Intercourse ed by no means taught us this: that pleasure and safety might coexist. Sexual well being is greater than pamphlets and prescriptions. It’s additionally about energy, presence and, sure, poetry.
Mystkue Woods, M.Ed, a sexuality arts educator and marketing consultant, is aware of this effectively. Via her work mixing expressive arts with public well being, she’s making area for Black ladies and queer of us to not simply survive, however thrive.
In a world the place misinformation spreads quicker than fact, particularly round HIV, Woods presents a counter-narrative rooted in pleasure, consent, and cultural context. Half curriculum, half efficiency, half mirror, her work is a approach to see ourselves, totally and with out disgrace.
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“I wished to talk to individuals who seem like me,” she mentioned. “Artwork and music and poetry—that’s my method in. That’s how I get folks to pay attention.” And that’s essential—as a result of the numbers aren’t on our facet.
Based on the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC), Black ladies account for over half of latest HIV diagnoses amongst ladies within the U.S., regardless of making up solely 13% of the feminine inhabitants. For Black LGBTQ+ communities, the dangers are even increased, layered in stigma, lack of entry, misinformation and the parable that “it might by no means be me.”
Swapping myths for info, Woods mingles storytelling with truths. In considered one of her workshops, contributors transfer by a course of of selecting their very own journey by exploring interaction of relationships, dangers and protections. The lesson? “Anybody may be impacted by HIV. So why will we deal with folks like they’re completely different simply because they dwell with it?”
A New Framework
This query of distinction — who will get protected, who will get heard — is central to Woods’ strategy. She coined the time period “Sen•Intercourse•Sen,” a fusion of sensuality, sexuality and sentiment. It’s her framework for educating sexual well being as one thing felt and embodied, not simply charted and tracked. In observe, this implies navigating by widespread tradition to data-backed workshops about PrEP, PEP and testing.
And it’s the information we frequently don’t hear. Do you know that when taken every day, PrEP reduces the danger of getting HIV from intercourse by about 99%? Or that DoxyPEP, a post-exposure antibiotic, is displaying promising leads to stopping bacterial STIs amongst people who find themselves sexually energetic? Regardless of the science, uptake stays low — particularly amongst Black ladies.
She’s not within the enterprise of scaring folks into security — she’s inviting them into deeper care.
A part of the difficulty, Woods says, is how prevention is offered. “You’ll be able to’t simply hand somebody a brochure. You must communicate to their lived experiences. You must say: this protects your pleasure, your future, your selections.”
Woods fortifies her premise from her private journey. After a associate eliminated a condom with out her consent — an act often called stealthing — Woods discovered herself navigating a damaged system, regardless of her skilled background. “If it was this tough for me,” she mentioned, “what does that imply for somebody with much less entry?”
It means we’d like higher language, higher entry, and higher advocates. Individuals like Woods, who isn’t afraid to deliver popular culture into the combination, reference a TV present or track lyric mid-workshop as a result of that’s what will get folks nodding. She’s not within the enterprise of scaring folks into security — she’s inviting them into deeper care.
And that care contains speaking on to Black ladies and queer of us about what sex-positive, shame-free safety seems to be like.
“Generally we don’t pay attention. I say that with love. However now we have to start out taking note of what’s taking place proper now — not simply what would possibly occur years from now,” Woods mentioned. “Proper now, now we have choices. Proper now, now we have instruments.”
What we don’t all the time have is belief — in establishments, in suppliers, within the techniques meant to maintain us protected. That’s the place tradition steps in. The place dialog, storytelling and neighborhood fill within the gaps. “HIV doesn’t make somebody soiled,” Woods added. “It doesn’t take away their price. We’ve got to maneuver away from language that shames and towards language that holds.”
Being Proactive Is a Love Language
As a result of right here’s the reality: being proactive about your sexual well being is a love language. It’s not nearly HIV exams and safety plans. It’s about honoring the physique you’re in, the enjoyment you deserve and the futures all of us have the appropriate to think about.
So whether or not your summer season is all scorching woman walks or scorching woman nights, Woods has a easy ask: be ready. Carry your personal condoms. Know your standing. Ask the questions. Select you.
The dialog doesn’t finish in a clinic. It begins the place we’re — at poetry slams, in podcasts, at brunch tables and sure, even in DMs.
Let’s simply be certain it retains going.
Joshua Levi Perrin is a author for Unerased | Black Girls Converse.
