Thoughts « Shanna Katz M.Ed, ACS — Board Certified Sexologist and Sexuality Educator

Thoughts on No Co-Pays for Birth Control

If you haven’t heard about the latest study suggesting that health care should offer birth control, contraception, sterilization (voluntary) and preventative exams at NO cost to the recipient, it’s possible you haven’t been on the internet in the last few days.

This study is new, but the concept is not. Most other countries offer birth [...]

Including Asexuality

This week, my fabulous intern Katie Davis talks about the identity of asexuality, which is often left out of conversations regarding sexuality. She brings up some great points, as well as resources for those interested in learning more!

The oft-repeated mantra amongst sex educators is that sexuality is a spectrum. People can identify as gay, [...]

Lessons Learned from A Sex Educator: Part 2

This is another piece written by Intern Katie Davis about some of the lessons she has learned in her experience of becoming a sex educator. It follows along with Lessons Learned from A Sex Educator: Part 1, as published last week.

One of the major maxims repeated to me over the course of my trainings [...]

Three Rules for Good Sex

Regardless of how you define sex (from penile-vaginal penetration to flogger, making out to fisting, oral sex to anal sex, you name it!), most people want to have at least good sex. It doesn’t always have to be great, it doesn’t always have to be mind blowing, it doesn’t need to soak the sheets, wake [...]

Masturbation Isn’t Just Flying Solo

As many of you know, May happens to be National Masturbation Month! I thought I’d write another piece on Masturbation in honor of such an important month.

Now, I know that for many people, masturbation is a private thing. When we were younger, we were taught to “do it” privately, as quickly and as quietly [...]

An Ungendered Child

I think this article about the raising of a child without sharing its’ sex with all those who ask is incredibly interesting. It’s always been of interest to me that the first question people ask when they find out someone is pregnant, or right after they’ve given birth is “is it a boy or a [...]

Spoon Theory in Relation to Disability

I speak and write a lot on sexuality and disability. From classes on Negotiating BDSM in Disability Context to working on multiple writing project, the topic of sex and disability is a pretty big part of my life. And one part of how I talk about/with/in regards to living with disabilities is the Spoon Theory, [...]

Learning to Set Boundaries

For many, the concept of setting boundaries can be incredibly scary. It’s as if boundaries is now a bad word, as if self care, and knowing your limits is now off limits. In some cases, it is considered bland and boring if you set boundaries — the attitude is that you should be open to [...]

Sex Educators and Chronic Pain

Surprisingly, there are some trends that I tend to notice in sex educators, particularly those of us that do alternative/non-traditional education. Many of us identify as women (cis and trans). Many of us have red hair. Many of us are queer (and many of those queer educators are fierce queer femmes). There are quite a [...]

Theatre Nerd to Sexologist: My Saga

I am often asked how I wound up in this field. To be honest, when I was little, I wanted to be a Marine Biologist (thanks Reading Rainbow), and then an Archaeologist (thanks Indian Jones), and eventually settled on being a psychologist for gifted children. Yep, by the time I was 8 or so, I [...]