Karishma | Sexuality Educator

the person behind @talkyounevergot - who I am, what I’ve studied, and why I care so, so much about this work 💙 if you’re new here, this one’s for you. What else do you wanna know?

Recently, Harvard Chan social media ambassador @diosa.sol attended an event organized by students Karishma Swarup (@talkyounevergot ) and Mili Adhikari — a "Clitoris Class" workshop, organized through the Harvard Chan Student Organization for Sexual & Reproductive Health. The student organization is committed to fostering meaningful dialogue, organizing events, and creating opportunities for deep engagement on issues such as reproductive justice, maternal health, sexual health, and menstrual equity.

Sometimes I feel like the pop culture jokes around, not being able to find the clitoris can make the V feel more mysterious and inaccessible. The reality is a simple understanding of the anatomy goes a really long way. Calling it “mysterious” or “hard to find” makes it something we continue to call “too complicated to figure out”. if you know how to open a door, you are never going to miss the door knob. Perhaps if nobody talked about how doors work, nobody showed us how a door works, and purposely told us never to touch a door, especially when it’s our own door, it would be quite confusing the first time we ever saw a door. In fact, when a guest comes over and they try to open the door to leave, if we don’t know how our own door works, how will we ever show them? Hopefully, my awfully long sentence and silly metaphor explains what I’m trying to say. It’s not mysterious, we just need to take the time to understand. The first written record of the clitoris in western history was in 110 AD. But the first ever 3-D mapping was in 2005. Make it make sense. They literally removed it from medical textbooks for the longest time. It’s only complicated because it’s been erased. My own biology teacher in school told me it has no purpose! All this to say, there’s a reason why I keep talking about this. If you’re new here, follow me. If you want to learn more, I’m offering an online course in a low-key way — I’ve turned off my dear automation for now, but DM me about it if you are curious. Thank you for reading and hope you have a wonderful pleasure filled week ahead 🌸💐🪻🌷🌼🪴 [Gen Z India relationship advice, young adults India dating culture, modern Indian intimacy conversations, consent education for young adults, feminist relationship education India, body literacy awareness India, menstrual cycle education India, hormone health for women India, emotional intelligence in relationships, communication skills for couples India, queer inclusive education India, pleasure positive wellness India, evidence based health education India, reproductive health awareness India, Indian youth self growth community]

There can be several reasons why one may not be keen to opt for hormonal contraception. That's totally okay. We have so many other options which are often not even discussed! ➡️ The copper IUD works for up to ten years, no hormones involved. Copper affects how sperm move, making fertilisation very unlikely. can cause heavier periods in the first few months — worth knowing going in. ➡️ Chhaya (also called Saheli) is a weekly pill developed in India that works without hormones. one of the only non-hormonal oral contraceptives in the world — made here, and most people still haven't heard of it 🇮🇳 ➡️ fertility awareness, when done properly — tracking temperature, cervical mucus, and cycle length together — is more effective than most people assume. Logging period dates on an app is not the same thing. ➡️ tubectomy/vasectomy - these are NOT mentioned in our guide since they are relatively more permanent options, but important if you are sure about not wanting to get pregnant in the future! Comment "GUIDE" to get a downloadable version of this guide. Follow us if you want more of this education or "the talk" you never got. (reproductivehealth, bodyliteracy, cycletracking, knowyourbody, periodhealth, womenswellness, hormonalhealth, bodyeducation, cycleeducation, protectionmatters, fertilityawareness, healthyrelationships, informedchoices, bodyscience, indiahealth)"

The pill has been around since 1960. It is one of the most studied medications in history. And somehow, the information most people have about it is still either completely dismissive or completely fearful 💊 ➡️ A lot of the scary claims you see online are based on research from the 1960s, when doses were significantly higher than what’s used today. The pill has changed a lot since then. Those studies haven’t been updated in people’s minds. ➡️ for people managing endometriosis, very painful periods, or irregular cycles from conditions like PCOS — hormonal contraception is sometimes the primary treatment, not just a lifestyle choice. That context rarely comes up in the broader conversation. ➡️ Mood changes are real for some people and deserve to be taken seriously. Research does show a connection between certain types of synthetic hormones in some pills and depression risk in some individuals, particularly younger users. if your mood shifted after starting the pill, that’s worth bringing up with a doctor. There are ways to manage these symptoms. 🧠 The pill is a tool. not a villain, not a miracle. The right decision is just an informed one. save this before your next doctor’s visit 📌 (reproductivehealth, bodyliteracy, cycletracking, knowyourbody, periodhealth, womenswellness, hormonalhealth, bodyeducation, cycleeducation, protectionmatters, fertilityawareness, healthyrelationships, informedchoices, bodyscience, indiahealth)

