Lecture

The “Navigating Sexual Self-Confidence From Adolescent to Whole Ass Adult” workshop will provide an opportunity for participants to reflect on the harmful and often conflicting messages that young women of color are often subjected to, in many circumstances as an attempt to keep them safe from sexual violence, trauma and pain.

This lecture explores how play creates safety, curiosity, and permission around sexual confidence. Using a real-world play-based activity as an example, participants will learn how playful, low-pressure environments reduce shame and support embodied sexual self-discovery.

Tara brought together renowned sex educators to design a youth sex ed curriculum rooted in one question: What did we wish we’d known at that age? This session explores the curriculum’s pillars, how today’s cultural landscape shaped it, and navigating opt-in/opt-out alongside parents.

This lecture examines how sexual silence in Dominican and Caribbean families functions as an informal form of sex education. Grounded in social work and sexual health practice, it explores cultural, religious, and gender norms shaping silence and offers culturally responsive strategies to reduce shame, risk, and misinformation.