Ming Peiffer and our four experts return for more of the unfettered, vulnerable conversation about what it means to be femme and sexual, inspired by the play USUAL GIRLS. The drama premiered in 2018 at Roundabout Underground for an extended, sold-out run. Catalyzed by the allegations against American Apparel’s Dov Charney, playwright Peiffer began to investigate the stories of women and the milestones in the sexual maturation of girls in America that can lead to a fraught and vulnerable relationship to one’s own sexuality. Peiffer put the patriarchy, rape culture, sexism, misogyny, and racism on trial in her professional debut work.
How do we navigate the male gaze? Are women and femmes ready to claim their own pleasure? What are the sexual scripts we live by and who writes them? How do we teach and exercise consent? What does a healthy sex education curriculum look like? What is sex-positivity and sex-normativity?
Peiffer, host Ruthie Fierberg, and experts Dr. Tracie Gilbert, a sex educator, writer, researcher, and consultant with over 25 years experience, specializing in work with Black communities; Professor Lisa Speidel, assistant professor and general faculty in the Gender and Sexuality department at the University of Virginia, and editor of The Edge of Sex; Professor Celine Parrenas Shimizu, Director of the School of Cinema, member of the graduate faculty of Sexuality Studies at San Francisco State University, filmmaker, and author; and Justine Ang Fonte, a disruptor in health education and Director of Health and Wellness at an NYC K-12 school, gather to discuss everything from pleasure to self-discovery, recovering from violence to self-defense and all the coming-of-age in between.
Referred to in this episode
- Meet Ericka Hart
- Consent outside of sex
- The stats on sexual assault and rape
- CDC’s 16 critical topics in high school sex ed
- Music video: WAP
Create the change
- Read Pleasure Activism by Adrienne Maree Brown
- Check out K-12 sex education resources from Advocates for Youth
- How to teach consent to kids at every age
- Practice enthusiastic collaborative consent
- Learn to set safe sexual boundaries
- Lesson Plan: How to teach accurate reproductive anatomy and physiology to kids
- Explore your own pleasure at stores geared towards female pleasure like Babeland or The Smitten Kitten
- Learn to know thyself from Audre Lorde
- Watch the documentary On The Record
Why We Theater is a product of part of the Broadway Podcast Network, edited by Derek Gunther, and produced by Alan Seales.
Follow us @whywetheater on Instagram & Twitter.
Our theme music is by Benjamin Velez. Hear more at BenjaminVelez.com.
Our logo is by Christina Minopoli. See more at MinopoliDesign.com.
Special thanks to Genesis Johnson, Dori Berinstein, Leigh Silverman, Patrick Taylor, Tony Montenieri, Elena Mayer, Wesley Birdsall, and Suzanne Chipkin.
Connect with Ruthie!
Instagram: @ruthiefierceberg
Twitter: @RuthiesATrain