Why aren’t we taught this?!

A question I find myself asking again and again… and again.

This is the same question I ask out loud in almost every conversation I have with anyone about periods, pleasure and our bodies.

WHY AREN’T WE TAUGHT THIS?!

Don’t get me wrong… I know that sex education has definitely improved compared to how it used to be. There are organisations like Brook and acet UK doing great work around the UK (although not in Scotland specifically…) but, after having trained in Relationships & Sex Education myself, I realised how limited the education still is and how much I’d still love to see being taught.

There is very little that is actually mandatory in school. Even with regards to what IS being taught, children can be withdrawn from those lessons by their parents/carers if they feel it is inappropriate… which is why I target the adults.

My professional career actually started working with children and families. My degree is in Childhood Studies and I’d always planned to be a teacher. My career path took me well off that track but, ironically, landed me back on the education route with a completely different direction.

So now I teach adults.

I teach adults all of the things that I wish I’d been taught when I was younger. Things which are unlikely to be taught in school and are maybe even less likely to be taught at home (unless you have some especially open minded parents).

I teach adults all of the things that I didn’t learn until I was in my late 20s and things that, had I learned them a little bit earlier, might have actually had quite a significant impact on the choices I made in my life.

I teach adults because adults ARE the teachers, the parents, the people who decided what the children are taught in schools, the policy makers and the people who need to see the value in this work in order for it to be prioritised for others.

I speak up about all of the things that still aren’t particularly well spoken about.

I want to eradicate the shame and the stigma around words like periods and masturbation and pleasure and sex.

I want to de-sexualise words for our anatomy like vulva and vagina so that we can have conversations about how we still don’t seem to know the difference. So that we can correctly label the parts of our OWN bodies, so that we can correctly identify which part of us might have been touched without consent, so that we can close the orgasm gap and learn how to pleasure ourselves properly… So that we just simply know what our body looks like, how it works and how we can work with it.

I want to teach people how to pay attention to themselves. To tune into their natural cycles and rhythms. To notice the subtle signs and changes and patterns. To support themselves.

I want to make this knowledge accessible and easy to understand and relatable.

So I created my first ever course - Menstrual Magic.

I originally started this as an in person workshop in my current hometown of Aberdeen in the North East of Scotland. I love hosting in person workshops because I get to meet YOU!

However… Aberdeen isn’t the most easily accessible place to get to and there were so many people messaging me asking for an online version. I said I would think about it. I thought about it for a long while. I cringed at the thought of videoing myself and thought about it some more…

BUT… it’s finally here.

I have (eventually) launched the online version of my Menstrual Magic course and it is now LIVE on my website!

For anyone who wants to learn more about their own body… or maybe for someone who wants to learn more about the menstrual cycle to support their partner or daughter or friend instead.

For anyone who too often asks ‘why aren’t we taught this’ and instead wants to be able to say ‘I’m so glad I was taught this’ - even if we are all learning these things a little bit later than we maybe might have wanted to.

This is for you.

And for the 10 year old version of me who I wish had known this stuff sooner…