Hi everyone, welcome back to doing it, the Sex and Relationships podcast where sex

has never been so nerdy with me, your host Hannah Witten. This week, I am joined by the

fantastic Courtney Brame. Courtney Brame is one of the most important voices in sexual health and herpes

destigmatization. Courtney is the founder of something positive for positive people, a sexual health

platform taking the lived experiences of people who have been diagnosed with an STI and educating

the public on how to navigate the stigma that comes with it.

Courtney is such a crucial activist in improving how we approach sexual health

and importantly drawing attention to how herpes can massively impact people's mental health,

as well as working to encourage more men to speak about sexual health

and educating the sex positive world

on how conversations around STIs can be more intersectional for people of colour.

I wanted to have Courtney on the show as not only is herpes a topic that still needs so much

destigmatising, but I was incredibly interested to talk about STIs and herpes with him from his perspective as a black man

and how his identity impacts sex and relationships and vice versa.

Courtney and I chatted all about why sexual health is mental health.

He shed many interesting insights from an in-depth study he did on the impact of those who have herpes and mental health.

We spoke about the need for people with positive STI diagnoses to receive therapy and the need

to have more diverse voices in sexual health to challenge stigma across different communities.

Courtney spoke about why there are so few spokespersons amongst black men with herpes

and the need for more black men to speak up about having herpes and challenge the stigma.

We also chatted about the bias that exists in sexual health,

what identity validating healthcare is and why it is so important.

...