Talking to adolescent girls about sexuality and sexual pleasure is important in ensuring healthy attitudes toward their bodies, relationships, and self-awareness. It’s a topic often overshadowed by stigma, shame, or taboo, but it is necessary to break these barriers for the well-being of young girls. Open, honest, and non-judgmental conversations about sex, sexuality, and pleasure…
Navigating sexuality and pleasure: A rural perspective
Growing up in the rural expanses of Nyanza, sex education was shrouded in silence. The mere mention of sexuality was taboo, a subject too laden with sin and shame to approach openly. In my community, conversations around sex were either hushed whispers or outright denials, deeply rooted in the belief that any discussion could lead…
Empowering adolescent girls to embrace their sexuality without shame
Growing up in Kenya, I’ve observed how conversations around sexuality, especially for adolescent girls, are often limited, filled with stigma, and dominated by silence. Whether in families, schools, or community settings, many young girls navigate their changing bodies and emotions with little guidance. As an advocate for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), I’ve…
My possessed pair of shorts
Sexual freedom to me is like my demon possessed pair of shorts, at least, that’s what my mother used to call them. They were black and green, blue and pink. On a good day you could see a little bit of brown and yellow. In short, my shorts had all the colours of the rainbow….
Fluidity and expression
My sexual freedom resulted from choosing to ‘look.’ It could have been a terrible thing of course, maybe it was, plainly because of the thin line between admiring and objectifying. But at that time I had kept myself hidden from that world and did not know who I was or what I wanted. The object…
Sexual Freedom
Sexual freedom can mean different things to different people. But one thing remains constant: it is a human right. Accepting and exploring our sexuality without shame, guilt, or fear is what sexual freedom means to me. Even though sexual freedom is a human right, some individuals, particularly the older generation, view it as a sign…
Sex, a Wondrous Continuous Journey of Self-Acceptance
Growing up, sex was an omen. The picture drew by my parents, relatives and teachers was that sex equals disgrace and death. Mind you, this was problematic for me especially in my school going years where I learned that children are made through sex: so how could sex still equate disgrace and death? I was…
Talking Positively about the Talk
The adolescent in me was giddy when I read the topic of this essay because, for her, it meant this was a do over. I could say to her all the things that she needed to hear. Today, I am a 24-year-old woman. I have come close but have not yet had (penetrative) sex. This…