I was on my very first panel!

eeeeep!

Last night was amazing, I got to speak in public for the first time about sex!

Well… Vaginismus in particular.

I was surrounded by amazing folk in the audience who had similar interests to mine and spoke on the panel with the amazing Dr Sarah Welsh, the brilliant author & comedian Fran Bushe and the wonderful copywriter Mari Wilson (fan person-ing over here over them all!)

Yesterday was also International Women’s Day, which as a non binary person, was a funny thing to celebrate. But in this panel, we celebrated all people, not just women. I was there to keep the chat inclusive and euphoric & I think I did pretty well at it according to the audience ;)

This blog will be short, because I’m knackered & had a long week!

But… what is Vaginismus?

It is where the pelvic floor muscles of a person with a vagina contract/spasm involuntarily, causing pain both at the vaginal entrance and/or inside.

It’s sucky and painful, that’s what it is. Plus it’s actually really common to have, yet it is so unknown & so unspoken about :( (hence the panel)

Vaginismus doesn’t mean you are broken! Sex therapy with me can help this, but so can instagram pages, Fran’s (up above) book, or a pelvic physio or buying some dilators, or yoga or mindfulness and more. You are not alone & there is space for you to explore your pain, as although painful sex is common, it is not normal. No one should be having painful sex.

Last night was an opportunity to speak about a a taboo topic. We covered pain, pleasure, autonomy, diversity & lube! oh, there was so much lube…

I think I did pretty well (dying inside with nerves), but was so happy with the evening & met some really awesome people!

People told me they learned a lot (yesss!)

& I learned that I want to speak at more events!

So if you’re reading this and ever want to book me for a live panel, a podcast, an interview, a campaign collaboration, a sex ed event, a sex therapy event, a relationship therapy event or anything else on your mind, I am in!