Clueless about everything from her own anatomy to relationships, Sophia Smith Galer’s sex education classes left her with more questions than answers. But what she didn’t know was that this lack of knowledge was about to turn her life upside down – as it does to countless teenagers in the UK every year.

I follow Sophie's work on TikTok and had heard she was writing a book and knew no matter what it was about, it would be an incredible read, as how she shares a story in a minute is always done so incredibly well and never is anything less than thought-provoking, so when her book appeared on NetGalley I knew I had to request and I am glad I did.

This book took me back and brought me forward. Remembering my school days of terrible sex education of bananas, condoms and only one teacher who was confident enough to really teach the subject at my school I realised just how much a book like this is needed and how much even though I have taught myself alot, how much I didn't know or didn't really think about enough - Sophie talks you through all this like you are in this together throughout and I really appreciate it.

Thought is given to intersectionality and I appreciate how honest she is about the perspective she is working from however she does an excellent job at covering all different areas, covering from LGBT relationships and how sex education let's people down further outside of the heteronormative parameters that sex education still is in. I feel like that there are more areas this writer could talk about if she were to continue writing about this area, I appreciated particularly the chapter on asexuality/aromanticism and gave me food for thought.

Losing It is an excellent book and a comprehensive start on the sex and relationship education given to young people in the UK and the impact that has on relationships here as well, well researched and written with a way that connects with the reader, this book I would love to see in a few years time have a bonus chapter on the impact of the pandemic, but also the impact of the new SRE plans the government is bringing in and if that has helped young people navigate relationships.

I will certainly be reading more of what this author writes in the future!

Thanks to 4th Estate for letting me read Losing It! After reading and thoroughly enjoying books like Rough last year, my interest was immediately piqued when I saw this book announced on Twitter ✨ Sophia Smith Galer dismantles seven myths about sex that are widespread today, and dives into the issues surrounding sex education. To be honest, I'm not sure about this book: for someone who has never read this kind of book, there probably wouldn't be enough context, explanation or history surrounding some of the ideas that are presented; and for someone who is familiar with notions like 'virginity is a myth', a lot of the dissection and discussion feels quite... superficial? Some chapters are better and more fully developed than others, but ultimately I think I was craving a more rigorous and investigative book than Losing It ever professed to be. Interesting content, great structure, fully agree with pretty much all of the writer's arguments... but not quite what I was looking for!

One more quibble: the discussion of sex education in schools seems to focus mainly on England. I couldn't see one reference to the other three countries that make up the UK and while that might be my error in not spotting these examples, it still feels like a bit of a glaring oversight.

Thank you NetGalley, Sophie Smith Galer and William Collins for an Arc copy in exchange for an honest review.

From the get go, losing it exposes the lack of sex education in the education system, and I can vouch for this. I remember in school the main focus of Sex Ed was about protecting yourself against STDs and pregnancy. It wasn’t until I got older and started to explore the topic on my own that I started to learn that sex education is more then that.
The book hits a lot of topics that are important and myths that are still deeply imbedded in our society.

It’s expose the lack of knowledge about LGBTQ+ relationships and suggests that we may be hindering young people rather than helping them.

It shows how we need a Modern overhaul of our Sex Education.

The writing style was great though at time it did feel jump.

This book will shock you and shows that we still have a long way to go before we have comprehensive Sex Ed.

An informative read that I cannot wait to share with my friends when published. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the book every teenager needs! It's insightful and really has a lot of information. It's a book you can either read cover to cover or you can jump in and out of chapters. The topics in the book are very important and I enjoy how varied they were within the topic of losing your virginty.
I really enjoyed how it was not geared at any particular gender and it really shows how woman and man are treated differently in the country and other.

I will recommend this to any teenagers in my life as this is the book I should have had when I was a teen.


Thanks to Netgalley and Sophia Smith Galar for an arc of this book.

Now being a woman in my 30s and recognising how much about sexuality and sex has change in the past decade, I love this sort of read to learn, educate and get a view of the world today,
This taught me a lot, Not only about sexuality but expectations, and societal issues. There is quite a bit about losing virginity and hymens- some of which surprised me.
A great educational read.