A first-person YouTube monologue by Sandi L Boucher (self-identifying as Red Thunderbolt, of the Loon clan, Seine River First Nation) that defines and illustrates the concept of "survival sex" through personal experience (e.g., sex to avoid eviction or violence). The speaker uses the metaphor to analyze recent political choices — citing Mark Carney's leadership in Canada and drawing parallels to people who voted for Donald Trump — arguing these decisions can resemble "sleeping with the enemy" as survival tactics. The piece closes with an empathetic appeal to understand, not judge, hard survival decisions and an announcement that the speaker will publish book excerpts on Substack weekly (scheduled through April).
Chapters
If there's one thing I'm known for, it's my use of metaphors, how I take something you're very familiar with and use it to help you understand something you may not be familiar with. And that's what I want to do today, because the world seems to be going insane and I'm actually going to use sex to explain it. Or more specifically, survival sex. Let's talk about it. Foreign. Hi, everybody. My name is Andy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River first nation in Treaty 3 territory in Northern Ontario. And like you, I'm kind of just sitting back and shaking my head, kind of wondering when the world's going on in the world. But then I think we've all lived through times. Maybe not on a global scale or even a national scale, but we've definitely had challenging times in our own lives. It's kind of what I want to touch on today. As I mentioned in the opening, I wanted to refer to survival sex today. Now, a huge part of me hopes you have no idea what that is, but what it is for the people who understand or have experienced is sex that you have to guarantee your survival. And I can honestly say there have definitely been times in my life where survival sex happened. For example, in a relationship where you know if you said no to sex, you're going get booted out on the street with your kids, you're going to say, yes, that's survival sex. You're doing it not because you want to, not because this is your profession. For those thinking that from the sound of the term, it's just you trying to survive. Another very sad and common instance is when not saying no could keep you safe from physical violence. Anyone who survived domestic violence like I have knows that those times happen. Sometimes it's just easier to give in. And of course, my notifications are on. Sorry about that. So I think of survival sex as Sleeping with the Enemy is the movie title that might come to mind. Or one other phrase that is super common for a lot of people would be making a deal with the devil. Survival sex guarantees exactly what it says, that you survive. But let's be crystal clear here, it doesn't feel good. So why am I sharing that today? Well, I kind of feel that way about Mark Carney, the guy that just got elected the head of the Liberal Party and is now Prime Minister of Canada, at least until an election gets called, which is going to happen anytime soon. In some ways, watching his acceptance piece speech last night. He kind of scares me. But the reality is that's who I would have voted for if I could have got past the verification process, blah, blah, blah. Because I believe he is our best bet to fend off POV and the progressive conservatives. And they most definitely scare me. But I can't help feeling like it's the least of two evils. Now, I can't help thinking that there are people in the United States right now that are feeling the exact same way about Trump. I'd be willing to bet that there are people out there that voted for him because they honestly believe that would mean their grocery prices would go down or that maybe they'd be able to find a job or even keep the job that they already have. They were willing to sleep with the enemy to make that happen. But in the end, in all of those cases, every single one of us realize all we actually did was sleep with the devil. So I hope you keep that in mind. I hope there's a lot less judgment and a lot more attempted understanding when people have to make tough decisions. Like I was saying with the back to back teaching, ask them why they made the decision they made. What were they scared of? How overwhelmed did they feel? How isolated they felt? Did they feel any single one of those things could apply? Just keep it in mind. And I do want to end this video off on a positive note. I mentioned I believe in my last video that I'm now on substack and I have decided that I am sharing my new book on there. And I don't know about you, but when I make a good decision it's like creator lines up to show me it was a good decision. I release an excerpt out of my book ever. I will be releasing them every Monday to my email list. Get on my email list and I've already got. They're all scheduled into April. That's how easy it was for me to get my my writing done. And I'm about to go smash my computer and turn those notifications off because I honestly thought I did. Sorry about that. So get on substack if you're interested in my writing at all. If you have ever tried to become someone you're not to keep someone else happy or to survive, then you got to check out my substack. Sorry about the notifications today. Oh I'm having a Monday on a Monday. I just realized it's a Monday. You're seeing this on Tuesday. I'm shooting it on Monday. That explains so much. Until tomorrow. I love you. Take care Bye. Bye.
