The Bible Belt in the southern United States is known for its conservative values, which are largely influenced by the popularity of evangelical Christianity in the region. When looking at sex education, policymakers in the area tend to prefer abstinence-only-until-marriage education, if anything, to be implemented in schools.

The Bible Belt is generally considered to be the cluster of states in the southern United States where conservative evangelical Protestantism is, by far, the prevalent belief system of residents. This area includes (but is not necessarily limited to) Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

In this article, we'll look at data on the sexual health outcomes in the Bible Belt, as compared to relatively liberal New England, to understand how the lack of comprehensive sex education — and the popularity of abstinence only education — contributes to inequality in our country.

​For Pleasure Pie, 2021’s theme was getting back to a place of being capable of doing what we strive to do. The Venn diagram of Pleasure Pie and me as a person (Nicole) is two largely — but not completely (shout out to all the not-me people that make Pleasure Pie happen!) — overlapping circles. Because of this, the times when my mental health is in the gutter are usually times when Pleasure Pie is functioning at a low capacity.

2020 was a very rough mental health year for me (as anyone who read my Healing From a Bad Breakup zine knows). So, naturally, 2021 didn’t start off on the easiest of notes.

​Employees from Good Vibrations, the feminist sex toy store located in Brookline and Cambridge, Massachusetts have been on strike to demand safer working conditions during the pandemic. 

Good Vibrations has long been a supporter of Pleasure Pie, from hiring us for workshops to buying our zines and other creations to sell in their stores, and even featuring us as a partner for their GiVe program, through which they raised hundreds of dollars for Pleasure Pie. We are grateful to have such a supportive sex toy store in our city. We also cannot justify ignoring the current issues within their company just because we have benefited from their support over the years.

I interviewed Aria Carpenter, one of the leaders of the strike.

If you’re me, your social media feed is full of posts about consent and #metoo (but you’re not, so who knows what’s in your feed). Why does this public conversation about consent matter?

While I was living in Jerusalem and trying to find sexuality-related initiatives in the area (for this zine), I came across the website of an organization called the International Youth Alliance For Family Planning (IYAFP for short). They’re a youth-run (ages 15 to 30) nonprofit that advocates for sex ed and sexual rights around the world.

Shortly after I moved to Jerusalem last year, I got a friend request on Facebook from a woman in Massachusetts who I had never met. I get a lot of random friend requests, so I was not especially intrigued. Upon looking at her profile, it quickly became clear that she was an artist — specifically, a penis artist.

Are you interested in BDSM and not sure where to start (and living in the Boston area)? Here's a list of suggestions!

Leila Hazlett is a sex worker, producer, and professional dominatrix. She also has a physical disability. She opened up to us about how sex work has affected her life, including her relationship to her body, her disability, and dating. She shares the good and the bad, including her favorite thing that she's ever done as a sex worker.

An Interview with Filmmakers Ezra Ani and Micah Smith

Pillow Talk is a new video series about the quirks of intimate relationships. It was made in Jerusalem by budding filmmakers Ezra Ani and Micah Smith, who are from Baltimore and Los Angeles, respectively. Since I'm currently staying in Jerusalem, I was curious to hear about a local art project that explores romance, gender, and sexuality, so I decided to ask them some questions!

I recently was asked some questions about Pleasure Pie and the Sex Letters Project. Here are my answers! - Nicole

​​Q: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?
​
A: I've always made zines. As a kid I would make DIY magazines where I interviewed our family pets and gave updates on household happenings. Then when I was in college I started to become fascinated by sex-positivity. I had had some bad experiences with sex, and I was really under-informed about sexuality. So, in an attempt to get over my anxieties and embarrassment about sex, and to learn more about it, I started reading about it online — a lot. I read about sex-positivity, sex education, and gender equality, and took some college classes on human sexuality and LGBT topics. 

​I own very few sex toys.

Historically, I've found sex toys somewhat intimidating. I bought my first sex toy in my late teens ​— a large, cheap purple jelly vibrator from Spencer's Gifts at the mall (the only place I knew to find sex toys). I didn't really enjoy using it. The vibrations made my genitals go numb after a few minutes, and it was too big and rigid to feel good inside my vagina.

​We've made some creations on the themes of sexual empowerment and anti-oppression that we want to share with the world! Feel free to print as many of these as you'd like and distribute them wherever. Enjoy!

​These colorful bookmarks with phrases about consent and sexual empowerment are great for event goodie bags, gifts for bookish friends, etc.

​So, you want to start a sex-positive student group at your school? That's great — here are some tips!