How to Talk With Your Kids About Porn, a Sex in Space book, is something all of us should read. Although the term “porn”, referring to pornography, is in the title…and we do learn a lot about the current state of porn…the most important takeaway from this book is its emphasis on the need for communicating with young people. This is a book that’s accessible, non-judgmental, inclusive and fun to read. It offers a how-to format that guides us step-by-step toward becoming better communicators about sex, sexuality, media literacy and porn. There are a lot of hard things in the world that kids, tee ..read more

 It’s unbelievable that since 2018 a mere virus has been given its very own day of awareness. There are quite a few reasons why and here some very important HPV facts to mention: Absolutely every single human being is at risk of becoming infected with HPV. The prospect of a high-risk HPV infection progressing to cancer is about 10%, even though about half of HPV infections are from high-risk strains. There are approximately 13 million Americans infected with HPV annually. The human papillomavirus is indeed a sexually transmitted infection (STI). HPV is spread by close skin to ..read more

by Joanna Palmieri, M.D. Let’s face it, not many people really want to talk about the smell of a vagina. Yet it is, after all, just another body part that deserves to be talked about. So here we go! The vagina has many different smells that can indicate a wide range of conditions; which could be healthy, or require evaluation and treatment, or signal different stages in our lives, or are affected by what we consume, the activities we engage in, and even our hygiene practices. It is essential to normalize open dialogue about  the vagina and its composition, just like we talk about our mou ..read more

Our new volunteer team member, Dr. Joanna Palmieri, she/her, is a dedicated Obstetrician/Gynecologist bringing a wealth of experience and compassion to her work in the medical field. Dr. Palmieri will be regularly contributing to our blog and newsletter addressing the need for parents and caregivers to equip youth with the knowledge and confidence to advocate for their own sexual health care.  Dr. Palmieri completed her residency training at UCLA and began the first phase of her career in private practice. The foundation of her treatment centered on creating open and non-judgmental space ..read more

 by Feliks Eskilson, He/They, Client Program Coordinator and Facilitator  It’s a rough time to be transgender (trans) in the US. It’s not that it hasn’t been before, but these last few years have made it particularly difficult (especially if you live in a “red state,” and even more especially if you’re under 18). Trans rights, and queer rights in general, are under attack to an alarming degree. More than 500 bills targeting the rights of LGBTQIA+ people were introduced in 2023. And seeing the direction things have been going, there’s so much at stake for queer rights in 2024. So muc ..read more

By Emmalinda MacLean, Director of Curriculum and Instruction I love what I do. I’m grateful every day to have meaningful work that I know benefits young people, even when it’s hard. Sometimes it can be challenging to have such a short amount of time with a class; relationship building is immeasurably valuable to education, and we often don’t get to know the students the same way their regular teachers do. But it’s beautiful to see the impact we can have, even with just a few sessions, and to know that those messages will last for years—even decades—after we’ve left their campus. Here’s a shor ..read more

Teaching Bodily Autonomy Is Real Child Protection Some of the most important work of More Than Sex-Ed is facilitating conversations with young children about body autonomy and consent. In our sessions, kids learn that their body is their own and that they can make choices about what happens to them. We help children develop an understanding of autonomy so that they recognize that they are unique, independent and capable. Children have a right to live free from physical acts, such as touch, to which they do not consent. And to reinforce the right to bodily autonomy in all the spaces that childr ..read more

Laughing Frog Studio in West LA 12217 Santa Monica Blvd #205, Los Angeles, CA 90025 Please join us for a donation yoga class benefitting More Than Sex-Ed on Saturday, November 18th. The class will be from 2-3pm, and after from 3-3:30pm please join us for complimentary tea and cookies. This yoga class is open level, meaning everyone is welcome and encouraged to come, whether this is your 1st class or 100th class. The class will be contact-free (unless consented) and focused on loving connection of mind, breath, and body. We encourage you to bring your own yoga mat if you have one, or you are w ..read more

Make a plan to donate to MTSE as part of #GivingTuesday We at More Than Sex-Ed enthusiastically plant the seeds that start conversations about sexuality. We work in partnership  with young people and the adults who support them in order to nurture a healthy start in which relationships can grow and thrive. When we started in 2015, we were a small organization providing sex education for youngsters in just a few middle schools, and that effort has now bloomed with programming in over 45 schools in pre-K through12th grade! We are grateful for your support in our growth. Our impact has been ..read more

October is “Talk with your kids” month, and we encourage you to consider the wide number of intersecting topics that affect our understanding of human sexuality, and how we communicate these complexities to our children.  In order to be comprehensive, sex education needs to cover many, many subjects, but we can’t do it all at once. And it’s okay to focus on one thing at a time. A focus is not an exclusion. Just because we might be thinking and learning about Intersex Awareness issues on Oct 26, for example, doesn’t mean we can’t make connections between intersex identities and what we kn ..read more