We should be kissing each other, not fighting each other w/ Emily Zawadzki
Release Date: 07/01/2026
Birds And Bees Don't Fck
Join us LIVE AT FIVE (PT) on YouTube for the watch party every Wednesday: Ariel Zucker is a producer, director, and writer from Atlanta, Georgia where sex education was taught through abstinence, fear-based messaging, and wildly unhelpful visuals that left her and her peers confused about their bodies and sexuality. In this episode we talk about growing up with abstinence-based sex education, the confusion and shame that comes from fear-driven messaging, how sex education shapes our early experiences, and what it actually means to unlearn all of that as an adult. We get into working in...
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Alyssa Mei Lue is a traveling burlesque and circus performer, Playboy model, and podcaster from Riverside, California, where her formal sex education consisted of one vague classroom video, a heavily religious upbringing, and getting married at 21 before she had ever seen, touched, or had sex with a penis. In this episode, we talk about performance, survival, and what it actually means to be a dangerous woman. Alyssa shares how she got into modeling during quarantine, why modeling can be just as risky as live performance, and how learning boundaries in those industries changed the way she...
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Join us LIVE AT FIVE (PT) on YouTube for the watch party every Wednesday: Emily Zawadzki (AKA Emily Zed) is a Canadian sex educator who specializes in supporting queer, kinky, and neurodivergent people navigating intimacy, relationships, and pleasure. She grew up in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, where her formal sex education came from Catholic school abstinence lessons, graphic STI scare tactics, and a very cool mom who handed her an educational flap book about how babies are made. In this episode we talk about building a career in sex education, why gender-affirming care isn’t just for...
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Join us LIVE AT FIVE (PT) on YouTube for the watch party every Wednesday: Joy Mamey is an actor, writer, comedian, cancer survivor, and improviser currently performing with Sunday Company at The Groundlings who grew up in Los Angeles where her sex ed teacher wouldn’t answer her questions so she thought sex was basically naked kissing and that penises had bones. In this episode we talk about the surprising overlap between improv and intimacy, why "yes and" can become a people-pleasing trap, and what happens when we're taught to ignore our instincts to make other people comfortable. Joy...
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Join us LIVE AT FIVE (PT) on YouTube for the watch party every Wednesday: Caitlin V is a sex and relationship coach, former sexuality researcher, author of Harder, Better, Longer, Stronger, and host of Good Sex on HBO Max from Michigan where her earliest sex education included a fifth-grade period lesson, a graphic STI scare slide in health class, and years of curiosity about pleasure that she had already discovered on her own. In this episode we talk about what men actually want help with in their sex lives, why performance goals like “lasting longer” rarely solve the real problem, and...
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It’s 6/9 so we’re publishing early! Plus if you're in Los Angeles, come with us... to Melrose Umbrella Co from 6-9p to celebrate! Daddy Heff is a professional dominant, kink educator and master of the sensual art of impact play from Greensboro, North Carolina where his earliest sex education included school lessons on fallopian tubes, ovaries, sperm and semen, sneaking reads of his mom’s risqué novels, flipping through Penthouse Forum stories, and asking a very uncomfortable teacher to explain anal sex after seeing it in a porn video. In this episode we talk about the connection between...
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Join us for the watch party on YouTube LIVE AT FIVE (PT) on episode release day: Phil Morris is an actor best known as Jackie Chiles on Seinfeld and John Jones on Smallville who grew up in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, where the closest thing to sex education was basic health class, a little anatomy, and figuring out the rest through growing up in Hollywood. In this episode we talk about Good Vibes Breakfast Club, the beautiful way community can create space for men to be vulnerable, and why real connection so often happens when people drop the performance and just show up as...
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Justine Cross is a professional dominatrix, dungeon owner, educator, and sex worker advocate who grew up in the tri-state area where she actually received surprisingly comprehensive sex education growing up between private and public schools, something she credits with shaping how she thinks about sex, consent, and power dynamics today. In this episode we talk about how someone becomes a professional dominatrix, what actually happens inside a BDSM dungeon, and why kink spaces are often far more structured, communicative, and consent-focused than most people expect. We also get into power...
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Join the live watch party on YouTube today, episode release day, at 5p PT / 8p ET: Nicole Jardim is a certified women’s health coach, author of Fix Your Period, and founder of the Institute for Menstrual Health originally from Antigua where the closest thing to sex education was mostly silence… leaving her to figure out hormones, cycles, and menstrual health the hard way before eventually dedicating her career to helping other women do the same. In this episode we talk about Nicole and I’s shared history working in television production, how burnout and health challenges led her to...
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Erica Smith is an award-winning sexuality educator, advocate, and author from rural Pennsylvania, where she grew up casually Christian, went to public school, learned sex ed from a gym teacher, and somehow became the most responsible teenage sexual health nerd with birth control, condoms, spermicide, and library books before having sex for the first time. In this episode we talk about purity culture, religious sexual shame, high-control groups, Christian nationalism, marital consent, “duty sex,” the pressure placed on both women and men in evangelical purity teachings, and why healing from...
info_outlineJoin us LIVE AT FIVE (PT) on YouTube for the watch party every Wednesday: https://www.youtube.com/@birdsandbeesdontfck
Emily Zawadzki (AKA Emily Zed) is a Canadian sex educator who specializes in supporting queer, kinky, and neurodivergent people navigating intimacy, relationships, and pleasure. She grew up in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, where her formal sex education came from Catholic school abstinence lessons, graphic STI scare tactics, and a very cool mom who handed her an educational flap book about how babies are made.
In this episode we talk about building a career in sex education, why gender-affirming care isn’t just for trans people, and how gender expression can show up in something as simple as hair color. Emily shares what it was like growing up Catholic while questioning her sexuality, the pressure of stereotypes about what lesbians “should” look like, and how discovering her wife’s ADHD shifted her work toward supporting neurodivergent intimacy and sexuality.
Want more? Catch bonus Reddit story reactions, private chats and more on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/cw/birdsandbeesdontfck
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Where to find Emily:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilyzedsexed
Website: https://emilyzedsexed.com
Emily's Webinar: https://www.emilyzedsexed.com/neuroqueer-webinar
Where to find Arielle:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/birdsandbeesdontfck
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@birdsandbeesdontfck
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/birdsandbeesdontfck
Like jewelry that’ll make you cum? Me too! Get $15 Off Crave Pleasure Jewelry Here: https://lovecrave.com/arielle
Episode Cheat Sheet
02:04 Purple hair babes, identity and gender expression
04:03 What gender-affirming care actually means
06:05 Why queer identities aren’t “new”
08:05 Emily’s path to becoming a sex educator
11:22 Switching from social work to sexuality studies
14:00 Why casual conversations normalize sex education
18:06 Arielle’s early sex curiosity and Dr. Ruth influence
22:00 Producing a sex education podcast for people who hate sex ed
26:00 Catholic school abstinence education and STI scare tactics
27:17 The “cool mom” who provided real sex education
30:20 Why better sex education leads to later sexual activity
33:15 Why showing graphic STI photos to teens is harmful
36:40 Coming out as queer after growing up Catholic
38:50 Unlearning stereotypes about what lesbians “should” look like
41:20 Why labels can be empowering or limiting
45:30 Biphobia and policing identity inside queer communities
50:00 Feminism, patriarchy, and why hating men isn’t the solution
55:05 Discovering ADHD in Emily’s relationship
56:20 Neurodivergence, sensory play, and sexual arousal
58:12 Why partners need to do their own sex education work
59:00 Where to find Emily and upcoming neuroqueer intimacy webinar