BDSM/Kink SIG - The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality

HomeSIG: BDSM/Kink

Leader: Fredrick Zal, MA

How to Become a SSSS BDSM / Kink SIG Member:

Join SSSS, so that you have a website Log-In.
Log in as a member: https://www.sexscience.org (Upper right corner)
Click on the "Special Interest Groups" Button: https://www.sexscience.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=173936&module_id=464000
You will notice that "BDSM / Kink" is alphabetically first on the top left.
Click on the "Interested in joining a SIG? Join Here": https://www.sexscience.org/content.aspx?page_id=1478&club_id=173936&item_id=3702
Fill-out the form, clicking the radio-buttons for all SIGs that interest you.
Click the "Submit" button.

Upcoming Meetings:

November 2023 - SIG Meeting | New Orleans, Louisiana, USA 2023 Annual Conference

Thursday, 03 August 2023

1pm Eastern / 10am Pacific

(90 minute meeting)

Click Here to View the Recording!

SSSS BDSM/Kink SIG Educators & Community Leaders
Panel Discussion

Ali Mushtaq, PhD; Amanda Wildefyre; Erik James Escareño, LCSW, DSW; Monica Graziosi; Mufasa Ali; Nwachi Pressley-Tafari, EdD; Shay Tiziano

Moderator: Fredrick Zal, MA, CST, CSE

Researchers generally want to help BDSM/Kink communities with their studies and findings. However, there are legacies of massive social, emotional, and physical harm (i.e., 1932-1972 Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male) and urban legends (FetLife & University of Sydney) of inappropriate data collection, participant abuse, and other ethical violations that crush the ‘Ivory Tower’ of research. These legacies of harm can greatly inhibit kinky communities from wanting to engage and assist future research.

The panel will be discussing how to:

Respectfully approach, deeply listen to, and integrate BDSM / Kink individuals and community-based organizations with research activities;
Collaboratively work with communities to create shared language for outreach & analysis teams to mutually serve both the community and the intentions of research measures;
Positively ground research topics and methodologies with the lived and vicarious experiences of individuals in the community;
Create equity knowledge sharing and mutual benefit concurrently to research participants and the research project; and
What types of research are some of the BDSM / Kink communities asking for assistance around.

Through sexuality research we can compassionately listen to each other's vulnerable truths and restoratively heal past social injustices.

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About Ali Mushtaq

Ali Mushtaq (he/him) has his PhD from University of California: San Francisco in Sociology. Ali has over 10-years-experience in both qualitative and quantitative research methods and taught numerous college-level courses to hundreds of students. Ali knew it wouldn’t be easy getting space at the table, so he learned to create that space. Ali chose to fight adversity, to defend the little guy, to be the leader that solved problems and made spaces more inclusive. As a former leather title holder, Ali has used his platform to speak on multiple social issues and address social inequality. Through his written work, press engagements, modeling, and his courses, he continues to address diversity, inclusion, and equity in hopes of creating a better world. Through his teachings, his main goal is to help professionals in media, market research, business, and others learn techniques to be inclusive as well as help others empower themselves.

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About Amanda Wildefyre

Mistress Amanda Wildefyre (she/her/Mage) retired in 2021 from a career in professional dominance spanning three decades. Amanda Wildefyre taught classes around the country and abroad in BDSM technique at national BDSM/Fetish conventions, BDSM lifestyle groups and, most recently, a four-month intensive for aspiring professional dominants. She continues the research and understanding of human sexuality that began as an innovator in the field of professional dominance with predicament bondage, for popularizing recreational latex restraint and dollification with Gwenmedia Productions, and for her inventive metal restraints showcased on SeriousBondage.com. Her expertise spans a wide range of BDSM modalities, including all forms of bondage, female dominance, latex dollification, role-play, CBT, chastity, cross-dressing, clinical arts, corporal discipline, electroplay and many more. Wildefyre Academy of Professional Dominance (WAPD) is the culmination of her knowledge and creative skillsets, divided into categories which will interest both the aspiring and experienced professional dominant. For students wishing to take a deep dive, Amanda offers a Certification Course in Professional Dominance. In 2001, she was the recipient of the Jerome Foundation Performing Arts Grant for the scripting, production, and performance of the one-woman show, Confessions of a Lesbian Dominatrix. She is a Reiki master with certifications in both clinical and transpersonal hypnosis and is currently studying to be a Sexuality Educator via the AASECT certification program. She is driven by the desire to bring her accumulated knowledge and experience with thousands of BDSM players over 30 years to therapists, researchers and educators.

