Nasty Work

Award-winning sexuality educator Ericka Hart examines society's conservative views on sex and pleasure throughout history and offers an accessible, candid, and intersectional guide on how we can—and should—reclaim our pleasure.

When you think about sex ed, your mind likely goes back to those uncomfortable school desks and the stifled laughs of your teenage years. What we’ve been socialized to believe about sex and sexuality actually hinders our own pleasure and whom we believe should have access to it well into adulthood. Our desires have been, in large part, pre-selected by our society; whether we know it or not, or agree with it or not, even the most progressive among us are often using 400-year-old inherited thoughts and belief systems to determine how we treat ourselves and one another in the twenty-first century. But we don't drive the same cars we used to in the 1940s, so why are we still carrying forth these ancient values that have never served the vast majority? 

Here, Ericka breaks down the ways that social implications keep us from experiencing pleasure, particularly for marginalized communities across race, gender, sexuality, and ability, and how we can dismantle these oppressive myths. From examining what guides our attraction to others to the history of consent, Ericka takes the blinders off and reveals a more liberated view of sex and sexuality. She blends research with her personal experience as a Black, queer, non-binary, disabled femme to create a guide that disrupts everything you thought you knew about sex and society.

    
Ericka Hart (she/they) is a Black queer femme activist, writer, highly-acclaimed speaker, and award-winning sexuality educator with a Master's of Education in Human Sexuality from Widener University. She lives in New Jersey with her partner, Ebony Donnely.

• Publisher: Storehouse Voices
  
• Publication Date: April 7, 2026
  
• Language: English
  
• Pages: 288 pages
  
• ISBN-10: 059349797X
  
• ISBN-13: 9780593497975
  
• Item Weight: 13.8 ounces
  
• Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.72 x 8.25 inches
• Alt: Erika Hart, Erica Heart, Erika Heart