27: The Sex Ed You Should Have Gotten with Rachel Coler Mulholland

Today, we are covering an important topic today, but maybe not in the way you expect. I’m joined by Rachel Mulholland (aka Shug CM), a therapist whom I met on TikTok because of her incredible content around sex education for children. Today’s focus is on how our lives as adults are impacted if we don’t get comprehensive sex education as children. Join us for the conversation!

Show Highlights:

• How KC’s story from her teenage years illustrates the gaps that most people have in their education about sex and the fact that sex ed is NOT a one-time conversation
• How “purity culture” is impacting teenagers in certain places in the US in damaging ways
• How even most comprehensive sex ed doesn’t address the pleasurable side of sex–and (for females) that the pleasure doesn’t have to come from another person
• How sexual predators take advantage of the lack of information in sex ed from SAFE places
• Why parents have real fear about talking to their kids about sex ed
• The effects of NOT educating kids that sex and pleasure don’t always go together
• Rachel’s Four Pillars of Safe Sex: confirmation, communication, lubrication, and enthusiastic participation
• Why parents should be aware when their kids are ready to hear and learn–and begin at the most basic level appropriate for their age
• How to answer those first little-kid questions around, “Where do babies come from?”
• Why curiosity is a foundational part of body talk for kids–not just around sexuality
• How parents can work through their own feelings around sex ed with their children
• Why Rachel’s next project is a book about body talk

Resources:

Connect with Rachel: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Website (coming soon!)

Recommended by Rachel: How Do You Make A Baby by Anna Fiske

Connect with KC: TikTok, Instagram, and Website 

Get KC’s book, How to Keep House While Drowning

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