Nasty Work: Resist Systems, Explore Desire, and Liberate Yourself

An award-winning sexuality educator takes down society's deeply entrenched colonial views on sex and gender throughout history in this accessible, candid, and revolutionary exploration of how we can--and should--reclaim our minds and bodies for a more pleasurable existence for all.

When you think about sex ed, your mind likely goes back to those uncomfortable school desks and the stifled laughs of your teenage years. But what we've been socialized to believe about sexuality actually hinders our own pleasure well into adulthood. Whether we know it or not, even the most progressive among us are often using 400-year-old inherited thoughts and belief systems in the twenty-first century. Why are we still carrying forth these ancient values that have never served the vast majority?

As a Black, queer, non-binary, disabled femme, Ericka Hart believes that sex ed done right can actually be a tool for liberation. In Nasty Work, she 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 Hart takes the blinders off and reveals a more empowering view of sex and sexuality.

Nasty Work blends eye-opening research with powerful, poignant personal narrative that disrupts everything you thought you knew about sex and society, offering a liberatory framework that makes pleasure accessible for all.

Author: Ericka Hart
Publisher: Storehouse Voices
Published: 04/14/2026
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.82lbs
Size: 8.58h x 5.70w x 1.08d
ISBN: 9780593497975

About the Author
Ericka Hart, M.Ed. (she/they) has been teaching comprehensive, trauma-informed, consent- and pleasure-based sex-ed at the elementary, high school, undergraduate and graduate level for the past fifteen years and is now the founder of her own sexuality education training program, Sex Ed as Resistance. She co-hosts the critically acclaimed podcast Hoodrat to Headwrap with her partner, Ebony, and is the mom to their child, East Francis Coltrane (and their cockapoo, Baguette).