The idea of tracking your way out of pregnancy with an app sounds appealing. no hormones, no devices, just data. But there’s a gap between what the marketing suggests and what the method actually asks of you 🔬 ➡️ These apps track temperature to predict ovulation. But temperature only rises after ovulation has already happened, so the app is always slightly behind the event it’s trying to catch. ➡️ Ovulation can also shift because of alcohol, poor sleep, illness, or stress — all of which affect body temperature too. If those things aren’t logged carefully, the data gets noisy. Wearables like the Oura ring do improve accuracy by tracking temperature continuously. But no app can fully account for how unpredictable bodies can be 📊 This isn’t a reason to dismiss the method. It’s a reason to understand it properly before relying on it alone. save this before you choose an app over other options 📌 (reproductivehealth, bodyliteracy, cycletracking, knowyourbody, periodhealth, womenswellness, hormonalhealth, bodyeducation, cycleeducation, protectionmatters, fertilityawareness, healthyrelationships, informedchoices, bodyscience, indiahealth)

These two pills look nearly identical. Both are small, both taken orally, both connected to preventing pregnancy. The confusion makes complete sense. But they work in completely different ways — and mixing them up can leave you unprotected without realising it 💊 ➡️ Regular birth control pills are taken every day. They work by stopping ovulation from happening in the first place. They need time to become effective ➡️ The emergency pill works by delaying ovulation after the fact. If ovulation has already happened before you take it, it’s unlikely to do much. Taking it within 24 hours gives you the best chance — around 95% effective. Waiting until the 72-hour mark drops that to roughly 58%. ➡️ something most packaging doesn’t mention: emergency pills may be less effective above a certain body weight. A copper IUD inserted within five days is actually the most effective form of emergency contraception available — more so than any pill. Very few people know this!! Knowing the difference isn’t just helpful. It’s necessary. save this so you have it when you actually need it 📌 (reproductivehealth, bodyliteracy, cycletracking, knowyourbody, periodhealth, womenswellness, hormonalhealth, bodyeducation, cycleeducation, protectionmatters, fertilityawareness, healthyrelationships, informedchoices, bodyscience, indiahealth)

Most long-term contraception options sit entirely on people with uteruses. the pill, the IUD, the injection, the implant — all of it. That’s a lot to carry, and it’s been that way for a long time 👀 Is it time for cis men to also “shoulder” some of the responsibility?? 👻 ➡️ There’s a contraceptive gel currently in clinical trials that gets applied to the shoulders daily and reduces spe-rm production over time. ➡️ It also keeps testosterone levels stable while doing this — so mood, energy, and secs drive stay intact. ➡️ Early results show sperm counts dropping to levels low enough to prevent pregnancy in most participants. The method also appears to be reversible 🔬 It’s likely still five to ten years from being prescribable. But it’s in trials, it’s real, and that matters. save this if you want to follow where this goes 📌 source: NIH — Male Contraceptive Gel NES/T Clinical Trial Gen Z India relationship advice, young adults India dating culture, modern Indian intimacy conversations, consent education for young adults, feminist relationship education India, body literacy awareness India, menstrual cycle education India, hormone health for women India, emotional intelligence in relationships, communication skills for couples India, queer inclusive education India, pleasure positive wellness India, evidence based health education India, reproductive health awareness India, Indian youth self growth community, public health education, health literacy, health communication

