The Purity Culture Recovery Guide: The Shame-Free Sex Education You Deserve coming February 2026 from Bloomsbury Press

My book finally has a name and a publication date! This is the biggest news of the week other than the obvious celebrity engagement :)

What's more...

Preorders are REALLY important for authors, so if you're thinking that this book is for you (or a friend, family member, etc)- it would mean a lot to me if you purchased it before it's officially released.

Here's the description from Bloomsbury Press:

You deserve to understand your body, embrace your sexuality, and find joy without shame.​
For those raised in purity culture, messages about sex were rooted in fear, silence, and control. Virginity was prized above all else, sexual desire was condemned, and women, queer, and trans people were often left shrouded in shame. The results have been devastating: fear of intimacy, painful or unsatisfying sex, and a lingering sense of brokenness.
In The Purity Culture Recovery Guide, sex educator Erica Smith-founder of the Purity Culture Dropout® program-offers the comprehensive, inclusive, and trauma-informed sex education many never received. Drawing on more than two decades of professional experience, Smith replaces shame with empathy, self-compassion, and empowerment. She provides medically accurate information about bodies, birth control, pleasure, communication, consent, and abortion, alongside affirming discussions of gender, sexuality, and relationships.
Smith's approach is both practical and healing. Readers will learn how to set boundaries, challenge damaging beliefs, explore their own sexual values, and build a new sexual ethic based on respect, autonomy, and joy. Most of all, this book insists that there is nothing wrong with you.
Whether you are beginning your recovery from purity culture or seeking to deepen your sexual self-understanding, The Purity Culture Recovery Guide is an essential, shame-free guide to reclaiming pleasure and rewriting your sexual story.

And here's the Table of Contents:

Introduction
1. The Truth About Purity Culture
2. Confronting Purity Culture Values
3. Defining Sexuality and Sexual Health
4. Bodies
5. Attraction, Desire, and Arousal
6. Pleasure, Fantasy, and Masturbation
7. What Is Sex and How to People Have It?
8. Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
9. Sexual Healthcare
10. Abortion and Reproductive Justice
11. Sexual Communication and Consent
12. Casual Sex and Dating
13. Pornography and Sex Work
14. Your Sexual Ethic and Sex Positive Reframes
Conclusion: You Got This!
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Appendix A: Your Sexual Bill of Rights
Appendix B: Resources for Further Learning and Support

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I've been waiting to send this email for so long!!!

xo

E

ps on a personal note...I can't believe I wrote a book. I've wanted to write a book since I was a little girl who was a total bookworm and absolutely SLAYED at the Pizza Hut Book-It Program

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