Dear Community,
In March 2022, a Twitter user named
Christopher F. Rufo began tweeting about Sexy Sex Ed, including our virtual 2021 ‘Sexy Summer Camp’ workshop series, and some of our educators. Rufo is a senior fellow and contributor at an infamous right-wing think tank,
the Manhattan Institute, which is
deeply tied and active in conservative policy making. He has a twitter following of over 300k, and he is the originator of the moral panic surrounding
“Critical Race Theory.” Rufo’s tweets targeting Sexy Sex Ed are a gross distortion of Sexy Sex Ed’s work to provide essential access to comprehensive, fact-based, age-appropriate sexual education across Appalachia. Unfortunately, the attack has been picked up by many right-wing media outlets and talking heads, including
Ben Shapiro and
Matt Walsh. Since last Tuesday, Sexy Sex Ed, our educators, and our funders have been flooded with hundreds of threatening messages across all platforms.
We recognize that the current misinformation attack against Sexy Sex Ed is part of a long-term, highly funded, and coordinated strategy of the right to maintain and entrench their power through media and narrative control. In the past legislative week in the US, the right has advanced this strategy by
limiting and banning access to abortion and
reproductive care, pushing
anti-trans legislation, and by passing the
“Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida. Attacks on queer and trans children and on all folks accessing reproductive care are happening strategically in conjunction with their efforts to
dismantle our public education system,
maintain corporate control of our health care system, and
limit the rights of workers to organize and form unions. We clearly see the coordination of their strategy through the ways that the misinformation attack on our LGBTQIA inclusive, consent-based sexual education work has been
mobilized by right-wing media to
directly galvanize support for this violent legislation.
Contrary to the allegations made by Rufo and others, Sexy Sex Ed has never held an in-person summer camp in Kentucky or anywhere else. The 2021 Sexy Sex Ed Summer Camp was a one-time virtual workshop series held on Zoom and the participants were ages 16 and up.
Sexy Sex Ed was started by young people for young people in rural Appalachia who felt like they desperately needed sexual education resources that were not abstinence-only, or rooted in shame. Since 1995, there has been a concentrated decline in access to formal sexual education in rural areas of the US [
Lindberg, 2016] — particularly in the South where there are
higher rates of sexual activity and lower rates of contraceptive use than in other regions of the country.
Extensive research has shown that when young people — particularly children and teenagers — have access to comprehensive sexual education, it lowers instances of child abuse, intimate partner violence, STIs, and homophobic bullying; and increases willingness to report intimate partner violence.
Knowledge makes people safer. Sexy Sex Ed’s comprehensive sexual education work makes all people safer.
Sexy Sex Ed’s work providing access to
comprehensive sexual education is deeply rooted in principles of political and personal consent, safety, and bodily autonomy. We teach people about their bodies, that their bodies are their own, and that all people deserve to decide what happens to their bodies without external influence or coercion. We know our work will be distorted by those with their own political agendas, but we will not be silenced. Our work is a response to the needs of the communities in which we live. It is important and essential.
We deeply appreciate your support,
The Sexy Sex Ed Team