The Sex Talk Arabic (TST)

STS is a not-for-profit organisation that aims at tackling issues of gender and sexual violence toward women and the LGBTQ+ community in the SWANA region. The organisation was established in 2018 as a digital community group offering a safe space and hotline for Arab women (in all the diversity of the term) around the world to access educational content on SRH in Arabic, ask questions in confidentiality, share lived experiences about their sexualities and sexual rights, and discuss issues that are considered taboo in Arab societies. The safe space also provides a hotline to be connected with volunteer sexual health professionals and resources for examinations and tests, legal support and peer support, supporting women going through abortion or a sexual health crisis, and supporting trans women/men and people with non-conforming gender identities. The Initiative quickly grew, attracting the attention of thousands of people eager to access the educational content we produce and the services we provide through the community group. Since then, the activities of TST expanded to adopt a more holistic approach to SHR education, advocacy and service provision. Our main strategies of change are: •Inclusive and positive education and awareness: we create alternative, accessible feminist education as mechanisms to unlearn harmful beliefs inherited about bodies and instead learn how to celebrate and respect our human differences and diversity. •Decolonising knowledge: We apply research-based approaches based on women’s lived experiences (in all the diversity of the term) in the SWANA region, using primary research and facilitating virtual community discussions, allowing them to share their voices and learn from each other’s experiences. •Creating accessible digital channels of communication and support: We create digital channels with essential resources for Arab women to ask questions in confidentiality, share lived experiences about their sexualities and sexual rights.