Sex-Positive Copywriting for Professionals Working With Bodies and Desire
A guide for sex educators, doulas, therapists, and other humans doing intimate work
There’s a very specific kind of panic that hits when you’re trying to write copy about bodies, pleasure, or desire and suddenly think:
“Am I being too explicit?!”
“Or not explicit enough???”
“Is this empowering…or panic-inducing?”
If you’re a sex educator, doula, therapist, or intimacy-based professional, you’re walking a tightrope. You want your language to feel warm, affirming, and human — without sounding like erotica, violating ethical guidelines, or making anyone (including yourself) deeply uncomfortable.
Good news: It is totally possible to talk about desire and bodies in a way that’s clear, respectful, and even a little fun, all without crossing lines.
Let’s talk about how!
Why This Is So Hard (And Why It’s Not Just You)
Most people working in sex-positive or sexual-adjacent fields were never taught how to market this kind of work, only how to do it ethically, carefully, and with a lot of responsibility.
You’re often holding multiple, sometimes conflicting, priorities at once. You’re thinking about professional ethics and trauma-informed language. You’re aware of platform rules and restrictions. You’re navigating your own comfort levels with talking about bodies, pleasure, or desire in a public space. And you’re writing for clients who may already feel vulnerable, cautious, or unsure before they ever reach out.
That’s a lot to carry into your website copy.
So it makes sense that many people swing hard in one direction or the other. Some default to extremely clinical language that feels safe and defensible, but also distant. Others try to soften things so much that the copy becomes vague, abstract, or difficult to orient to, leaving potential clients unsure what actually happens or whether it’s right for them.
Neither approach comes from a lack of skill or care. They come from trying to balance nuance, safety, and professionalism in a space that doesn’t offer clear examples of how to do all three at once.
And that’s why this kind of copy feels so tricky…not because you’re bad at it, but because the work itself lives in a complicated, human middle ground.
Common Mistake #1: Giving Too Much Detail Too Soon
One of the most common things I see with sex educators, doulas, therapists, and sex-positive professionals is over-educating on their website.
This usually comes from care. You want people to understand your ethics, your approach, your training, your boundaries, your methodology, and your philosophy…ideally before they ever contact you.
The problem is that first-time visitors aren’t asking all of those questions yet.
On your website, most people are still trying to answer:
Is this for me?
Do I feel safe here?
Do I roughly understand what this is?
When they’re met with paragraphs of process details, disclaimers, and nuance right away, their nervous system starts to overload.
This often shows up as:
Long explanations of frameworks before outcomes
Detailed session breakdowns before reassurance
Ethics statements before emotional orientation
None of this is wrong. It’s just happening too early.
Common Mistake #2: Treating the Website Like the Entire Client Journey
Many sexual-adjacent professionals write their websites as if it needs to contain everything a client will ever need to know. So the website ends up including info like the FAQ, the intake process, the consent conversation, the first session orientation, the professional disclosure, and more. All at once.
This creates pressure in a different way — not emotional pressure, but cognitive pressure. Visitors feel like they have to understand everything before they’re “allowed” to reach out.
In reality, your website is just the teaser, not the entire experience.
Common Mistake #3: Confusing “Professional” With “Serious at All Times”
Many sex educators, doulas, therapists, and other sex-positive businesses assume that professionalism means:
Neutral tone
No humor
No warmth
No playfulness
Definitely no sexual language
So their copy becomes careful to the point of stiffness. The irony? For people working with bodies, pleasure, birth, sex, or relationships, overly rigid language can feel less safe — not more.
Clients aren’t looking for cold authority. They’re looking for grounded confidence.
Easy Fix #1: Prioritize What Clients Need First
On your website, new visitors aren’t trying to fully understand your methodology. They’re trying to calm their nervous system enough to keep reading.
What they usually need first is reassurance…
that they’re in the right place
that they won’t be rushed or pushed
that they generally understand what kind of support you offer
But many sex-positive professionals lead with the deepest level of detail right away. For example:
A sex therapist might open with a multi-paragraph explanation of therapeutic models, certifications, and scope-of-practice boundaries before ever explaining who the work is actually for.
A doula might start by outlining every stage of labor support and postpartum care before grounding the reader in how support feels emotionally.
A sex educator might list curriculum theory before naming what questions or concerns people usually come in with.
None of that information is wrong. It’s just happening too early in the client journey.
A more effective structure is to start broad and orienting, then let details come later. This might look like:
A value statement
Who this service is designed for
What kind of experience someone can expect
How you approach pacing, consent, and choice
Once a reader feels settled, they’re much more willing to engage with nuance.
Easy Fix #2: Layer Specifity Instead of Front-Loading It
Specificity is one of your strengths, especially if you work in education or therapy. The goal isn’t to remove specificity…it’s to sequence it in a way that makes sense.
Instead of giving someone everything at once, think in layers:
Big-picture clarity at the top of the page
Gentle detail as they scroll
Process specifics once interest is established
Here’s what that can look like in practice:
A sex therapist might begin by naming the kinds of concerns they support (desire, communication, shame, pain) before explaining how sessions are structured.
A doula might first describe the kind of support they offer — steady, informed, nonjudgmental — before detailing on-call timelines and backup plans.
A sex educator might open with the outcomes of their classes (confidence, information, language, pleasure) before outlining the curriculum.
This mirrors how trust actually builds: gradually, not all at once.
Easy Fix #3: Redefine Professionalism in a Way That Actually Fits Your Work
A lot of sex educators, doulas, therapists, and other sex-positive businesses assume that professionalism means neutral, careful, and emotionally restrained at all times.
Which is wild, considering you work with sex, birth, bodies, trauma, relationships, and pleasure — none of which are calm, neutral experiences.
Professionalism doesn’t mean you have to pretend that reality is neat and tidy. Professionalism means you know your own voice well enough to talk about it without flinching.
Here’s what that can look like when you stop smoothing your edges:
A sex therapist might say: “If you’re here because you think you’re bad at sex, broken, or the only person who doesn’t have this figured out — congrats, you’re extremely normal.”
A doula might lead with: “Birth is unpredictable, occasionally beautiful, occasionally a total shitshow. My job is to support you through all of it — not just the curated Instagram-worthy moments you see online.”
A sex educator might open with: “Let’s be honest: most of us got a wildly unhelpful sex education. My classes exist for the questions you were never allowed to ask, the things you Googled at 2 a.m.
These examples don’t undermine professionalism, they redefine it on your own terms. They tell potential clients that you won’t judge them, you won’t sugarcoat reality, you won’t expect them to perform vulnerability, and you understand the real-world context they’re coming from.
That honesty is often what makes someone feel safe enough to book. If your copy sounds like something you’d say out loud to a real client (swear words optional, but encouraged if that’s true to you), you’re doing it right.
The One Night Stand: Website Copy Audit for Sex Positive Professionals
Talking about desire, bodies, and pleasure doesn’t require you to dim your light into a neutral, personality-free version of a professional!
If you’re not sure whether your website copy is striking that balance, or if you suspect you might be over-explaining, under-connecting, or hiding your personality behind “professional” language, that’s exactly what The One Night Stand is for.
What’s the One Night Stand?
The One Night Stand is a focused website copy audit where I look at what your copy is actually doing for first-time visitors: what’s working, what’s doing too much too soon, and where your voice could come through more clearly (without crossing lines).
You don’t need to rewrite everything. You just need to know what to keep, what to cut, and what to loosen up. And that’s exactly what I help you with!
