#69: Public Service Announcement
Sharing some of my recent work – I'm available for commissions!
Please do ‘like’ this post via the heart icon that appears at the very top and bottom of this post, as it’s the best way to help others find my work. Paid subscriptions are currently paused as there will not be any paywalled, or extra POSTSCRIPT content created for these off-season posts. But if this project is something that you value, and you have the means to do so, readers are encouraged to support by sending contributions via PayPal.
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 currently ‘off-season’, so it’s been a lovely surprise to still be getting a steady stream of new subscribers.
Let me reintroduce myself to you guys. ‘She Dares To Say’ is a newsletter project by me, Almaz Ohene, a multidisciplinary writer and creative working in sexuality education, journalism, and branding. It’s a space where I explore how culture impacts the way we engage with sexuality, pleasure, intimacy, and desire.
Here are examples of all the different types of content I’ve been posting here over the last four years:
Lyrical essays
– Memories of blogging, watching MTV, learning dance moves and underage clubbing
– Explaining the cultural significance of West African women wearing ‘waist beads’
Interviews with people
– ‘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.
– ‘Authenticity Arena’ sexuality survey interviews, where I gently encourage members of the public to open up about their views and personal experiences of sex.
Guest writer content
– ‘Considering My Crushes’ guest essays, where writers in my community reveal their earliest crushes
– Season 1 round-up of all the guest pieces on sexuality, diversity and coloniality
Professional updates and events
– Portfolio showcase of copywriting, anti-racism and sexuality ed work
– Promo email for my ‘Developing sexual expression and understanding intimacy’ series (each of the four workshops are still available to book for events like hen parties and baby showers):
Portfolio Showcase
Anti-racism and DEI work
I’ve been working as a contractor on DEI and anti-racism projects via strategy and consutling agencies Utopia, Unstukk, and Brand By Me (where I’m Content Lead), doing a mixture of copywriting, ghostwriting and content strategy for blogs, newsletters and toolkits for brands and organisations like Pret, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Arup Americas and Ramblers.
Sex toy reviewing
For the last few years, I’ve been a reviewer for online platform SEXTECHGUIDE. So, I test out various new products from sex toy companies like LELO, We-Vibe, Womanizer, Biird et al.
Content note: Reviews include physical descriptions of my experiences using products during solo and partnered play.
If you’re working with a sex tech company and have new product launching, feel free to reach out.
Scripting and storyboarding
I also do scripting and storyboarding work with credits for audio apps Dipsea, Ferly and Pocket FM. And have done corporate videos too.
Speaking and Events
I guested on the February episode of monthly Voices Radio show #TheVoiceBox, hosted by Shahlaa Tahira. This episode explores our sex expectations around losing your virginity and loving yourself.
Here’s a clip where I explain the reality of penis size versus what we often see in porn:
Transcript:
Almaz
In the UK, the average penis size is five and a half inches, which is as long as an iPhone six. I mean, so, obviously, those models are quite out of date now. But, so, basically, the newer iPhone models are longer in length than the average penis.
Shahlaa
Wow! That's a good comparison!
Almaz
[chuckles] Yeah.
Shahlaa
Because I know everyone knows the size of an iPhone.
Almaz
Exactly, exactly.
Shahlaa
And you, definitely, like, in porn, you won’t get a penis that size.
Almaz
No, all the penises are like, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven inches! Which is really, really big.
Shahla
Yeah. And so, we was talking about having sex for the first time.
Almaz
Oh yes.
Shahlaa
What advice would you give to young people listening, who do have that pressure around them, whether it's from their friends or their partner, to take that next step in sex?
Almaz
So it’s working out what you actually want. So if you’re seeing someone or got a partner, you might have imagined having sex with them. And if you’re really excited for that moment to happen, and can’t wait for it to happen, and you’ve got plans about, maybe, what music you’re going to play and, like, what pyjamas you’re going to wear, or what outfit you’re going to wear, then I’d say you probably are ready to have sex.
Shahlaa
Yeah.
Almaz
But if you think about having partnered sex, and it makes you feel a bit nervous and a bit anxious and puts you in a funny mood, then I would say you’re probably not ready to have sex.
At the Black Lives Matter UK (BLMUK) inaugural ‘Festival of Collective Liberation’. I spoke on a panel called ‘Colonised Bodies: Gender, Sexuality and Disability’ Here’s a clip:
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.”
And below is my showreel, which features lots of my sexuality, intimacy and pleasure work.
Last year, after continuously receiving unsolicited comments from fashion people asking whether I’d “ever considered modelling”, I finally got my act together and spent some time shooting for my portfolio.
[Image description: Text: “Ms A, Model Commercial, Lifestyle, Editorial, Height: 174cm / 5’ 8.5” UK clothing size: 12 Bust: 91cm / 36” Bra size: 32D Waist: 77cm / 30” Hips: 103cm / 40” Inside leg: 74cm / 29” (to ankle) 83cm / 33” (to floor) Shoe size: 7 / 40 Hair colour: Black, afro-textured / braids Eye colour: Brown]
I’m available for Commercial, Lifestyle, or Editorial shoots!
[Image description: Text ‘Currently available for projects and commissions!’ on a lilac background]
[Image description: Text ‘PRODUCED BY’]
I’m Almaz Ohene, a Creative Copywriter, Freelance Journalist and Accidental Sexpert.
Watch my showreel highlighting the work I’ve been doing within the intimacy pleasure, intimacy and sex ed sectors.
Please do ‘like’ this post via the heart icon below as it’s the best way to help others find my work. Paid subscriptions are currently paused as there will not be any paywalled or extra POSTSCRIPT content created for these off-season posts. But if this project is something that you value, and you have the means to do so, readers are encouraged to support by sending contributions via PayPal.
You can also show your enjoyment without spending £££, by liking, commenting, restacking via Notes or just generally sharing 😃