{"id":58398,"date":"2025-09-12T00:13:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T00:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/58398\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T00:13:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T00:13:07","slug":"jenny-keane-brings-the-orgasm-tour-to-corks-everyman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/58398\/","title":{"rendered":"Jenny Keane brings the Orgasm tour to Cork’s Everyman"},"content":{"rendered":"

THERE\u2019S a scene in the 1992 movie Fried Green Tomatoes in which housewife Evelyn Couch and her fellow women\u2019s circle participants are instructed to \u201cslip off your panties and straddle your mirrors\u201d.<\/p>\n

Back in the \u201990s, getting up close and personal with your vagina fell firmly into the category of New Agey woo-woo, but today, for sex educator Jenny Keane, it\u2019s an integral part of her online orgasm workshop. Encouraging women to use a mirror to look at their vulva fosters both anatomical awareness and an understanding of how genitals function, because Keane asks, \u201cIf you don\u2019t know where all the parts are and how all the parts function, how do you expect to be able to access pleasure?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s so staggeringly obvious, it\u2019s almost tragic, not least because it\u2019s probably true to say that many women \u2014 let alone men \u2014 would be hard pressed to differentiate between a vulva and a vagina. Keane, a self-described \u201cpublic-facing educator\u201d, is on a mission to \u201cgive people the tools that they need\u201d to support their sexual wellness. And there\u2019s no shortage of takers.<\/p>\n

Keane\u2019s original in-person orgasm workshop facilitated 100 women in 2019. The pandemic necessitated a move online in May 2020, and in the space of a year, Keane \u201chad 20,000 women come through orgasm online\u201d. Social media content restrictions preclude her from advertising, so \u201cit was all word of mouth\u201d, spreading like wildfire through WhatsApp groups, she says.<\/p>\n

Keane traces her journey to becoming a sex educator back to her menstruation. Her periods were so debilitatingly painful that she would be \u201cbuckled over the desk\u201d at school. In time, the Clontarf teenager was diagnosed with endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and prescribed the contraceptive pill to manage her symptoms. \u201c[With] my menstrual cycle, I thought I had to be a passive participant,\u201d she says, an assumption that was turned on its head when she went to the US post-university.<\/p>\n

A stint as a yoga teacher in California led to an immersion in women\u2019s circles, where the encouragement of \u201cholistic, hippie women\u201d ultimately transformed her approach to her menstrual cycle and her body from passive to active. A G-spot weekend workshop in San Francisco left her \u201ccompletely changed\u201d and sparked her \u201cappetite for sex education\u201d.<\/p>\n

She trained in somatic therapy, somatic sex therapy, and trauma therapy, aiming to \u201csatiate my own curiosity and to have my own questions answered\u201d but as she began to share what she\u2019d learned with friends, family and her yoga students, her path to becoming a sex educator began to evolve organically.<\/p>\n

The realisation that her clients lacked \u201cthe very basics of sex education\u201d precipitated her first workshop, orgasm, which facilitated women who were experiencing difficulty reaching orgasm, or were unable to orgasm. Many had menstrual issues, and Keane notes research that shows \u201c98% of women who suffer with PCOS experience sexual dysfunction of some kind. One hundred per cent of women with endometriosis experience sexual dysfunction. I think that\u2019s mind-blowing\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tuning into your body<\/p>\n

Keane\u2019s efforts at managing her own challenging menstrual symptoms are equally mind-blowing. After two years of actively addressing her symptoms (she\u2019d come off the pill while in the US) through functional medicine, nutrition and exercise, the crippling pains ceased and her cycle, which had veered anywhere from 39 to 75 days, stabilised at a \u201ccompletely regular\u201d 29 days.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Keane is quick to stress that while her choices were right for her, \u201cit is not the route for everyone\u201d. The relationship she developed with her cycle still serves her today \u2014 she had a baby with her partner last year \u2014 and she is \u201cvery attuned to my body and the way that it speaks to me\u201d.<\/p>\n

This \u201ctuning in\u201d is at the core of her teaching; the how-to of getting back in touch with the body\u2019s messages so that they can be responded to and managed. Her work was initially female-focused but that shifted as women requested she also educate their men. Now, she\u2019s completely inclusive.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of who you are, what gender you are, what your relationship status is, it\u2019s information for absolutely everybody about how to access more pleasure in your day-to-day life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mostly, it\u2019s women of 25-plus who attend her workshops, but she\u2019s had attendees in their 50s, 60s, and 70s, and \u201cpeople bringing their mothers\u201d.<\/p>\n

