The experience of publishing a book is brand spanking new for me. The experience of speaking to parents is not. I have found that what parents need most from me are these things:
- Information about sex that I wish they had learned when they were teenagers (birth control, STI prevention, relationship models, etc.),
- Information about sex that is relevant to their teenagers’ current experiences (statistics and current trends, contextualization of social media, etc.), and
- Guidance on how to have a conversation, or even better a series or a lifetime of conversations, about sexuality.
It’s always been that last one that pulled most at my heart strings. It’s the one that isn’t, in any way, information-based. It’s not something that I can advise parents to google, it’s not something that they research. And so I wrote a book.
Breaking the Hush Factor: Ten rules for talking with teenagers about sex is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Ten rules that can guide and govern parental interactions with their teenagers about sex and sexuality. There are many (very good!) books about adolescent sexuality that are written for parents to read and deepen their understanding of the issue. My book is a little different. It’s concrete guidance on what, exactly, to do before, during, and after those conversations take place. It also has the benefit of being an easy read, not scary, without assumptions of gender or sexual orientation, and full of comics designed to ease the reader’s stress level just a little bit. Like this:
Additionally, Breaking the Hush Factor poses questions for parents to consider and engage with on their own journey towards more effective, engaging conversations with their teenagers.
As sexuality educators, it benefits us to have the right tool in our toolbox for a wide range of potential needs. I hope you’ll consider Breaking the Hush Factor to be one of your tools moving forward.
If you’re looking for more, here are ways you can find it:
- www.HushFactor.com (The book’s official website, with lots of information and general prettiness.)
- Amazon (If you want to buy a printed-on-paper version of the book, this is the place to go.)
- Gumroad (If you want an eVersion of the book, go here. It’s all arranged in a pay-what-you-want-sort-of-arrangement.)
- Pay With A Post (If you’d like to pay for the book by posting about it via Twitter, Facebook, etc., go here. It’s a pretty sweet deal.)
