Sex education is essential, empowering, and quite often, life changing. The efforts and resilience of sex educators make the work we do at Lovers entirely possible. This year (for the first time!) we created an award to honor and celebrate an incredibly talented group of folks who have made sex positivity, education, and pleasure advocacy their full time jobs.
Lovers List: Ultimate Sex Educator Awards was our way to recognize, uplift, and support individuals doing this much needed work out in the world. The submissions were made up of some of the most vibrant, inspiring, and forward thinking pleasure professionals in the world. After narrowing it down to ten finalists and a public voting process, we had a winner. World: meet Goody Howard, sex-ed superhero and the 2021 Ultimate Sex Educator!
Goody is one of the most talked about sex educators in the industry today. For over 15 years, she has devoted her life to making sex education accessible, intentional, and fun. As a pleasure professional (and PhD student!) she supports humans (over the age of 18) in connecting to their pleasure and thus, themselves. Her workshops are expansive and versatile, helping free people from shame and in turn, creating a kinder world. Her groundbreaking work is not only revolutionary, but also rooted in advocacy. She teaches educators, healthcare professionals, and front-line works how to “serve ALL people in affirming and respectful ways.”
She is deeply committed to anti-racist work and the body positive movement, knowing that pleasure cannot exist without social justice. In reference to the organizations she supports, Goody says “even my causes outside of sex education are connected to drawing attention to the fact that the current socio-economic and political challenges this country faces are directly connected to the expression, repression, and/or oppression of human sexuality.”
Goody teaches that sexual pleasure is public health, offering over 15 different sex-positive workshops ranging from intimacy and communication to sexual skill building and pleasure. She has the ability to distill high-level sexuality concepts into content that any experience level can understand. Goody’s work shifts the trajectory of people’s lives by encouraging them to access pleasure in ways they never knew before.
As the 2021 winner, Goody was awarded $7500 cash to continue the powerful work she is doing as well as a $2500 prize basket filled with TONS of amazing toys and products from Lovers and our other sponsors! Additionally, in Goody’s honor, we gave a matching $7500 donation to the Woodhull Freedom Foundation.
Pleasure is a human right and we are so thankful to pioneers like Goody and our finalists who allow this work to continue, thrive, and evolve.
If you do one thing today, make sure to follow Goody’s work and journey on Instagram or her website!
For more on the inspiration behind Goody’s work and who she would want to play her in a movie, watch our Instagram Live interview.
