Without self-intimacy and stretching yourself emotionally in ways you may not love, it becomes difficult to do the work of allyship and remain effective. Shame, fragility and defensiveness are part of what can come up when we are looking for ways to bring our own gifts and/or privilege forward in service of others.

In order to truly end racism and white supremacy we must look at how it lives in us. None of us have been untouched by racism, whether we have had it directed at us or have perpetuated it in known or unknown ways. We must be willing to look into ourselves and at what makes us uncomfortable in order to change a world that maintains and strengthens itself by anti-Blackness and upholding whiteness as superior.

Amy Jo Goddard is an intersectional feminist sex educator who was heavily influenced in her early feminist awakening by writers like Audre Lorde, Angela Davis, Toni Morrison, Cherríe Moraga, Gloria Anzaldúa, Patricia Hill Collins and many other foremothers who helped her see the interconnections between sex, gender, race, class, ability, nationality through an anti-oppression lens.

She has been teaching and speaking about feminism and sexuality for over two decades. She delivered her TEDx talk “Owning Your Sexual Power” in Napa Valley and is author of Woman on Fire: Nine Elements to Wake up Your Erotic Energy, Personal Power and Sexual Intelligence. She has produced plays and one-woman shows in New York City, and she has written about performance as activism for the Social Justice Journal.

Her forthcoming film At Your Cervix, examines patient consent and bodily autonomy in gynecology and medical education, aiming to end unethical practices that harm both patients and medical students. She is committed to helping people have the hard conversations that lead to liberation.