Hannah Witton - Doing It!: Let’s Talk About Sex

Introduction

Healthy Relationships

Virginity

Four Generations of Witton Family Sex Ed

LGBTQ+

Consent

Masturbation

Porn

Bodies& Body Image

Sexual pleasure

Contraception

STIs

Sexting

Sex Shaming

Done it

Thanks for picking up this book. Im Hannah Witton and Im a writer, vlogger and online sex educator. Sex and relationships education is something that Ive been interested in for a while; some might say I have an unhealthy obsession with it. I argued with my RE teacher at school about it; I studied history at university but still managed to take all the sex modules; I wrote my dissertation on Victorian sex manuals; my whole YouTube channel is about sex and relationships, and I co-created a book club podcast where each month we read and discuss a book about sex. Does that make me obsessed? Maybe.

Lets start from the beginning. I grew up in a very open household when it came to the sex stuff. So much so that my family developed a bit of a reputation amongst my school friends. When I was about 13 years old, I invited a friend of mine over to my house after school for dinner. Another friend, who had previously had the privilege of dining at the Witton household, forewarned this newcomer, saying, Careful, they like to talk about vaginas and periods at the dinner table! So it seems that talking about taboo subjects is something that I was raised by my parents to do.

In school and at home I had a decent sex education. I didnt think I was dying when I got my period for the first time, I knew how not to get pregnant (and how to get pregnant when the time finally arises Grandma please stop asking), I knew that gay people were normal, and how to say no if I wanted to. When I was 16, I went to a religious sixth-form college and during one of our weekly RE classes we were taught about healthy relationships. It was almost a sex-ed class, but I felt like something was missing, so I raised my hand,

But she said that she couldnt teach it because it wasnt in line with the religious teachings of the school. I couldnt get my head around this. Yes, I knew that some religions had rules against certain things, but I never thought it would make a difference to my education. The argument got a little heated, until I basically yelled, Look Miss, were all 16/17, were all having sex, so you could at least teach us how to do it safely! The answer was still no. (Also, I know that not all 16/17 year olds are having sex, and thats completely fine, I was just trying to make a dramatic point.) But that was the first time I realised that something was wrong, and that we, as young people, werent getting all the information we needed. And even though it was years later that I started making SRE (sex and relationships education) videos on YouTube, I feel like that experience must have stuck with me.

I uploaded my first video to YouTube in April 2011, and nine months later I uploaded my first sex education video. At the time I had a lovely audience of a few hundred people watching, and I noticed that they were mostly young women. I felt this need to be useful, to offer advice, to help them in some way, and I figured the best way for me to do this was to talk about sex. I knew that it was something not many people felt comfortable talking about, but I did for some reason, and so that seemed like the most obvious place to start. Six years later, I have made more than 50 videos talking about sex and relationships and now Im writing a book about it!

I want this book to educate you, I want this book to feel like your friend gossiping with you, I want this book to make you feel normal, comfortable, empowered and in control of your body. I want this book to cradle and support you and I want it to allow you to just be yourself. Maybe Im asking a lot from it, so I hope you understand that some of this has to come from you too.

Genuinely, I would love that! However, until then, you have this book. Here, you will find information, advice and support on everything ranging from puberty to porn, from consent to contraception, from masturbation to menstruation, from bisexuality to body image, from virginity to venereal disease (the old fashioned term for STIs, sorry, I just really wanted to continue the alliteration). There are also some personal stories in this book that I have never shared anywhere online before, along with advice, wisdom and a few anecdotes from friends of mine plus the occasional expert.

Officially this is a book is for anyone aged 14+ but if youre younger and feel like youre ready to read it then who am I to tell you otherwise? I hope theres something here for everyone, from teenagers figuring stuff out and experiencing things for the first time, to young adults still figuring stuff out and still experiencing things for the first time and the parents even still figuring you get it! Were all still working it out and experiencing new things. But in all seriousness, I hope you will find this book useful, insightful, and maybe even funny, whether youre 15 or 25.

Before we dive in, I should let you know that you dont have to read this book from cover to cover. Its not a story, theres no grand narrative and it can be read in any order.

However, my point is its completely up to you how you wish to consume this book: front to back; back to front; top to bottom (eh?!); just the sections youre interested in the decision is yours.

I learnt a hell of a lot writing this book (I dont want to give anything away, but one thing involves a frog and some human urine ) and I hope you learn some new things, too. I also just hope that you enjoy it. We touch on some heavy topics and yes, sometimes when we talk about sex and relationships we have to get serious, but theres an equal amount of importance placed on the fun and the pleasure of sex. Except maybe (spoiler alert) in the section on break-ups. As you will find out, that particular part became an interesting struggle to write.

At this point I also feel like I need to say if you are my parents, grandparents or related to me in any other way, thank you so much for supporting me and buying this book but please put it down right now. We dont want Christmas and Passover to be weird.

I m starting with this because if theres anything I want you to take away from this book, its that you deserve and you are entitled to healthy relationships. Whether thats with your romantic or sexual partners, your friends, your family, your colleagues, your peers or, most importantly, yourself. A healthy relationship is the foundation for any kind of strong, successful bond between people. Whether youve known someone five years or five minutes, its important, crucial even, that everyone is happy and everyone knows whats up.