TikTokIn honour of Pride month, we're recognizing the collective visibility and power of the LGBTQIA+ community and featuring some of the leading LGBTQIA+ creators in our Creator Spotlight series in June. Be sure to stay tuned and follow all the action at #ForYourPride.
Our first creator of this month is @itsmillyevans. Milly is a sex educator and author on TikTok who is all about shedding a light on sexual health topics. From her videos on the differences between an STI and an STD, where she breaks the misconceptions surrounding the terms to educating the community on what healthy dynamics in a relationship looks like, Milly educates and raises awareness of rarely discussed important sexual health topics. In doing so, she gives her followers a space to ask questions they may be too scared or too embarrassed to ask elsewhere.
If Milly hasn't popped up on your FYP, we guarantee her short intro will encourage you to follow her and become part of her community. Millie's frank discussions about sex ed, her videos exploring social pressures and her candid advice for making big decisions epitomise exactly why our community love her.
In case you didn't know, she'll be publishing her book, HONEST: Everything They Don't Tell You About Sex, Relationships and Bodies, which takes a deep dive into sex and acts as a guide for teens and young adults who might have questions they're too uncomfortable to ask the adults in their life.
With 390.2k followers and 5.8 million likes, it's clear that she's an important voice in the LGBTQ+ community and beyond. We sat with her to speak about all things Pride...
Firstly congratulations on your debut book Honest . . . how does it feel to be a published author?
Thank you! It’s incredibly exciting - and utterly bizarre. I used to dream about being an author when I was little but I never thought I’d be published by 22. And I definitely never expected that my first book would be a guide to sex and relationships. After working on HONEST for so long I’m just ready for people to read it and hopefully learn a lot from it. It’s the book I would have loved to have when I was a teenager so I’m glad it can be that book for other young people.
Have you been surprised by the reaction to your content on TikTok?
Absolutely! I’ve been volunteering and advocating for better sex ed in the UK and internationally for about 8 years now and in that time I’ve met a lot of people who are passionate about it. So of course I knew there was a huge need for inclusive, honest, positive and friendly sex ed but until I started making sex ed content on TikTok myself, I didn’t anticipate just how big an impact I could make on individuals all over the world. The response to my content has been overwhelmingly positive and I’ve received hundreds of messages from people saying that they feel more confident making choices about their bodies, relationships, friendships and sex now that they’ve got the knowledge they should have been given in school. It’s absolutely amazing to hear.
What does Pride mean to you?
To me Pride is two things. First, it’s a sense of celebration. Celebrating ourselves, our identities, the vibrant and wonderful LGBTQ+ community all over the world and all of the history that’s led us here. Things like visibility and representation can really help with this and it’s important that it extends beyond sharing a few rainbows during Pride Month. Second, Pride is a sense of solidarity and passion for change. Progress has been made for LGBTQ+ rights but it’s not enough and even the rights we have won don’t feel secure, including in the UK. Pride Month can be a time where we raise the profile of various communities and talk about the progress we desperately need to see but we have to keep up the momentum throughout June and beyond to turn that passion into real change.
What do you love most about the TikTok community?
My community on TikTok are so curious and have so much to say. I’ve been taken aback by how willing people are to be honest, to ask questions and to seek out advice even for really personal things that they might not have ever talked about with other people. I also love that I can reach people all over the world with my content and hear so many different perspectives which push me to always keep learning. Most days I’m asked a question about something I might never have considered had I not been able to hear from all of these people from a huge range of backgrounds. It’s such a valuable space.
What first inspired you to create on TikTok?
I remember downloading TikTok back in 2020 when I needed a distraction from the pandemic. For many months I just scrolled because the idea of making content was absolutely terrifying to me! At some point I decided to post my first video and see what happened. And I found a community of people who not only found value in hearing me talk about queerness and sex and relationships, but who were teaching me so much as well. I didn’t post very often before this year but now I’m absolutely in love with creating and sharing as much as I can.
What is your goal on TikTok?
I want to offer as many people as possible the inclusive sex education I wish was provided at more schools around the world. I also want to highlight all of the amazing resources online and in our communities so that people know that there’s a wealth of trustworthy information out there if they just know where to look.
On a more emotional level, I want my content to help people feel more equipped to make healthy and safe choices which make them happy. Kind of being an older sibling offering them the helping hand that most of us wish we’d had growing up (or even now). I’d love to see my platform turn into some kind of change offline too, whether it’s smaller things like people in my community pushing for better sex ed in their schools, or something bigger like legislative change. Watch this space!
What other LGBTQ+ creators are on your For You feed?
To be honest, most of my For You feed is queer so it would take me all day to list them. I’ve followed a lot of LGBTQ+ creators in the sex education space including favourites like @jayhawkridge, @theyasminbenoit, @yourperiodpal and @maxhovey. As an autistic queer person myself, I also follow a lot of disabled LGBTQ+ people like @disabled_eliza, @ellen__jones and @chr0nicallycute. And some of the most joyful content on my feed comes from the wonderful @couplagoofs and @dylanmulvaney. But that’s definitely not an exhaustive list!
What is your favourite TikTok you have made to date and why?
One that I love for its real-world impact was a TikTok where I showed myself taking an at-home STI (sexually transmitted infection) test. If the comments were anything to go by, many people didn’t even realise it was an option or that it was so easy to do! Some of my followers went and booked their first STI test after that video which is so amazing.
I also recently posted a little vlog of seeing my book HONEST in a bookshop for the first time that’s definitely got a special place in my heart. I’m also really proud of the conversations I’ve started with my ‘First Times’ and ‘Autism and Sex’ series.
New to TikTok and want to hear more from Milly and learn about Pride? It couldn't be easier, simply download the app for free via the Apple App Store, Google Play or Amazon!
