Sex Education & Health Justice in Appalachia

Whitesburg, KY - The popular education workshop teaching consent, anatomy, and safety in rural Appalachia, Sexy Sex Ed, has launched a new website and Appalachia’s first sexual health resource map. With everything from a new look and booking process, to educator bios and a snapshot of Appalachia’s reproductive health and justice work, sexysexed.org was fully loaded on January 30th, 2020! 

Sexy Sex Ed is a workshop series that compels teenagers and people of all ages to openly discuss personal and political consent, sexual safety, and anatomy. Using visual & performance art, open dialogue, and popular education methods, Sexy Sex Ed fills a vital gap in reproductive education as a creative, cultural healing solution in rural Appalachia. The workshop series began in 2012 when participants of the Stay Together Appalachian Youth (STAY) Project asked for more sex ed and gender conversations at their annual summer gathering. Word spread quickly and creator Tanya Turner began to receive steady requests for workshops. After the 2016 presidential election, this worked took on new urgency. Through dry calling and community partnerships, Turner shared Sexy Sex Ed with hundreds more participants each year, from after school drop-in centers and rural community colleges to church gymnasiums.

Now, Sexy Sex Ed is growing with over a dozen educators in five states. More than half of Sexy Sex Ed educators are queer and the team represents teenagers, students, mothers, social workers, artists, doulas, and organizers. They are supported by the Appalachian Community Fund, fiscal sponsorship from Kentucky Health Justice Network, over a hundred small donations and earnings from workshops and trainings. Please make a donation today or Venmo us @SexySexEd! 

Yes! Magazine reported in their coverage of Sexy Sex Ed last year, “declines in formal sex education, especially concerning birth control, for young people are most concentrated in rural areas. [The Guttmacher Institute] reports that the percentage of rural young women who were taught about birth control decreased from 71 to 48 percent from 2006 to 2013.” The Public News Service, 100 Days in Appalachia, The Humanist, and the Strong Feelings Podcast went on to cover Sexy Sex Ed in 2019. Keep up with our 2020 earned media on our Press page. Contact sexysexedky@gmail.com for questions, interviews, and more. Keep up with Sexy Sex Ed on Facebook and Instagram.