I know I’m adding to what many have said before me. Perhaps less eloquently and certainly in a more sprawling manner. But, in short, I think the conversations around sex have changed monumentally both for better and worse.
As a member of the last generation able to remember a childhood before the ubiquity of internet and mobile phones as super-computer’s being passé, I see a difference in how conversations have developed, grown and changed in the generations I’m bracketed by as well as my own.
I think we talk more about sex now, I’m not sure how ‘openly’ on the whole but there are certainly ‘spaces’ where people express ideas with less inhibition. Be they online or physical. I am curious as to how people speak about sex amongst peers and friends outside of those dedicated spaces.
Sexual health and wellness cannot be ignored for its impact on conversations about sex. I am glad that stigma has been challenged enough to allow the for things like HIV preventative medication and/or treatment. Had we been more open to conversations around sex sooner, we might still have some of our lost darlings. I’m glad our young people may never know the horror and suffering of a disease silenced by shame.
I worry that for all its good, ‘sexual wellness’ as an industry is keeping a scary silence on conversations around material toxicity, sustainability, labour and regulations that are yet to be meaningfully tackled. I hope the people and retailers we trust with our bodies will respect us enough to have those conversations soon.
As for the cyberspace, it is my opinion that the access to and dissemination of information about sex (or anything else for that matter) has been a double edged sword. For people, young and old to be able to access information about their bodies, sexuality and interests in a way that allows them to feel in control, less awkward, less confronted and safer is a wonderful thing. Of course it is.
I’m also acutely aware of and concerned by the amount and rate at which misinformation, bullying, harassment etc. has entered these new spaces. My generation didn’t have parents that really understood firewalls, parental controls or search history and as much fun as that was, I know I saw things I probably wasn’t equipped for and things that have shaped parts of my sexual life, like it or lump it. Digital natives might have savvier parents, but the kids will always have proxy servers and VPN’s. Take that mum and dad!
Arguably, sexual content online is the ‘Video Nasties’ of a few generations to come and we are starting to see censorship in all its forms of well-meaning or ill-intent but much like Mary Whitehouse, these attempts will likely fade into obscurity and be recalled as equally futile.
So, our conversations about sex have changed in that they have grown in their complexity and wonder. I hope and believe, however optimistically that the gains for the better outweigh the negative. The healthier, happier, orgasmier people, the better. 
