The sex positivity movement has made huge waves in recent times. This term was first used in America during the 1990s when the Center for Sex and Culture and The Center for Sex-Positive Culture were born. Many organizations, groups, podcasts, books, etc. exist celebrating this concept. In this blog, we will discuss the sex-positivity movement, the importance of this concept, and its relation to mental health while highlighting HOLLAAfrica, and maude.
Sex Positivity
Sex positivity is defined as obtaining positive attitudes about sex and being comfortable with one’s own sexual identity and with the sexual behaviors of others. The sex-positive movement is a social and philosophical movement that aims to change cultural attitudes and norms around sexuality, promoting the recognition of sexuality as a natural and healthy part of the human experience and emphasizing the importance of personal sovereignty, safer sex practices, and consensual sex.
“A sex-positive view centers responsible, ethical, and consensual sex as mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy,” says Sarah Melancon, Ph.D., sociologist, and certified sexologist viaPsychCentral
Being sex-positive can improve your mental wellness. According to Heretohelp, sex-positive mental health workers believe that we are all entitled to knowledge about our sexuality and that good scientific knowledge about sex is necessary for us to be able to make informed sexual choices. By educating ourselves, whether we are young or old, we can make sex better for everyone.
Tiffany Kagure Mugo
I am Tiffany Kagure Mugo, co-founder and curator of HOLAA!, a Pan-Africanist hub that chronicles and gives information about sex and sexuality in the African context. I host the Basically Life Podcast and the
curator of Touch: Sex, Sexuality and Sensuality, and the author of the book Quirky Quick Guide to Having Great Sex, as well as a two-time Ted speaker. Also, I contributed to various platforms writing about sex, sexuality, and politics. I am on the board of the FRIDA Fund and was previously an Open Society Youth Fellow.
HOLLAAfrica
HOLAAfrica! is a Pan-Africanist digital platform that focuses on sex and sexuality on the continent through archiving stories, knowledge production and edutainment, digital community building, and creating spaces that deal with safe sex and pleasure and other aspects of politics. We discuss the presence of sexuality through podcasts and social media pages like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and beyond. The platform has produced manuals, including the How To Touch Me Properly Manual, PleaseHer: Safe, Sex and Pleasure Manual, and much more. These specific manuals are about safe sex and have a running podcast called Basically Life, about how people are livin’, lovin’, and fuckin’.
At HOLAA!, our focus is on archiving and ensuring future generations and present-day people have access to the narratives that have been missing for so long in the African context and beyond. We believe it is essential to have access to education around intimacy, sex, and pleasure and the power that comes from having holistic access to these narratives, especially from people who look like you and are from the same spaces. We hope that access to these narratives, stories, and the visibility they bring empower people to own their bodies and their sex. To own their experiences and the paths they seek to take. To have the courage and the knowledge to try new things and to explore their sexuality healthily. We want people to f**k and love well.
Sex positivity generally means embracing the freedom to explore sexuality and gender without judgment. How does HOLAAfrica! continue to participate in this conversation and why is this conversation important to HOLAAfrica!?
We want to continue creating a space where people can add to the general conversation. The space we have created not only seeks to bring information but also facilitates other people bringing information because of the age-old African proverb, “If you want to go far, go together.’” The idea of a community bringing its own experiences as a means of teaching each other and adding to a global conversation, especially from an African narrative, is how we seek to add to this freedom. Additionally, allowing people to archive and share their freedom by holding space for folx to bring their beauty and wisdom to a more significant global.
It is why a large amount of our work comes in the form of collaborative projects such as Touch: Sex, Sexuality, and Sensuality, which is a collection of essays on this topic from around the African continent dealing with everything from breakups, to celibacy, to sex on your period, to threesomes and mental health and intimacy. We also have the Basically Life Podcast, which gives an intimate look at an array of people’s lives because we believe the person is such a powerful way of adding to this freedom. There is something about knowing that someone else is going through/thinking about/wanting the same things as you that changes the game on a personal level.
Where did the inspiration for writing books come from? Blogs?
The sense of community that’s what it all boils down to. We want our community to have a space to exist, meaning each book, podcast episode, and blog post take a different shape or form because it’s really about what folx want to produce. We are simply the people at the front desk asking people what they would like to do in the space.
What can we expect in the future from HOLAAfrica!?
We have a video project in the works that, surprise, surprise, is continental in nature and is archiving the stories of people across the continent! We will continue to churn out the Basically Life podcast and run our social media platforms cause fun, accessible information is where it is all at. Our goal is to ensure that people always have a space to be themselves.
maude
Maude is changing the industry and continuously creating a company that stands for modern intimacy. Founded by Eva Goicochea in 2018, she spent most of her early career as a legislative aide in healthcare and working with forward-thinking companies. As she continued her career, she discovered the sexual wellness aide continuously looked confusing, outdated, and lacked inclusion.
Thus Maude was born, an inclusive company that sells affordable, well-designed, quality products that serve everyone. Shop for sex, bath and body, scents, supplements, travel and kits, bundles, and more on their website.
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The sex-positivity movement is an important movement that must exist in our society. We want to thank HOLLAAfrica’s co-founder Tiffany Kagure Mugo for her insight and Maude for their contribution. What do you think of the sex-positivity movement? Let us know on our Instagram and in the comments!
