We all remember our first encounters with sex-ed. Mine involved my teacher dawning a red turtleneck and juggling tennis balls as some kind of metaphor for the female reproductive system and a long fear-mongering speech on STDs. It was a mess, and 12-year old me left that room feeling more confused than ever.
Unfortunately, sexual education in America is lacking at best. Millions of kids receive something along the lines of the “don’t have sex or you will get pregnant and you will die” speech from “Mean Girls.” This can leave them feeling isolated and scared to ask questions. Fortunately, we live in an age where anything you could possibly want to learn is available on the internet.
Though you typically think of Youtube as the place you go to find new makeup techniques and game tutorials, there are many YouTubers taking on the task of teaching sexual education. For all of those questions you’re too embarrassed to ask anyone else, here’s a list of YouTubers that have all the answers.
1. Laci Green
Laci Green is a great starting place for all of your basic sex-ed questions. She does a series of videos called “Sex+” where she discusses a variety of topics from safe sex to gender to self-esteem. I’m a big fan of her “101” style videos where she aims to teach her audience with easily understandable, basic information.
She has a Consent 101 video that I think is a must-see because consent is a too often overlooked part of sexual education. Through this video, she helps to explain why consent is mandatory and offers examples of how you or your partner could ask for consent without “ruining the mood.” Her Hymen 101 video is also extremely important—her goal being to dispel the myth of female virginity and the torn hymen (which FYI, doesn’t actually rip!).
Along with making Youtube videos, Green also travels the country, hosting events and giving speeches at colleges on both sexual education and rape culture. Laci Green definitely knows her stuff, and she has a way of being informative while also being funny and #relatable.
2. Hannah Witton
Hannah Witton is my personal favorite! She’s a British blogger who makes a lot of videos related to sexual health. She holds nothing back and often discusses topics like masturbation, contraception and casual sex. She has no issues with divulging everything about her personal life if it is for the benefit of her audience.
Her main focus is usually female sexual health, and she offers information on, not just sex, but female anatomy, menstruation and birth control. Her newest endeavor is The Hormone Diaries where she documents her journey coming off the pill and experiencing her first period in seven years. It’s incredibly educational.
She explains how birth control works, how it affected her body and what is happening to her body now that she’s no longer taking the pill. She tells her audience about her moods, her symptoms and even what products she’s using now that Aunt Flo is once again coming to visit. If anything, you should watch it because it is a good reminder of how awesome our bodies are and how we should really pay attention to them.
She’s not all sex-related videos though. If you’re just in the mood for a laugh, I recommend watching her Drunk Advice series where she and a guest simply get drunk and answer viewer’s questions under the condition that the audience should absolutely not take their advice. It’s pretty damn hilarious.
3. Lindsey Doe (Sexplanations)
First of all, Lindsey Doe is a doctor of human sexuality and runs her own private practice in clinical sexology—she is highly qualified to answer all of your inquiries, and believe me, if anyone is going to have the answer to your burning questions, it’s her. She has a video for practically everything you could possibly want to know (or maybe not want to know, but hey, it’s always good to be informed). She has basic videos on consent and sexually transmitted diseases, but she also has things like a multi-part video on how to give a blow job.
She describes her videos as “sexedutainment,” and they are definitely entertaining. The series is produced by Hank Green (of Vlogbrothers fame, otherwise known as John Green’s brother) and has everything you’d expect from one of Hank’s creations. They follow the 4-minute or under video rule and remain funny and current, while still packing in a ton of information into the small space.
4. Melanie Murphy
While Melanie Murphy is more prominently a lifestyle blogger, she does talk a significant amount about sexuality and sexual health (plus I just really love her), so I still think she deserves a spot on this list. She is an out and proud bisexual and discusses her sexuality in several videos. Bisexuality is not well represented in our society, so it’s refreshing and educational to hear about her experiences.
She also has several discussion videos with guests like Hannah Witton (remember her?) where she talks about sexual health and relationships. She, like Witton, is very open and honest about her life and uses her experiences to educate her audience. She’s from Ireland, so it’s interesting to see a European perspective on sexual education (plus her accent is to die for!).
Outside of the sex-ed videos, she also makes some about her struggles with eating disorders and some about confidence and self-esteem. They are also very instructive, and she is just so well-spoken and likeable.
5. Shannon Boodram (Shan Boody)
Shannon Boodram is another highly qualified individual, earning a degree in Sexology from the University of Toronto, and then going on to write a book all about young people’s experiences with sex. She’s even appeared on several TV talk shows where she discussed sex, so you can be pretty confident that she knows what she’s talking about.
Shan Boody’s focus is on Generation X and beyond—those that she claims are now growing up in an “easy access culture.” She offers her advice on how to navigate this society, in both sex and relationships. Along with basic sexual education videos, she discusses less conventional methods like group sex and BDSM. She also brings men into her videos to discuss their experiences with sex, something that seems to be massively underrepresented on Youtube.
[…] Vloggers funnily talk about sex, normalizing it and sharing their experiences. They unbox sex toys, openly share reviews on them and talk about being true to yourself and realizing what you really like as the most important thing to do. Dr Doe also talks about ways to prevent autism from getting in the way of sexual pleasure. […]