World Sexual Health Day
The theme of this World Sexual Health Day is ‘Every Body: Sexual Health, Rights, Justice and Pleasure belong to every person, in every body, without exception’. How do we do sex and relationships education which includes all bodies in a meaningful way? Rather than just trying to include different people in a tokenistic way, I try to make sure that my resources at BISH resource everyone. This is kind of how I try to do it.
First is to understand that all bodies are subject to being ‘organised’ by culture and society. This ‘organisation’ says that all bodies ‘should’ do things or work in particular ways and categorised as ‘normal’. This organisation puts us into rigid boxes, and prevents us from experiencing joy. Although society gives some people more power than others, they don’t allow people the kind of power to act that actually makes joy happen. Joy only really happens when we are able to free ourselves from these rigid ideas of ‘normal’.
With BISH I try to give my readers the resources to be able to free themselves from these stories of ‘normal’ and to instead to find ways of feeling both free and gently held. Being free of the stories of ‘having to be normal’, free to find joy through connection with others and the external world and to find the interesting, valuable and novel in their lives. To do this I provide resources for the reader to be able to tune into their bodies at a molecular level. To experience and understand that insides and outsides and minds and bodies are in constant relation to each other. This means a more consensual approach where we are part of creating our own stories about our bodies and what feels good for us. Through finding out more about what our bodies can do, we can discover what else our bodies can do and the difference that will make for us and everyone else. We find ways to be free of ‘normal’, but also do the work of creating small islands of safety at all times, the feeling of ‘okayness’ (which is different from ‘normal’), and doing this for everyone around us too.
Each body is also an assemblage of lots of different things, which interconnect with assemblages of everyone else’s body too. We are deeply implicated and entangled up with everyone else’s bodies, whether we realise it or not. We can only find the interesting, valuable and novel through our bodies if everyone else is able to do the same too. If a trans person is denied the right to be in public life, that is bad for a cis person. Just as it is bad for people of colour to be denied rights to be in public life, or people with disabilities, or women. This is the difference between merely ‘existing’ or living a full and rich life full of joy and possibilities and capacities. In this way, everybody is us and we are everybody. We don’t have to make a moral or ethical claim for equity, justice, and human rights (although I think this is a good thing too obviously) but instead we can say that it’s in everyone’s shared interests. This is what my resources try to do.
Resources that help us to reorganise how we feel about our bodies, and implicate us in justice for all bodies, helps us to feel better about our bodies. We are interconnected through a complex network of relations at a molecular level. This means that a society which resources everyone is good for everyone. Here the only story that matters is how we keep each other safe, how we increase our collective capacity to act, and maximising the capacity for our bodies to feel collective joy.
Here are some resources at BISH which show this approach in action.
How to Feel Better About Our Bodies
How to Feel Joy
How Many Genders Are There?
How Do We Meet Our Needs?
(A Gender Inclusive Guide to) Puberty
Orgasm and Ejaculation are Different
Genitals the Similarities and Differences
Check out the resources available for World Sexual Health Day at the World Association for Sexual Health (of which I am a proud member).
If you’re not yet a supporter of BISH and have the means, please consider chipping in the price of a pint every month? It doesn’t have to be the price one of those expensive sours if you don’t have the cash. The price of a Monday night real ale at a Wetherspoons would do too. Check out the Patreon here! Thank you 🙂
Still places remaining for the Advanced RSE Course in October
If you would like to spend more time learning about concepts like the Body Without Organs (which is what that first section was about), you might like to come on my Advanced RSE Training course in Octiober. Here’s what a participant thought about the course.
“I completed Justin Hancock’s Advanced Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) about course two years ago, and it remains one of the most valuable professional development experiences I’ve ever undertaken.
The course was deeply reflective, intellectually engaging, and grounded in a thoughtful, evidence-based approach to relationships and sexuality education. Justin creates a learning environment that is both challenging and supportive, inviting participants to think critically about power, pleasure, and pedagogy while reflecting on their own practice.
What stood out most was Justin’s ability to balance rigour with warmth and humour, ensuring that even complex or confronting topics felt accessible and meaningful. I left the course with a renewed sense of purpose, sharper facilitation skills, and a deeper understanding of how to engage learners in transformative, inclusive conversations about sexuality and relationships.
I couldn’t recommend the Advanced RSE course more highly to anyone committed to high-quality, reflective, and progressive sexuality education.”
This 6 day course is this October
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays 13th, 14th, 15th and 20th, 21st, 22nd October from 10 – 4.30pm (UK time) on Zoom.
The cost is £750 per person for this 6 day training course. This includes all the resources in the BIG BISH Download (worth £100) in addition to all the activities and ideas that I introduce on the course. So it’s pretty good value I hope, even in these straightened times. I’ll offer a solidarity rate for this course too (though this is limited to just 3 people), so if you are not well off, or your organisation can’t afford the fee, get in touch and let’s have a conversation. I’ve offered early-bird rates of 10% off, I could stretch to 20% off….
To book, simply email me saying ‘CAN I COME ON THE COURSE PLEASE’ in the subject line. Places will be limited because I like to keep the numbers pretty small, so don’t dilly dally. Once you have secured your place, just put the dates in your diary and I’ll send you an invoice after the course.
Sex Education Forum
I’m now a proud member of the Sex Education Forum, a UK based membership charitable organisation which brings together people who need RSE providers with people who provide RSE. I’ve rejoined after a few years away as a partner, so sign up for their mailing list or become a member yourself if you want to find out more about some other excellent RSE folks.
Gareth’s Newsletter
Gareth Cheesman, all round RSE good egg, is starting a newsletter on all things RSE related. The first one is available here at his LinkedIn, check it out.
