loves sex and that I was just too young to understand.

While my parents are both extremely supportive now, when I first came out they suggested that I was actually gay and just trying to hide if from them (as they’re both very liberal and LGBTQ-positive, I have no idea why they thought I would hide something like that). My mom told me that it was “unfair” that I wasn’t going to give her grandchildren.

People have told me that being in a celibate relationship with a non-asexual person would be ABUSIVE. They told me that I need to have sex to satisfy my partner – that it is my responsibility. 

Multiple family members have even insinuated that I’m not in a real relationship because my relationship with my boyfriend isn’t at all physical.

This is important, guys. Asexual Awareness Week is important. No one deserves to feel broken. 

[positively-educate-blog]

This is so important because things like this aren't talked about widely enough and are brushed under the rug when it comes to sex education because the education today is very gender and sexuality exclusive and doesn't include asexuality or anything like it, which can invalidate so many people. It's important to talk about these things.

[positively-educate-blog]

Choose Recovery

Hey there,

I know that I have been absent for a few weeks, but I am hoping to get back into the swing of things. I’ve been struggling with something very personal lately, but something that has been helpful in getting my mind off of it are sites like Choose Recovery. This site has a whole bunch of useful information if you are struggling with mental illness or you need another site that is another safe space. I highly recommend checking it out, as it has so many different facets to it!

- Admin A

[desdeotromar-deactivated2021110]

Updated list of books by black trans women:

Sharon Davis, A Finer Specimen Of Womanhood (1986) [Out of print]

The Lady Chablis, Hiding My Candy (1997) [Author interview]

Toni Newman, I, Rise (2011) [Author interview]

Ceyenne Doroshow, Cooking in Heels (2012) [Author interview]

Dane Figueroa Edidi, Yemaya’s Daughters (2013) [Author interview]

A. E. “Toni” D’orsay, Introduction to Transness (2013) [Partial text: 1 and 2]

Janet Mock, Redefining Realness (2014)

Tenika Watson and Jennifer Daelyn, My Life is No Accident: A memoir by Tenika Watson (2014) [Author interview]

Dominique Jackson, The Transsexual from Tobago (2014) [Author interview]

Garland Guidry, Memoirs of a GayShe (2014)

Dane Figueroa Edidi, Brew: A Novel (2015) [Available for pre-order as of Feb. 2015]

[desdeotromar-deactivated2021110]

Buy these books. Comment on them. Create more demand to support black trans artists and writers.

[publishbiyuti]

But really. Buy these books.

[upworthy]

Michelle Obama’s instantly classic speech at the ‘Black Girls Rock’ Awards is a must-watch.

[blackgirlsinlove]

So important

[yourbigsisnissi]

being in a relationship is not just about how amazing that person makes you feel

if they have taken the time and energy to make you feel so good

you owe them that same effort to make sure that you make them feel amazing too

they deserve the same kind of rich love that they have given you

[ana--mia--recovery]

When people say “recovery”, you typically think of returning to how you were before your illness. But there is no going back. You do not merely recover, but reinvent yourself. You become something completely different from what you were before.

(via ana—mia—recovery)

[positively-educate-blog]

This is from a site called Avert that is about averting the spread of HIV and AIDS. While I’m not sure exactly in how accurate this information is, I found this graph interesting and helpful considering I am still learning about HIV and the spread of it. 

You can find more information here

[papertownsy]

(x)

[lyingsincerely]

Mary Lambert - Body Love (Part 1 & 2)

[positively-educate-blog]

Hey guys! This is from the site “It’s Your (Sex) Life” which is a website run by MTV, but I think that it has some pretty good information. It has quite a few photos in this article, but they aren’t exclusively straight couples which I think is a positive (not that we are handing out gold stars). This article in particular treats talking to your partner about STI’s a positive and healthy thing (because it is!). The article can be found here and I highly recommend checking it out!

[harm-and-hammer]

MAKE TAMPONS AND PADS FREE

[positively-educate-blog]

“Recently, Sex and Society, a nonprofit group that provides much of Denmark’s sex education, adjusted its curriculum. The group no longer has a sole emphasis on how to prevent getting pregnant but now also talks about pregnancy in a more positive light. It is all part of a not-so-subtle push in Europe to encourage people to have more babies. Denmark, like a number of European countries, is growing increasingly anxious about low birthrates. Those concerns have only been intensified by the region’s financial and economic crisis, with high unemployment rates among the young viewed as discouraging potential parents.” - Danny Hakim, The New York Times (4/8/15)

I think that this article notes not only how important talking about preventative methods are, but also talking about if you decide to get pregnant, how to safely go about it. This is something that I believe is left out of sex education more often than not. It also isn’t going out and telling teens and youth to have kids, but when they decide to, how to go about it.

[nonbinary-support]

States where it is the law for insurance to cover trans related healthcare:

California (April 2013) Colorado (March 2013) Connecticut (December 2013) Illinois (July 2014) Massachusetts (June 2014) New York (December 2014) Oregon (January 2013) Vermont (April 2013) Washington (June 2014) Washington D.C. (February 2014)

[vortexsophia-deactivated2022110]

Places to Live, Note they also coincide with the Safest Places for Trans as well

[blacksleepingbeauty]

Very important post.

[positively-educate-blog]

“An Ohio politician was interrupted by laughter from opposing party members during an impassioned speech in which she revealed that she had been raped. Teresa Fedor, a Democrat State Representative, became so incensed during a debate on a bill to ban all but the earliest abortions that she stood up and spoke for the first time about her own personal experience with the issue.”

- Adam Withnall, The Independent (3/29/15)

I believe that this is so important to share here, especially since it pertains to the topics of abortion and rape, and the perception of it by many. Rape isn’t something to be laughed at and neither is the topic of abortion. This shows how we need to tear down the stigmas behind these topics, as it is damaging to those who had gone through these things as well as to those who are learning how to treat these subjects.