Ellen Friedrichs (she.her)
I am a health educator, writer, and mom of three kids.
Originally from Vancouver, Canada, I completed a degree in women’s studies there before moving to New York and doing a master’s in health and human sexuality education at New York University.
My career has included a stint at Manhattan's Museum of Sex, developing sex education in Mumbai, India, spearheading an HIV prevention program in the South Bronx, teaching at Rutgers in Newark, NJ, and working with Planned Parenthood.
These days, I run a middle and high school health education program and teach in the City University of New York's (CUNY) City Tech campus.
You can see my recent articles in the Washington Post and HuffPost. Currently, I am a contributing writer for the online magazine Motherwell and I am a content expert for the newly relaunched digital version of Our Bodies Ourselves Today.
Much of my writing is related to health and sexuality (both of the adolescent and the adult variety), and some of it is about my experiences parenting and dealing with the sudden death of my big kids’ dad. You can read many of my pieces about all of this stuff here.
Because I wanted to put a lot of my ideas in one place, wrote Good Sexual Citizenship: How to Create a (Sexually) Safer World (Cleis Press:2019), which looks at how we can challenge hostile environments and create sexually safer communities.
I also run workshops for parents, educators, middle and high schoolers, and college students. Among other things I cover talking to kids about sex, puberty, consent, sexual violence, sexual health, community building, gender, and sexual orientation.
Contact me at ellenkatef@gmail.com if you are interested in a workshop or presentation, need a curriculum designed or consult, or have something you think I’d like to write about!
