Something Positive for Positive People

Launched in February 2020 3 months after encountering a fallen angel, the blessing of HSV bestowed upon our podcast guest today has become the catalyst fueling tens of thousands of women around the world. What Safe Slut stands for is self-empowerment through sexual expression. Safe Slut joins SPFPP to share her story being diagnosed with genital HSV-2 and how she was able to lean into this insecurity and make it literally one of the best things that's ever happened for her. Check out her Onlyfans and other social media accounts! Stay Slutty! :p Instagram: @Safe.Slut Instagram Backup: @safe.Slutt Tiktok: Safe.Slut Twitter: @Safe_Slut Patreon: www.patreon.com/safeslut Onlyfans: @herpes.witch YouTube: Safe Slut

Jamie Cawelti is the Executive Director of Sex Positive World, and runs Given Consent! I asked Jamie to join us for a workshop for folks living with herpes as a way of introducing them to the self-reflective tools and support resources people struggle to find their way to, but are always thankful they found them. So much of the non-sex components of sex are presented in this community. We often go straight into looking for a partner or avoiding disclosures. What I present here is a much safer space where practicing saying no, disclosing, and learning what you want so you can ask for it is really beneficial. This space offers something I haven't found in support groups, and it isn't exclusive to people with herpes, it's a mixed back of what you may need to support your healing through community. www.sexpositiveworld.org www.givenconsent.com @Givenconsent on socials STARS Workbook: www.maketimeforthetalk.com

I get tested for HIV, chlamydia, ghonnorea, syphillis (actually I didn't for this one because I was recently tested for that one), hepatitis c (which is on the rise) with Pivot Health here in Portland, Oregon! Listen to the process here on this episode of SPFPP!

When you spend so long in an identity that's safe for you, what happens is you attempt to become that person. I became Honmychest not realizing it was supposed to serve a purpose of just getting me through the villanry that is stigma. I downplayed and forgot how to be me. I'm figuring that out more for myself now as I navigate things I want to do for me using the Tony Stark and Iron Man comparison because we're so similar. I made my stigma suit, honmychest because that was the hero I needed when diagnosed. But really that's the suit, and I'm the pilot of it, meaning I have to practice being me, not the creator of the hero, but the hero myself as that's how strongly I identify with it. Enjoy this one! It's kinda deep!

The Iron Man Suit served Tony Stark very well to get him out of the unfortunate circumstance he was in. It definitely saved his life, but more importantly, outside looking in, it changed his life. When you take a much deeper look though, I am willing to argue that the suit didn't do anything at all. The creation of it came from Tony himself because he was present to his circumstances and out of recognition of his own needs, the Iron Man suit and persona was born. I've been struggling with integrating Honmychest into who I am as Courtney Brame, and all this time the answer was right here. I don't need to integrate something that came from within me. I need to remember that this creation served a purpose as a result of a situation I was present for, and recognized I had to become something more than what I believed myself capable of being in that moment. That moment has gone on for 5 years. 5 years of me challenging my beliefs of what I was capable of through the the experiences I had as honmychest only to realize none of those were possible without Courtney. Honmychest did for me what the Iron Man Suit did for Tony Stark. It was a pathway to Self. I ain't gathering infinity stones or anything like that, but I can confidently say that my Selfed path through the Honmychest suit has served its purpose as I explore one less external to cultivate my self image.

I visited home for 10 days and got to witness the challenge of being who I am or reverting back to who I think others think I am. I had an interesting handful of experiences. I will say, I cannot wait to get back to Portland though and develop a new routine incorporating journaling into it as well. This trip home empowered me to revisit family, friendship, and my relationship to myself.

Jessica Werner is an Ohio public health worker who recently through her efforts to advocate for uterus owners of color, LGBT community members, masturbation as STD Prevention and contraception was terminated from her place of employment for being sex positive. We talk a lot about censorship on social media regularly to the point of having to change spelling and wording to talk about sex education in order for it to maintain visibility on the social platforms. I'm active most on Instagram and see sex educators facing just having their content removed or not visible, but Jessica was fired for literally doing her job. There's a political agenda for what STD Prevention efforts are supposed to look like even at Government funding awarded organizations for them to . . . do their jobs? I don't even know anymore. Jessica was interviewed by media outlets and those are linked in the show notes. Sex education empowers people to take their power back through liberation of self. The status quo loses its control over the profitability of oppressed bodies when we learn that, so support a sex educator as soon as you can by uplifting their content, Venmoing if possible, and working with us when you can.

Woo! If you liked Manifesto, you'll love Selfed. The more I speak to it, the more clearly it begins to define the healing process in a way that makes sense. The uncoupling of identity from its association is the working definition I have for selfed. Looking at life as the pursuit of wholeness with the expected pursuit to look like what society labels you and the other for your sense of fulfillment. To be able to identify that exclusively in its evolved essence . . . I can't type this in a way that doesn't sound super woo woo, so I hope that my words in this podcast communicate effectively.

I've put a pause on my social media posting for Something Positive for Positive People in order to make space for awareness of actions to take regarding the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade which protected people's access to abortion. Herpes conversations take the back seat because to human rights and it just doesn't feel right posting as if nothing happened, or is happening. This manifesto began as what was supposed to just be a journal entry, but it felt like things bubbling up inside me were able to come to my awareness as the pen rolled over the paper. The women around me emphasized the silence of men heavily and with some conversations, I realize there's a major distrust in the masculine on the liberal side of things, whereas the conservative side doesn't have that. Rebuilding trust in the masculine requires the masculine to be vulnerable and identify itself apart from the language we've given to it limiting it only in relation to pursuing wholeness through the reconnecting to the feminine. Now that this has made its way through me, I feel a shift that I can't describe. I feel better about reengaging on social media now.

Julian shares his struggles with addiction and his healing process while recovering in community. What I love about this episode is that we have a masculine presence here, not in the sense of in relation to the feminine or exclusively to sex. We are able to put a vulnerability lens to our displays of masculinity hopefully as an example for other men to express their emotions and healing in their own ways as well. Here's a link to the podcast on love addiction I mentioned: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/love-addiction-with-vic-mensa/id1449305737?i=1000433203421