In school, if contraception came up at all, it was usually just “use a c0nd0m.” Nobody explained how cycles actually work, or why an app on your phone can’t reliably tell you when you’re fertile. Here’s what most people don’t know: ➡️ Ovulation isn’t fixed. stress, travel, illness, poor sleep — all of these can shift when you ovulate, sometimes by several days. ➡️ Sperm can survive inside the body for up to five days. So even if you time things around a “”safe day,”” a small shift in ovulation can create an overlap the app never predicted. ➡️ The method these apps are based on — fertility awareness — can actually work, but only when you’re tracking temperature, cervical mucus, and cycle length together daily. Most apps don’t ask you to do that. Most people aren’t doing it. Tracking your cycle is worth doing. just know what it can and can’t tell you 🔍 save this before your next “safe day”📌 Read more about fertility awareness at: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists— Fertility Awareness Methods [ Gen Z India relationship advice, young adults India dating culture, modern Indian intimacy conversations, consent education for young adults, feminist relationship education India, body literacy awareness India, menstrual cycle education India, hormone health for women India, emotional intelligence in relationships, communication skills for couples India, queer inclusive education India, pleasure positive wellness India, evidence based health education India, reproductive health awareness India, Indian youth self growth community ]

Someone pulled me aside at a gathering recently and said exactly this. She wasn’t angry. She just looked like she’d already tried explaining it ten different ways and didn’t know what was left to say 😕 It’s also worth noticing if the conversation keeps ending up centred on his discomfort. because at some point, someone else’s comfort quietly becoming more important than your safety isn’t just a communication problem 🚩 consistent refusal to use protection when a partner has clearly asked for it has a name — reproductive coercion. It doesn’t have to look dramatic or extreme to be a problem. You shouldn’t have to convince someone to take your safety seriously. If you haven’t seen it already, check out the linked reel here - it’s a case for why the pullout method is not a super safe prevention option. Save this if you’ve ever felt like you were asking for too much by asking for protection 📌 source: Reproductive Health Matters — Reproductive Coercion; Scarleteen — Condom Negotiation

Dental dams exist. Almost nobody in India has ever seen one in a pharmacy. And most people don’t even know they’re supposed to be using protection during oral sx at all 😅 ➡️ STIs like herpes, HPV, gonorrhea, and syphilis can all be transmitted through oral sx. This is genuinely underreported and undertested for because most people don’t think of oral sx as a transmission risk. ➡️ Dental dams are listed by the WHO as a recommended barrier method, but are essentially unavailable in most Indian pharmacies. making one from a c0nd0m is a legitimate and recognised alternative — not a hack. ➡️ Latex allergies are more common than people realise. If latex is an issue, polyurethane c0nd0ms can be used to make a dam instead and work just as well. ➡️ The reason most people have never had this conversation is that oral sx was left out of sx ed almost entirely, which left a lot of people unaware that transmission risk exists at all in this context. Save this and send it to someone who didn’t know this was a thing 📌 Not an ad or a brand collab ( Gen Z India relationship advice, young adults India dating culture, modern Indian intimacy conversations, consent education for young adults, feminist relationship education India, body literacy awareness India, menstrual cycle education India, hormone health for women India, emotional intelligence in relationships, communication skills for couples India, queer inclusive education India, pleasure positive wellness India, evidence based health education India, reproductive health awareness India, Indian youth self growth community )

Most of us got exactly one conversation about STIs — and it was designed to scare us, not inform us 😅 Here's what actually didn't make it into that conversation: ➡️ You can have an STI and test negative if you test too soon after exposure. Each STI has a different ""window period"" — the time between exposure and when a test can accurately detect it. Testing too early can give a false negative. ➡️ Some STIs like herpes and HPV can be transmitted through skin contact alone, even when a c0nd0m is used correctly. Most people don't know this. ➡️ STI stigma is one of the biggest reasons infections spread. People avoid testing because they're afraid of what it means about them. But the only thing a positive test means is that you need treatment, which exists for almost everything. ➡️ In India, access to confidential STI testing is limited, and awareness of where to go is even more so. Most government hospitals offer free testing, but very few people know that! Some private clinics even offer at-home or in-clinic testing depending on the type of STI you are getting tested for. Getting tested regularly is just part of knowing your own health. It's not dramatic, and it doesn't say anything about you except that you're paying attention. Save this and send it to someone who needs to hear it without the shame. 📌 ( Gen Z India relationship advice, young adults India dating culture, modern Indian intimacy conversations, consent education for young adults, feminist relationship education India, body literacy awareness India, menstrual cycle education India, hormone health for women India, emotional intelligence in relationships, communication skills for couples India, queer inclusive education India, pleasure positive wellness India, evidence based health education India, reproductive health awareness India, Indian youth self growth community )