LOS ANGELES – Educational organization Everyone Deserves Sex Ed (EDSE) has called upon body-positive influencer and certified sex educator Elle Chase, ACS, to train attendees of EDSE’s upcoming 25-hour sex educator certification program, which is scheduled for Nov. 9-10 and 16-17 in Los Angeles.

According to the announcement issued today by EDSE, Chase will “facilitate discussion of body image, fat sex, and body acceptance to help budding educators have confident and informed conversations with their clients.”

The founder of the Tumblr site LadyCheeky.com and author of the sexual positions book Curvy Girl Sex, Chase specializes in discussing the intersection of sexual expression, identity and body image. A graduate of the San Francisco Sex Information (SFSI) sex educator training program, Chase will give EDSE attendees valuable perspective on how to make educational spaces more inclusive and body-positive.

“I love empowering people with accurate and unbiased information about stigmatized topics like these, and this is an incredible opportunity to bring these kinds of conversations into an educational space,” Chase said. “I have known and worked with Anne (Hodder-Shipp, ACS, the founder and lead educator of EDSE) since 2014 and it is a pleasure to be a part of her EDSE certification program for a second time. As a proponent of body acceptance and candid conversations about fat sex, I look forward to helping EDSE attendees learn and shape their perspectives on these deeply personal and important topics.”

Hodder-Shipp said she asked Chase to teach this portion of the certification because of her “experience and inimitable expertise,” adding that Chase has built a loyal following in-person and online as a fierce supporter of maintaining open and honest dialog about sexual pleasure and body image, including its social, cultural personal, and sexual impacts.

“Elle and I have been colleagues and friends for six years and it has been a pleasure working with her to build this curriculum for EDSE,” Hodder-Shipp said. “Among other things, Elle is known for her work within the body-pos and body acceptance movements and her work surrounding sexual expression and sensuality has made her a thought leader within the space. I can’t think of a better person to have these conversations with EDSE attendees, which is why I asked her to return for the Fall training.”

Over the course of two weekends, EDSE attendees will “learn key information about human sexuality, intimate health, consent, and communication skills and be trained to respond to sex-related questions in a concise, intersectional, and nonjudgmental manner,” EDSE said in its statement about the upcoming sessions in November. Attendees also will leave with “new insight into their own sexuality — a fun side effect of sex education training.”

Individual certification through EDSE is $2,095, and payment plans are available to those in need. To apply, fill out the form at EveryoneDeservesSexEd.com. According to EDSE, a representative will review and be in contact within 48 hours of submission.

“During my time as a sex educator, and a sex blogger before that, there was one thing I noticed most people had in common: a lack of confidence in, and even a little fear about, talking about sex,” Hodder-Shipp said. “This insecurity has a dramatic trickle-down effect. It leaves professionals feeling unprepared for workplace dynamics, parents terrified of having ‘the talk,’ and service providers caught off-guard during sensitive conversations with their clients. My goal with EDSE is give people access to the kind of professional and educational support so many of us have lacked throughout our personal and professional lives.”

For more information about Hodder-Shipp, go to AnneHodder.com, or email Anne directly at anne@everyonedeservessexed.com.