Hi I’m Barb! Here’s a bit about me!!
GeniTALES is a response to the copious times I have heard “why don’t they teach us this at school?”
Street-cred: Bachelor of Nursing, post-graduate Certificate in Sexual Health and Family Planning, Certificate in Sexual Health and Venerology, and a Diploma of Public Health.
I have been working in sexual health clinical roles for the last 20 years and I have noticed that the questions I get in the clinic room have remained essentially the same over these two decades despite improved access to information. Much of what I have done in clinical settings is normalise the normal, and more importantly, normalise the prevalence of malfunctions!
I’ve been told many times that one of my talents lies in educating … So, it got me thinking about ways we can do it differently – What if it were possible to empower groups of people together who could then be empowered to speak out and normalise what is ok and normal? I have felt a drive to deliver an adult focused “Sex-Ed with a difference” for at least the last decade .. to tackle the stuff we only start to question when we’ve been in the sexual game a while, and to bring all the “ah ha” moments from narratives from the clinic room into an open forum.
Whilst there are plenty of on-line avenues for learning all things curious about sex, experience has shown me that’s not enough, and in fact it’s often a problem! Internet searches, usually conducted in private spaces, often find us reading words written by people unaware of the self-imposed stigma permeating their own belief systems… and consequently their contribution to the conversation is perpetuating cycle of sexual judgement and shame.
These observations are the driving force behind geniTALES…. paying homage to the power of real scientifically based conversations that normalise things that are likely to affect all of us at some point.
GeniTALES is a LIVE thing that flows like good conversations do!
It is also important to tell you what I am not! I am not a sexologist and cannot deliver people into sexual greatness! I can’t share with you which sex toy is best, or which aroma to burn in your bedrooms. Just the functional stuff!
When I am not consulting all things sexual health, you will find me walking in the wilderness, or with my pooch on the beach, pottering in the veggie patch, having a glass or three of bubbles with friends and family, or working up a serious sweat in a Zumba session!
If I sound like your kind of gal, let’s get together and chat….The best stuff happens through conversations!