I recently had the pleasure of being a guest on a podcast called Something Positive for Positive People hosted by Courtney Brame. His podcast offers a safe space for people living with or affected by sexually transmitted infections (STIs) like herpes and HIV to share their experiences as a way to shake the shame and stigma that exists around these diagnoses. He originally invited me on his podcast to talk sex ed and SPF but little did he know, I too am a person living with HSV2 (herpes...

In this episode, we dive into the gender spectrum exploring how parents and caring adults can support transgender youth. I chat with Ryan Dillon, a licensed professional counselor in private practice at Pride Counseling Austin, who specializes in working with trans, LGBQ+ youth and their families. Ryan offers an empathetic safe space for folx to explore their identities and also teaches comprehensive sex ed classes to middle school-aged students with an organization and curriculum called...

On this 10th episode, I talk with Kevin Patterson- educator, speaker and author- about polyamory.  For those new to this, polyamory is the state or practice of maintaining multiple romantic and/or sexual relationships at the same time, with the awareness and consent of all folx involved. Kevin is the creator of an online forum called Poly Role Models and has authored a newly released book called Love's Not Color Blind: Race and Representation in Polyamorous and Other Alternative...

Recently, NPR (National Public Radio) ran a story on the importance of sex education, particularly for young people with intellectual disabilities (ID). One alarming reason is the higher rate of sexual abuse and assault within this community versus folx without ID. To help us explore this issue, and how parents, caring adults and educators can approach sexual health talks with young people living with ID, I chat with Nick Winges-Yanez who is a researcher and the Project Coordinator of the...

What were your earliest experiences with pleasure? Do you remember being in the womb or those first cuddles with a caring adult? Probably not that far back. Some of us may recall a little further down the road when we discovered pleasure in the context of our own bodies and masturbation and there may or may not have been shame associated with those experiences. In this episode, we are exploring pleasure in the early years of a child’s life, and how parents and caring adults can best support...

Along our sexual health journeys we come to moments where we wonder if what we are experiencing is truly 'normal.' With so much taboo and shame within our sex-negative society, it can be difficult to decipher openly. In this special Valentine's week episode, I collaborate with Sex Positive Educator Erica Force (aka Sexuallectual) to answer your "Am I normal?" questions. Followers submitted their curiosities, from multiple orgasms, penis curves to sexual fantasies, and we had a blast answering...

In this episode, I talk with Adam Maurer, LMFT, LPC. Recently while on Instagram, I came across a post that spoke about the Myths of Monogamy and offered an alternative of Modern Monogamy. I was so intrigued by the points made that I shared it on the SPF Instagram and it very quickly got a lot of engagement from our community. Many folks seemed to connect to or be curious about the comparison of these two constructs. So I thought, we need to get the author of this post onto the podcast. Well...

This week, I talk with Reverend Lacette Cross, affectionately known as Rev L, about the intersection of sexuality and faith.  Rev L describes herself as a God-loving, justice-worker who is a black, bisexual woman and ordained baptist minister. Her work via the Will You Be Whole platform offers a space for people to "wrestle with" and unpack how to be sexually faithful and faithfully sexual. Rev L shares with us her unique, personal journey toward this work, explores the reasons behind the...

In this episode, I talk with Noelle Ward who is a Teen Life Skills Coach, Occupational Therapist, founder of Life Skills 4 College, and parent of two.  Noelle shares with us a host of strategies for communicating more effectively, both verbally and non-verbally, with our children especially when approaching sexual health discussions. She explores how parents can cultivate their children's curiosities, how to read body language and how to foster healthy communication skills in our...

In this episode, I talk with sex-positive pelvic health physical therapist, sex educator and counselor, Dr. Uchenna 'UC' Ossai. UC demystifies the correlation between pelvic health and sexual health, defining for us what the pelvic floor is, why it is so important to sexual health and functioning, and discusses some common issues men and women can experience. We also learn some background into what ignited the work she is doing in the medical field as well as in her sex education work for...

Keeping our children safe is a top priority of parents and caring adults especially in the context of sexual health. In this episode, I talk with licensed clinical social worker and sex therapist, Kristin Hambridge (aka 'SexStuffwithKristin'), about strategies caring adults can use to promote body autonomy, self-awareness and a sense of safety within our children. Kristin explains the concept of 'tricky people,' why it is important to allow your child choice, fostering healthy body...

SPF is now podcasting! This first episode of the Sex Positive Families podcast welcomes parents, caring adults and sexual health advocates to join us as we dive into topics that strengthen sexual health talks in families. Get to know the host and founder, Melissa Pintor Carnagey, how SPF got its start, what sex-positivity and parenting have to do with each other, and what you can expect from this community moving forward. Melissa also shares some shout-outs to those that have supported SPF's...