Cindy Gallop is the founder of Make Love Not Porn, a platform for people to post real-world sex videos. It’s not porn, she says, it’s social sex.

Now, she’s on a mission to raise $1 million in crowd funding in oder to build a sex education academy that will operate alongside her Make Love Not Porn.

Set to launch later this year, the Academy will will cover a broad range of topics, including masturbation, LGBTQ+ sex and relationships, first-time sex, menopausal sex, period sex, disability sex and erectile dysfunction. Users will have access to a vast range of sex education content, all vetted by human curators and searchable by age appropriateness, cultural sensibility and comfort level.

During this live recording of the podcast we delved into the problems with our broken sex landscape, how parts of the mainstream porn industry have fed into the rise in toxic masculinity and rape culture, the value of good sex education and what we need to do to create a better culture around sex for everyone.

We were also joined by actor, presenter, activist and the CEO of IWeigh, Jameela Jamil, who is an early-stage investor in the MLNP Academy, and digital consultant and former journalist, Freddie Feltham.

If you are affected by the issues discussed this please seek help via the below:

Rape Crisis are open 24/7 for anyone who has experienced something sexual without their consent. Call free on 0808 500 2222 or visit their website here.

Samaritans are open 24/7 for anyone who needs to talk. You can visit some Samaritans branches in person. Samaritans also have a Welsh Language Line on 0808 164 0123 (7pm–11pm every day).

116 123 (freephone)

jo@samaritans.org

Freepost SAMARITANS LETTERS

samaritans.org

*Trigger warning* we discuss issues around sexual violence, rape and assault in this episode, so please take care while listening. As always, I’ve put resources in the show notes for anyone who has been affected by the topics discussed.

In this live recording of the Sex Talks podcast I wanted to address a question that has been on my mind a lot of late: why do men hate women?

It is provocative, I know, and intentionally so. But amidst the seemingly relentless series of news stories about male violence, It is a question I just can’t shake from my head.

After all, this conversation takes place against a backdrop of ongoing, high profile sexual abuse and rape cases with the likes of Dominuqe Pelicot; Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs; the late Mohammed Al Fayed; and the former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch Mike Jeffries, amongst some of the high profile names currently under investigation for allegedly committing the most unimaginable crimes.

What’s more, the scale of violence against women and girls is so high police chiefs have declared it a National Emergency here in the UK.

So, the purpose of this discussion was thus to try and better understand what is going on, why and what needs to be done now to end this epidemic of violence.

I was joined by the brilliant Laura Bates - activist, writer, speaker and journalist. She is also the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, an ever-increasing collection of over 200,000 testimonies of gender inequality.

Launched in 2012, the project raises awareness of sexism, provides a cathartic and empowering space for survivors’ stories to be heard and believed, and uses those stories to create real-world change in partnership with politicians, businesses and organisations from the United Nations to the Council of Europe.

She is currently writing her 11th book.

I was also joined by Ben Hurst, Director of Facilitation at Beyond Equality, an organisation that is rethinking masculinity and engaging men and boys in the gender equality conversation.

If you are affected by the issues discussed this please seek help via the below:

Rape Crisis are open 24/7 for anyone who has experienced something sexual without their consent. Call free on 0808 500 2222 or visit their website here.

Samaritans are open 24/7 for anyone who needs to talk. You can visit some Samaritans branches in person. Samaritans also have a Welsh Language Line on 0808 164 0123 (7pm–11pm every day).

116 123 (freephone)

jo@samaritans.org

Freepost SAMARITANS LETTERS

samaritans.org

On this week’s live recording of the podcast, Emma-Louise was joined by journalist, presenter, podcaster and author, Josh Smith to discuss his brand new book: Great Chat.

The importance of communication is something we talk about ALL the time at Sex Talks, not least because - as we know - it's the key to great sex and deeper intimacy.

So when Josh published a book all about the art of great conversation we knew we had to sit down with him and extract all his tips and insights.

As a celebrity interviewer, Josh has talked with people of every background, mood and personality, (think Oprah, Victoria Beckham and Pamela Anderson) and they really open up to him. He's the master of creating a space that invites and nurtures vulnerability, which is critical to hosting a great interview but also cultivating a deep relationship with somebody.

In this episode Josh shares everything he’s learned about Great Chat in his many years working as a journalist; his two cents on how to translate this to the context of dating; and the best piece of advice he's ever received (from none other than actress Hayley Atwell).

We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did.

You can buy Josh's book here and find out when the next live recording of the podcast is here.