Richie Hardcore is an educator and public speaker based in New Zealand, where his work explores mental health and wellness, masculinity, and issues around domestic and sexual violence as well as addiction. He is also a former champion fighter, competing in professional kickboxing as well as the Thai combat sport Muay Thai. Richie visited The Unspeakable to talk about his work with young people about understanding their sexuality in relation to sexual messaging in the culture, particularly when it comes to pornography. He reflects on the ethics of sex work, the elevation of kink, and how social media can cause things like depression, anxiety, and trauma to get tangled up with gender identity confusion. He also sticks around for more than 30 minutes of bonus content, where he talks about his recent Master's thesis on hegemonic masculinities, how he feels about being the age he is (42) and answers listener questions about his favorite hardcore bands. 

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Guest Bio:

Former champion Muay Thai fighter Richie Hardcore is an educator, speaker and activist working in family and sexual violence prevention. He talks to people from all walks of life and all ages about masculinity, mental health, pornography and well-being. Richie has spent time as a radio host, community worker in drug and alcohol harm reduction, a campaigner against domestic and sexual violence and as a sexual consent educator.