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About Erik James Escareño

Sir Wombat, aka Dr. Erik James Escareño, LCSW, DSW (he, she, they) is a two-spirited indigenous (Yavapai Apache and Chiricahua Apache) Los Angelino who is fueled by social justice and perpetuating meaningful change. Sir Wombat identifies as a Specialized Mental Health Clinical Social Worker, Interpreter, Sir, Handler/Trainer, Sadist, and Leather Daddy. As a clinician social worker, Dr. Escareño specializes in interventions for BIPOC, HIV individuals, Unhoused persons, Recovery individuals, LGBTQIA2S+ and Deaf folx, HIV advocacy, BDSM advocacy/education, and non-profit program development with individuals, community-based organizations, private entities, academic institutions, and government entities. As a Sir and Leather Daddy, they are the head of a leather family and are adept at a multitude of kinks and BDSM disciplines which they continue to hone and pass down to their boys. This unique and diverse background fuels their passion and advocacy for further research in the mental health and social work fields through a strong social justice lens. Dr. Escareño has skillsets already aimed at creating purposeful social change and positive disruption of injustice for underserved and under-recognized communities. As a grassroots social impact leader, they embrace strategy and collaboration as the impetus for designing meaningful change; such as creating accessibility to mental health services for Deaf folx. Their fervent hope is to create accessible mental health services for all. Having an intimate connection to, and understanding of, the Deaf community they provide ASL interpretation in many QIPOC and Kink spaces; striving to ensure the message of positive queerness and sex is not compromised. Guided by honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness, Dr. Escareño mentors others through an ethical lens while honoring sexual spirit.

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About Monica Graziosi

Monica Graziosi, aka Carmen Monoxide (she/her) is an Educator, Relationship and Intimacy Coach, Alternative Lifestyle and Human Sexuality Presenter, Event Organizer and Producer, Performer, and Instigator with over a decade of experience helping people overcome shame, trauma, and stigma to identify, explore and fulfill their intimacy, relationship, and sexual needs. She supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, has experience in nontraditional education settings, and a lifelong passion for the bizarre and filthy. She is a weird fun-sized femme-gremlin who sometimes takes her clothes off and performs onstage and on camera. Monica is passionate about helping people overcome fear and shame in order to have authentic, fulfilling, sexy experiences; by providing personalized resources, hard and soft skill instruction to support continued growth and education. She creates engaging and informational presentations for small, medium, and large events across the United States (and a couple places in Canada): Dark Odyssey, A Touch of Flavor, Ohio SMART, Black Rose, Indecent Enterprises, BESS, The Baltimore Playhouse, and Studio 58. Monica creates psychological and biological research-based instructional content on medical and sexual health topics and relationship building, with a focus on centering LGBTQ and minority populations and experiences, which facilitate empowerment focused small-group discussions for underserved populations within the alternative sexuality community. She also writes and implements event policies, Code of Conduct documents, and incident response procedures. She founded both Aberrant and Femme Fatale (kink event organizations) and throws monthly parties in the Washington, DC area.

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About Mufasa Ali

Mufasa Ali (he/him) has been a dedicated member of the leather community for three decades. He is a nationally known leather community speaker and educator/presenter on such topics as People of Color in Leather, Impact play, Leather Family, Leather Protocol, Spirituality & BDSM, Community Leadership and Diversity. Mufasa co-founded Men of ONYX in 1995, is the former ONYX National Council Chairman, and ONYX Leatherman 1997. Mufasa is also founder of the Leatherman of Color and Leatherwoman of Color titles, founder of the People of Color Caucus at International Mr. Leather & BlackBeat, Mr. World Leather 2006-2007, Mufasa's Pride Patriarch, and Leather History Preservation Foundation founding Board Member. Mufasa has received many awards including the Pantheon of Leather Marcus Hernandez Life Achievement Award, the Chuck Windemuth Mentorship Award at Mr. Chicago Leather Weekend, the Vi Johnson Community Leadership Award and the BlackBeat Leadership Award. Mufasa is a Husband, Daddy, Dad, Papa, Sir, Son and Brother to his leather family and honors them as his village of support.

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About Nwachi Pressley-Tafari

Dr. Nwachi Tafari holds an Ed.D. in higher education and adult development and a Ph.D. in the human sciences. He holds coaching certifications in Human Transformation, Spirituality, and Mindset from Transformation Academy; a Sexologist Certification from Sex Coach U; and Nutrition and Wellness Coaching Certifications from the National Association of Sports Medicine (NASM). Dr. Nwachi is a patched member of the Science of BDSM Research Team and works with The Alternative Sexualities Health Research Alliance. Moreover, he is the research director for Sex Coach U. His greatest accomplishments are sharing the responsibility of rearing two young women De (Day) and Niani Tafari.

