This content is not behind a paywall, but since it takes time to create and upload each piece, do please consider becoming a paid subscriber of ‘She Dares to Say’ which gets you subscriber-only posts each month, which is either billed monthly at £3.79 or annually at £34.99.

Upgrade to paid

If you would prefer to make a one-off donation, feel free to send a contribution via PayPal.

Support

You can also show your enjoyment without spending £££, by liking, commenting, restacking via Notes or just generally sharing 😃

[Image description: Text ‘Public Service Announcement !!!’ on a lilac background]

Public Service Announcement

Hello and welcome to all my new subscribers! ‘She Dares To Say’ is a newsletter by me, Almaz Ohene, a multi-disciplinary writer and creative working across sexuality education, journalism and branding.

Much of my work centres marginalised voices, as I’m committed to taking steps to help dismantle all forms of systemic oppression.

‘She Dares To Say’ is currently in its third season, which began in October 2023. Season 3 has a rotating schedule of content:

‘Pleasure Principles with Almaz Ohene’ column for Female Health & Fertility magazine

[Image description: promo banner for Female Health & Fertility magazine showing many different front covers and text ‘A healthy vagina is a happy vagina FEMALE health & fertility Seeking support for your reproductive and intimate health? SIGN UP NOW femalehealthandfertility.com’]

My column appears in the digital magazine each issue (now released quarterly) and I also publish it in full via ‘She Dares To Say’.

Previous columns:

#52: Tips for how to keep sex pleasurable when you have vaginismus Almaz Ohene · Aug 14 Read full story

#47: Making intimacy enjoyable again when you're battling fertility issues Almaz Ohene · May 15 Read full story

#41: Tips for navigating gynae challenges in new relationships Almaz Ohene · December 6, 2023 Read full story

‘Authenticity Arena’ sexuality survey interviews

Where I gently encourage members of the public to open up about their views and personal experiences of sex. Interviews are formatted as verbatim text transcripts and I also include the audio recordings (with any identifying personal information bleeped out).

Previous interviews in the series:

#51: Authenticity Arena – No. 17 Almaz Ohene · Jul 31 Read full story

#48: Authenticity Arena – No. 16 Almaz Ohene · May 29 Read full story

#43: Authenticity Arena – No. 15 Almaz Ohene · Jan 17 Read full story

‘Considering my Crushes’ essays

Where I write about my celebrity/public eye/fictional crushes along with imagery. Some of these posts are guest essays by writers in my community.

Previous interviews in the series:

#53: Guest Post – Considering My Crushes Almaz Ohene and Peter Apps · Aug 28 Read full story

#50: Guest Post – Considering My Crushes Almaz Ohene and Karla Marie Sweet · Jul 3 Read full story

#46: Considering My Crushes – No. 02 Almaz Ohene · May 1 Read full story

‘What the notches said’ interviews

Where I reach out to various people from my sexual past and ask them to answer quick-fire questions about where they were at in life when we dated/hooked-up and how their views/situation have changed in the intervening years.

Previous interviews in the series:

#54: What The Notches Said – No. 04 Almaz Ohene · Sep 11 Read full story

#49: What The Notches Said – No. 03 Almaz Ohene · Jun 19 Read full story

#45: What The Notches Said – No. 02 Almaz Ohene · Mar 20 Read full story

[Image description: Text ‘Currently available for projects and commissions!’ on a lilac background]

I’m currently available for projects and commissions!

Here’s a branded-up image showing some of my projects and experience (although, unfortunately, it doesn’t highlight the anti-racism and DEI work I’ve been doing). 

And below is my showreel, which features lots of my sexuality, intimacy and pleasure work.

Commission me!

One of my recent work highlights was speaking on a panel at the Black Lives Matter UK (BLMUK) inaugural ‘Festival of Collective Liberation’.

[Image description: BLMUK flyer for its Festival of Collective Liberation]

I was speaking on a panel called ‘Colonised Bodies: Gender, Sexuality and Disability’ alongside Aderonke Apata (African Rainbow Family), Kym Oliver (Triple Cripples) and Jason Jones – chaired by Aviah Sarah Day (Black-Jewish Alliance).

[Image description: L–R Jason Jones, Aviah Sarah Day, Almaz Ohene, Aderonke Apata and Kym Oliver]

Here’s a two-minute clip of me talking about how the colonisation of Ghana by the British in the 1800s can be argued to be the root of the current anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment in the country.

Transcript:

Almaz Ohene: “And a bit of a potted of history of Ghana. It was colonised by the Portuguese, then the Dutch, then the British. The British mode of colonisation was during the Victorian period in England, where values were based on respectability politics and Protestantism or Catholicism.”

“So, a lot of the cultural changes that happened in what was named the Gold Coast, were highly related to what was happening within the upper middle classes in Victorian England. So, the sexual and family values that were promoted were those of “Oh, be chaste”, “Go to church”, “Make sure you get married young”, “Have lots of children”, “Don't be seen to be too joyous in the way that you express pleasure” and things like that. So, in Ghana, a lot of the middle classes, kind of, subscribe to those values.”

“Also, relating to that, the penal codes that were put into place in the Gold Coast at that time were based on colonial penal codes which criminalised non-hetero sex. So, then, when Ghana gained independence – well, the Gold Coast gained independence and became Ghana – when they were putting their constitutions together, they borrowed a lot of the laws and statutes that were in the existing Gold Coast laws, so, therefore, any kind of non-hetero sex was also penalised and criminalised. So that’s the potted background.”

Black History Month in the UK is this October so feel free to reach out if you’d like me to speak at an event / run a workshop.

Get in touch

I’ve also been working with Reproductive Justice Initiative (formerly Decolonising Contraception) doing outreach and co-facilitating workshops.

[Image description: collage of Reproductive Justice Initiative social media assets featuring Almaz doing outreach work]

One of the highlights was having a sexual health and contraception stall at queer London club night ‘Pussy Palace’, where I was on hand to answer clubber’s sex questions and demonstrate how to use dental dams and finger condoms (safer sex aids for vulvas and anuses).

Feel free to reach out if you’d like to book me to facilitate a sexual health / sexuality / pleasure workshop for your organisation or event.

Get in touch

I’ve also been working as a contractor on DEI and anti-racism projects via strategy agencies Utopia and Brand By Me, doing a mixture of copywriting, ghostwriting and content strategy work for blogs, newsletters and toolkits for brands like Ramblers and Pret.

I’m currently available for writing projects and commissions.

Get in touch!

This content is not behind a paywall, but since it takes time to create and upload each piece, do please consider becoming a paid subscriber of ‘She Dares to Say’ which gets you subscriber-only posts each month, which is either billed monthly at £3.79 or annually at £34.99.

Upgrade to paid

If you would prefer to make a one-off donation, feel free to send a contribution via PayPal.

Support

You can also show your enjoyment without spending £££, by liking, commenting, restacking via Notes or just generally sharing 😃