The TikTok Channel Telling Male Athletes to Love Each Other
Death, Sex & Money
Slate Audio
4.6 • 7.7K Ratings
🗓️ 17 February 2026
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Here at DSM, we’ve been enjoying Heated Rivalry, the HBO series about two pro hockey players who begin a secret love affair. The show is steamy, but it also highlights some persistent problems in male sports culture, namely, that same-sex relationships are still extremely taboo.
But one TikTok account is trying to change that culture for the better. Sex Ed for Guys was started by athletes at Colby College in Maine, and their videos promote emotional vulnerability and openness, strong male friendships, safe sex, and lots more. This week, Anna talks to three of those athletes (Chris Maichin, Jack Gatjanis, and Mitch Humphrey) and to Adam Howard, their faculty mentor.
This episode was produced by Cameron Drews.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Okay, heated rivalry fans, now that you've burned through that steamy, sweet love story, |
| 0:08.1 | I've got something else for you about sex and desire and how to talk about male vulnerabilities and secrets, |
| 0:16.0 | particularly among athletes. It's a TikTok account called Sex Ed for Guys. |
| 0:22.4 | And admittedly, it's got a different tone and sensibility than our favorite horny hockey show. |
| 0:28.7 | Hey, Owen, jump in the river if it's okay to make fun of people for their feelings. |
| 0:32.7 | Cole, jump in the river if it's healthy to talk about your feelings with your friends. |
| 0:36.6 | Hey, Zach, jump in the river if it's |
| 0:38.1 | okay for men to cry. Dan, jump in the river if consent is cool. Sex ed for guys is made by students |
| 0:48.5 | at Colby College in Maine, mostly by guys, most of whom are athletes. And it's designed for guys who might be scrolling through and getting the latest dispatches from the manosphere or images of aspirational jawlines. |
| 1:04.6 | And this is more goofy, but its creator's hope is counter programming that will land about the basics of communication |
| 1:13.7 | and how to be an intimate relationship with other people and all the ways that can look. |
| 1:20.1 | In this episode, I talked to a few different young men who make these videos, their faculty mentor, |
| 1:26.2 | who's found the work healing himself, and we'll hear from one student |
| 1:30.5 | athlete who feels an especially strong connection to heated rivalry. |
| 1:35.6 | One of the biggest reasons for me not coming out was because of what would the locker |
| 1:42.5 | room situations be like? What would my friends on the lacrosse team think? |
| 1:45.7 | Oh my God, my whole world is just going to blow up. |
| 1:51.8 | This is death, sex, and money. |
| 1:56.4 | The show from Slate about the things we think about a lot and need to talk about more. |
| 2:04.1 | I'm Anna Sale. |
| 2:17.2 | What's up, guys? Welcome back to Sex Head for Guys. Today we'll be playing another round of That's What's up, guys? Welcome back to Sex Ed for Guys. |
| 2:19.3 | Today we'll be playing another round of That's What's Up and What's Up with that. |
... |
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