The \u201cstory of sex\u201d has changed through the generations, she says, segueing from one of duty and procreation (baby boomers) to exploration (Gen X) and now to a focus on one\u2019s own pleasure (millennials and Gen Z).<\/p>\n

So, what about the influence of porn on those younger generations?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we talk about porn, it\u2019s really important to say that mainstream porn isn\u2019t meant to be sex education. The purpose of mainstream porn is to bring people to arousal quickly,\u201d she says. \u201cIf you are turning to mainstream porn for sex education, it\u2019s like looking at The Fast & the Furious to learn how to drive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JennyJenny Keane. Picture: Orfhlaith Whelan<\/p>\n

Her focus is on helping the \u201chuge numbers of adults who were once children who never received a sex education that they should have\u201d and are now \u201ctrying to rewrite those stories and those scripts \u2026 so they can figure out what parts of that story works for them and what parts of that story does not work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when you know your full story, you learn how to rewrite it in a way that works for your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keane regularly appears at festivals \u2014 WellFest, All Together Now, and Electric Picnic this year \u2014 runs her own live events (for people who \u201cwant to be in a place where this conversation is celebrated, where it\u2019s normalised, where they can go with their partner, with their friends, and can really have a laugh\u201d) and has a website, to which an \u201conline toy shop\u201d has recently been added as \u201ca response to the huge amount of messages I received looking for suggestions about what toys to use\u201d. It\u2019s all under the umbrella of her brand, Oh! Moment, which takes \u201can education-first approach to wellness\u201d.<\/p>\n

Her goal is to \u201ctry to make the conversation about sex as mainstream as possible. I believe that this conversation is just like any other conversation\u201d.<\/p>\n

For those who feel \u201ca little bit trepidatious\u201d and prefer to explore her content in the safety of their own environment, she has online sex-education workshops, which fall into two categories: for people \u201cexperiencing sexual issues who might want to have more information about how to support themselves on a day-to-day basis\u201d; and sex skills workshops, which explore putting \u201cplay and creativity back at the centre of sex again, because that\u2019s ultimately where it belongs\u201d.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a far cry from repressed Catholic Ireland of yore, but while Keane says that \u201cshame is something we all carry\u201d, she stresses it\u2019s not something we are born with and can be unlearned. Shame can be attached to different parts of our sexual story, she says, citing examples such as being told sex before marriage is shameful, or masturbation is a sin, or feeling shame around our body or its appearance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to look at the parts of our story that shame clings to so that we understand how it operates, and then we can slowly start to remove it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Education is empowering<\/p>\n

Tantra yoga is a core element of her offering, but contrary to popular belief, the practice \u201cdoes not involve sex in any way, shape, or form\u201d. Rather, it\u2019s a way of connecting to the body with the pelvis as the focus; again, it\u2019s all about tuning in.<\/p>\n

That tuning in can happen at any stage of life, she says, and finds commonplace sexual issues such as vaginal dryness in menopause, or difficulty reaching orgasm, can often spark questioning, positive action and a segue from being a passive participant to an active one. For Keane, education leads to empowerment, and \u201cbeing connected to your body helps you figure out what it\u2019s saying to you so that you can support it in really important ways\u201d.<\/p>\n

To illustrate, she cites a recent Kinsey Institute study on menopause, which found that 36.2% of the menopausal women surveyed reported experiencing improved symptoms through masturbation. Only 44% reported discussing menopause with their healthcare provider, and of that cohort, just 5% said their provider suggested masturbation as a symptom-relief strategy.<\/p>\n

For Keane, sexuality is inextricably linked to who we are and how we express ourselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we feel good about our bodies, when we feel connected to our bodies, when we feel that we can, when we don\u2019t feel numbness, when we feel sensation, then that ripples into every part of our life, into how we show up, how we walk down the street, how we walk into a room, right?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re willing to say yes to, what we\u2019re willing to say no to, the confidence that we have and exude in all aspects of our life, whether that\u2019s at work or in our relationship \u2014 that\u2019s really the power of sex education, in that it really does have this incredible ripple effect into all aspects of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n