When IPPF publicly committed to pleasure-inclusive sexual health and rights by endorsing The Pleasure Project's Pleasure Principles, we vowed to shift the landscape of sexual health needs with these seven pleasure-filled commitments. Pleasure has become a guiding principle in our new organizational strategy; we have incorporated staff training on pleasure-based sexual health and are working with The Pleasure Project to integrate pleasure into more of our programmes and digital campaigning.
Here is a look back on some of the highlights of our pleasure journey since we endorsed the Pleasure Principles last year, as well as where we hope to go from here.
Treasure Your Pleasure
IPPF’s pleasure journey really kicked off with Treasure Your Pleasure - a bold, fun digital campaign that created a space for young people in Africa to talk about sex freely, reducing shame whilst advocating for safer sex and the importance of pleasure. The campaign embraced all types of pleasure, gender expressions, and identities and all its messages were human rights-based and in line with the seven Pleasure Principles and pleasure-based sexual health.
"Working in partnership with IPPF to ensure they take an evidence-based and pleasure-based approach to sexual health has literally been a journey of joy and pleasure itself,” said Anne Philpott, founder and co-director of the Pleasure Project. “We love seeing the way in which IPPF shows how pleasure can find a way - ensuring services are relevant, fun and honest.”
In analysing the development and impact of the six-month campaign, IPPF Africa Region and The Pleasure Project are currently developing a new guidance note for others to create a pleasure-forward sexual health digital campaign.
Look back on more of the campaign highlights here.
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We love seeing the way in which IPPF shows how pleasure can find a way - ensuring services are relevant, fun and honest
The Pleasure Revolution
Using some of the best practices and lessons learned from Treasure Your Pleasure, IPPF took pleasure to the global stage with our #PleasuRevolution digital campaign. Grounded in the belief that everyone should enjoy a pleasure-filled and healthy sex life, free from violence, shame or criminalization, #PleasuRevolution is all about celebrating sex and sexuality by promoting well-being, safety, pleasure, desire and joy, all while helping people feel empowered to know what they want, and ask for it too.
Featuring a range of diverse global influencers and sexual health experts, we are using 1970s-inspired imagery to promote positive, human-rights messaging based on the seven Pleasure Principles to cover everything from sex and disability, consent, self-pleasure, oral sex, and more.
Follow @ippf_global on Instagram for new content and check out the campaign website for more details.
#PleasuRevolution
NendoTalking Pleasure with Ease
IPPF ESEAOR and The Pleasure Project have developed a guidance note on ‘Talking Pleasure with Ease’ to provide history of the pleasure-based approach, the evidence that supports it, and how the Pleasure Principles are present in the IPPF Youth Programming theory of change.
“Young people play a crucial role in shaping the future of sexual and reproductive health and rights,” said Tomoko Fukuda, Regional Director of IPPF ESEAOR. “By promoting SRHR with young people from a pleasure-based approach, we can empower individuals to fully realise their SRHR positively, changing how SRHR is perceived and approached in future generations.”
The partnership between IPPF ESEAOR and The Pleasure Project aimed to increase understanding and application of pleasure-based sexual health into SRHR programming and services in the region. The team worked together for one year through a series of online and in-person convenings, culminating in this guidance document.
“The exchanges we had across areas of expertise, organizations and countries brought together varied and constructive perspectives that were implemented to make the guidance document accessible, fun, and full of useful regional examples,” said Laura Ramos Tomás, Certified Sexuality Educator and The Pleasure Project Pleasure Fellow.
Check out the full guide here.
By promoting SRHR with young people from a pleasure-based approach, we can empower individuals to fully realise their SRHR positively, changing how SRHR is perceived and approached in future generations.
The #ReproHeroes
Repro Heroes was a digital campaign launched in early 2023 to motivate and inspire young changemakers to find their inner superpower for sexual and reproductive health and rights. The Repro Heroes are champions of sexual and reproductive health and rights - fierce and fearless, you can find them on the frontlines of the fight for safe abortion care, championing climate justice, defending women's rights and advocating for pleasure-centered sexual health.
One Repro Hero in particular stands out for their pleasure super power.
A descendant of the Kuru Warriors of Africa, Kunyaza gets their name from an ancient central African sexual technique that focuses only on triggering female ejaculation and multiple orgasms in women. Kunyaza’s superpower is gender and sexuality shapeshifting, meaning they can enjoy (and induce) any type of orgasm for all types of bodies. With a strong background in comprehensive sex education, Kunyaza knows the science and the psychology behind all things sex and pleasure.
Take our quiz to find out if Kunyaza is your #ReproHero personality match!
IPPF Academy Course
Advocating for Pleasure Inclusive Approaches is a course designed for the IPPF Academy in collaboration with the Pleasure Project and Ana P. Santos, an award-winning multimedia journalist and a Pleasure Fellow with the Pleasure Project.
The course makes the case for pleasure inclusive approaches to SRHR and sexuality programmes to help people enjoy satisfying sex and great relationships and achieve better health outcomes. It is full of fun and interactive exercises with IPPF-specific examples, including Treasure Your Pleasure and other examples of IPPF’s work on pleasure. Participants who complete the entire course will get a Pleasure Champion Certificate, marking the start of their journey into a world where everyone can safely, freely, and joyfully explore and express their sexuality.
"For me, the whole project was a dream collaboration with service providers, public health experts, artists, and storytellers -- different people who work on various aspects of sexual health -- all coming together and pouring in our passion and energy into making an online course fun and educational--and of course pleasurable," said Santos.
For IPPF staff interested in enrolling in the course, please click here.
IPPF Academy Course
IPPF/The Pleasure Project
