Ericka Hart

Hart advertising for Chromat in 2018

Ericka Hart is an American sex educator, model, and professor.

Background

After being diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer in May 2014 at the age of 28, Hart went viral for attending Afropunk topless, showing scars from her double mastectomy. "We don’t go to the doctor because of historical trauma, institutionalized racism, so on and so forth. And we die faster because if you find cancer later on, your rates of survival are less." Hart explained, "I wore my chest out because I wanted to raise awareness, but I also...still feel really sexy with my body this way, and I want to be received as sexy, not just as a survivor." Since then, Hart has posted topless for Paper magazine, Out magazine, and on the runway of Chromat's Fall 2018 show at New York Fashion Week. "Being a part of the QTPOC community, and seeing how little information is geared towards us [in the media], breast cancer is literally killing us and my hope is to inspire many people across a spectrum of gender identities," she told Vogue. "The societal assumption is that having a double mastectomy would somehow make my body abnormal, or that not having nipples must signal a descent into shame or discomfort around my body image, but my relationship with my body hasn't changed."

Hart graduated from the University of Miami Coral Gables in 2008 with a degree in theater and psychology. Hart has a Master’s of Education in Human Sexuality from Widener University. From 2008-2010, Hart served as a HIV/AIDS volunteer in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia.

Career

A former adjunct professor at the Columbia School of Social Work, Hart taught human sexuality. She has taught sexuality education to audiences ranging from elementary-aged youth to adults. A difficult experience trying to learn about sex as a child inspired her to become an educator. She told Forbes, “I didn’t understand how I could ask questions about anything else, but when it came to sex it was just quiet, and people skated around the issue…I started to get that this has a lot to do with people’s discomfort and I just wanted to make people feel comfortable with asking about this topic.” Hart was recognized on the Root100 in 2018 for her work as an "advocate for post-cancer body positivity".

Hart co-hosts the podcast, Hoodrat to Headwrap: A Decolonized Podcast. Women's Health wrote, "Hosts Ericka Hart and Ebony Donnley allow their listeners to take part in an intimate conversation, sprinkled with comedic relief, glowing personalities, and radical seeds of self love."

Personal life

Hart identifies as queer and "nonbinary femme." She uses she/her and they/them pronouns. Hart currently lives with her partner, Ebony Donnley, and their dog, Baguette X, in Brooklyn, NY. Donnley is a writer, audio engineer, and Hart's manager.

Hart's mother passed away from breast cancer when she was 13.

Notes

  1. ^ Hart uses she/her and they/them pronouns. This article uses feminine pronouns for consistency.

This page was last updated at 2022-05-15 04:46 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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