Squirm Produces Entertaining, Educational and Erotic Content to Help People Talk About Sex

Most sex advice ends with “talk about it with your partner!” That’s where Squirm’s (getsquirmy.com) advice begins.

Squirm is a Portland company that produces entertaining, educational and erotic content to help people have conversations about sex. There are workshops, audio courses, a sexting etiquette guide, and a podcast coming in September called Porn Nerds. The company just released a conversation card deck called Get Squirmy, where questions range from silly to deep. (The former: “Find two objects and explain the sexual tension they have with each other.” The latter: “Is honesty always the best policy?”)

Squirm is the love child of Kelsey Peake and Tessah Joseph, best friends who met while working at a chiropractic clinic together nearly a decade ago. The idea of Squirm was hatched over 90-minute lunch breaks at the Hollywood Whole Foods, chatting about sex, relationships and non-monogamy while perusing the salad bar and bulk section. After Joseph got her master’s in sociology at the University of Amsterdam with a focus on gender and sexuality (and the pandemic freed up some time), the two knew it was time to launch the project of their dreams together.

In 2021, the friends created the resource they wished they’d had back then: Yes, talk about sex, but when? How do you ask for what you want, and with what words? What happens if it doesn’t go well?

“It’s still uncomfortable and awkward and fumbly sometimes,” Peake says. “That’s not bad. It’s OK to feel squirmy, and you can celebrate and embrace that.”

Their first project was the audio course Oral Hygiene, which offers 10 bite-sized sex-ed lessons, designed to be listened to while brushing your teeth. (It’s based on the technique called “habit stacking,” where you use an existing behavior—brushing and flossing—to cue the desired new behavior, better sexual communication.)

Squirm is still a side hustle for Peake and Joseph, who both deeply feel their mission to help people talk about sex honestly and without shame. Plus, they get to hang with their best friend and chat about sex.

Says Peake, “It’s fun to sit in a conference room on the weekends writing blow job puns.”

See the rest of Willamette Week’s Best of Portland 2024 here!