Kerry Washington Is 'Shaking Off the Shame' of Sex Ed: 'People Are Left to Navigate These Issues Alone' (Exclusive)

"Operating in the space of sexual health feels like a radical act right now because of the attacks on reproductive rights and education," she tells PEOPLE

• Kerry Washington is partnering with Winx Health, a Gen-Z sexual and vaginal health brand

• The actress, 47, wants to help educate young people about reproductive wellness and create space for difficult conversations

• For women, she says, "the ability to really know ourselves and take care of ourselves allows us to love ourselves"

Kerry Washington wants to start a conversation.

Improving sex education — and broadening its scope, both geographically and in terms of accuracy — has been a lifelong passion for the actress, 47, whose career kicked off, in some ways, with the topic.

"When I was a teenager, I started working with a theater and education program that did a lot of sexuality education in high schools and community centers," Washington tells PEOPLE. "And we wrote these skits about health and wellness and safer sex issues and homosexuality and abortion, and just sort of trafficking in this space has been important to me for a long time."

As someone whose "always been really interested in sexuality education," Washington is taking things up a notch as she joins Winx Health, a Gen-Z sexual and vaginal health brand, as an advisor and investor to help with "getting the word out" about the brand's products and its educational efforts.

"Right now, it's weird. It's like — I wouldn't say that I'm partnering with the company to be an activist, but just operating in the space of sexual health feels like a radical act right now, because of the attacks on reproductive rights and the attacks on education."

Related: Kerry Washington Reflects on the Impact of Her Sexual Assault on Her Life: 'I Was Gaslit'

She also wants to encourage people to vote, as she notes, "A lot of the abortion bans that have been put up in this country, they can be reversed in November."

"I really want to be amplifying the important work that [Winx] is doing around women's health education and just making sure that people are informed," Washington continues. "The ability to really know ourselves and take care of ourselves allows us to love ourselves and to live empowered lives of choice as women."

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As a victim of sexual abuse and someone who has been open about having an abortion in her twenties, this new role is a culmination of sorts for the Scandal star, who opened up about her past in her 2023 memoir, Thicker Than Water.

"In a lot of ways, my memoir is about the secrets of my mother's sexual wellness and my parents' own shame around their journey into parenthood, how that affected our lives as a family," she says, reflecting on how the stories she told in her memoir circle back to the work she's about to do. "And so I think as I was exploring these themes of how we relate to our bodies, how we keep secrets about our bodies, about our sexuality, about our sexual health, my dad keeping secrets about his sexual health, my mom keeping secrets about hers, and her health in general."

Related: Kerry Washington Says She Contemplated Suicide amid 'Toxic' Eating Disorder: 'It Scared Me'

In Thicker Than Water, Washington revealed that her dad is not her biological father, a secret she had only recently learned herself — which "turned my world upside down," she told PEOPLE at the time.

"I think we truly are as sick as our secrets," she says, referencing a line in her memoir. "And so I think for me, this space of sexuality education is also about shaking off the shame so that we can live with more freedom and a sense of liberation in our day-to-day lives, really de-stigmatizing health and sexuality."

The actress says that the process of writing her memoir — and releasing it — led her, in part, to want to take her advocacy a step further.

"I was very moved by how much people related to it. Whether it was the story of being abused as a child — a lot of people obviously identified with those violations — but people also really talked to me about their abortion stories and were grateful that I have the courage to share mine," she says.

"I guess the book created a space for people to feel like they could shake off some of their secrets. And as intense as it was, I felt really honored to hold that space for people, and I felt the real need for more spaces where we can speak honestly about ourselves and our bodies and our lives."

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It reminded her how important education is, given that "our sex ed system fails us...so people are left to navigate these issues alone."

"It's really about working with the company, not just on the product, but also on the education, the information, overall improving the lives of women by taking care of our sexual and vaginal health."

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