BK 50
PENDA N’DIAYE
Writer and founder, Pro Hoe
Jun 16, 2022
One fateful Christmas morning a few years back, dancer Penda N’diaye unwrapped an unconventional gift from her mother: her first- ever vibrator. The gift gave N’diaye a jolt in more ways than one, spurring her to examine her own sexual education and ultimately leading her to create sex-positive platform Pro Hoe in 2018. The mission: “Decolonize pleasure.”
“My mom wished she had spoken to her kids about sex when we were at a much younger age,” N’diaye explained in an interview with GOOP. “I started dialing back, thinking: Well, I learned about sex from my friends, porn, the media, television — basically every outlet except from my parents or from other Black peers or mentors.”
Pro Hoe strives to “eradicate stigmas surrounding sexual freedom and identity in Black communities,” with a focus on “using sex and taboo as a means of political change and resistance.” N’diaye leads forums sponsored by Planned Parenthood, sex therapists and social workers. In the process, she’s harnessing her stage presence, which she honed by studying dance at NYU and touring internationally alongside contemporaries like musician Robert Glasper.
Inspired by Audre Lorde’s writings on pleasure as revolution, N’diaye sees sensuality as the foundation for greater power. “I find, a lot of times, that sensuality carries over to the rest of your life,” she elaborated in another interview with underwear company CUUP. “Sensuality is when you go to a party, love the way you look, feel confident and make eye contact with people as you work a room.”
N’diaye writes for VICE and Refinery29 and hosts her own Pro Hoe podcast, which speaks with “creatives on sex and sexual identities while answering anonymous sex and dating questions from listeners.” She’s also releasing a book with menstrual underwear brand Thinx and is planning a collab with a sex toy company, coming soon, bringing it all full circle.