Since 1980, my work has emerged from deep roots of curiosity about the body as a source of power, pleasure, and wisdom. 

My career path was shaped by these roots. 

I've been working with my hands as a massage therapist helping people settle into their bodies since 1980. 

In the 1990s, I was a counselor for women in profound distress due to sexual assault. In the 2000s, I invited art students in my Human Sexuality classes to articulate their inner worlds through their art. From 2007-2017 I taught Sex Ed to elementary, middle and high school students as well as their parents. I taught teens and their parents Dan Siegel's work in neuroplasticity and mindfulness.  I developed a class called "Who's Your Jesus?" that helped parishioners at Grace Episcopal Church untangle their relationship with Christianity. From 2008-2017 I ran Silver Sage Sojourns guiding older women into the wilderness on multi-day backpacking trips. 

All of this work with my fellow humans - but especially teaching Sexuality Education - made clear the ways in which we are shaped by and continue to tolerate behavioral constraints derived from cultural expectations. 

The unforgettable motivator for this book was the annual question from an 8th-grade girl in our Sex Ed classes, "Does sex hurt?"

Reorienting the Sex Talk is my best answer to a question no one should have to ask.