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About Shay Tiziano

Shay (she/her or they/them) is a medical professional, dynamic bondage performer, and renowned self-suspender known for their innovative, prodigious performances and friendly, attainable, and risk-awareness focused approach to kink education. They are the author of “Tying & Flying”, the first-ever book about self-suspension, and “Creating Captivating Classes”, the first-ever book specifically for kink, sexuality, and relationship educators; plus the creator of bondage safety repository RemedialRopes.com. Shay’s vivacious, unconventional, entertaining, information-packed classes have been called “better than a Vegas act”. They identify as pansexual polyamorous playsluts, purveyors of perversion, and alliteration fetishists! Based in San Francisco, Shay travels extensively and has over a decade of experience presenting across the US and internationally teaching self-suspension, D/s, bedroom kink, protocol training, medical play, impact play, and other topics at Dark Odyssey (Winter Fire, Surrender, & Fusion), Rome BDSM Conference, Thunder in the Mountains, KinkFest, RopeCraft, Northwest Leather Celebration, Westcoast Bound, San Francisco State University, Stanford University, OpenSF, Kinky Kollege, Beyond Leather, the SF Citadel, Mission Control, Center for Sex and Culture, the Exotic Erotic Ball, International Ms Leather, BayCon, COPE, Mischief in May, Folsom Fringe, and Cum & Glitter. They’ve also been featured on KinkAcademy.com, PassionateU.com, BehindKink, Discovery Channel’s Oddities, Skin Two, KinkUniversity, and over half a dozen documentaries worldwide. They have produced events and showcases including acclaimed bondage and fetish performance event BENT (the Bay Area’s biggest play party), Twisted Windows, the Seattle Erotic Art Festival Bondage & Aerial stage, Self-Suspension Open Space, Rope Lab, Friction, bondage and performances stages at the Folsom Street Fair and San Francisco Pride’s Leather Alley, and was named Queen of Pervert’s Prom in 2006. Shay also created a self-suspension web site! If you’d like to learn self-suspension, you can check out articles, video tutorials, and much more.

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About Fredrick Zal

Fredrick’s (gender punk) sexuality education work has focused upon erotically marginalized communities, partnerships, and individuals since 2006 by "Teaching the Art within Sexual Acts" in private lessons, semi-public and private events, and workshops in Oregon, Washington, California, British Columbia, and via Zoom worldwide. They teach mindfulness, ritual, communication, consent, sexual attitudes reassessment, tantra, kink, and other embodied erotic pathways with an ever broadening understanding of power differentials, socio-political impacts over the centuries, and ways to truly dismantle what they feel in their blood and bones to be a corrupt and flawed acculturalized system. When not teaching or doing sexuality research; Fredrick endeavors to focus life around what they love, which is the arts, getting outside for adventures, sharing quality time and food with friends, practicing Chado (茶道 Japanese Tea Ritual), and movement such as yoga and dance.

BDSM / Kink SIG Event May23

Thursday, 11 May 2023

4pm Eastern / 7pm Pacific

(90 minute meeting)

Click Here to View the Recording!

SSSS BDSM/Kink SIG IRB Panel Discussion

Aella; Shanae L. Adams, MA, LPCC, NCC, CIGT, ADDC; Lori A. Brotto, PhD, RPsych; Kristen P. Mark, PhD, MPH; Zoë Peterson, PhD, MA; Janis Roszler, PhD, LMFT, RD, LD/N, CDCES, FAND; Emma L Turley, PhD, CPsychol, FHEA, PGC AP, AFBPsS, BSc; Brooke E. Wells, PhD

Moderator: Fredrick Zal, MA

The BDSM/Kink SIG IRB Panel Discussion will focus upon Internal Review Board (IRB) processes related to BDSM/Kink Research. Panelists will illuminate the processes involved in review of potential research studies, management of both institutional and participant risk, and trends in the sexological research field. The panel will also discuss justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) issues related to the IRB processes, which might support or marginalize BDSM/Kink Dissertations and Research.

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About Aella

Aella is an independent sexological researcher, writer, and sex worker comfortably settled in Austin, Texas. She posts popularly about sex, power, social analysis, and debates the meaning of consciousness with her 173k Twitter (@Aella_Girl) and 241k FetLife followers. This includes research on fetishes, tabooness, porn violence, the rape spectrum, racism, and power imbalances. From 2015 - 2021 Aella conducted 3,747 Twitter polls with up to 108k participants; averaging 1,559 responses. Her current kink survey has n=500k participants and growing. She invites you to engage her thirteen (13) open survey projects and collaborate with eight (8) batches of prior survey raw data about kink, sexwork, rape, and philosophy. Funded partially by society’s warm wet objectifying gaze transmuting into meaningful and quirky personal connection; Aella became one of the top OnlyFans earners until shifting her gaze to focus upon fetish research. Aella is working on her Research Institute for Sexual Fetishes, which is enabled by the Invisible College. Aella continues to support the Invisible College, which is a community of scientists who focus on the roots of science: curiosity, dialogue, and subjective inspiration. The Invisible College believes that the peer-review process has become corrupt and dependent upon authority; and hopes to improve the culture of Science and create a better peer review for the next generation of knowledge seekers.

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About Shanae Adams

Shanae Adams is a Sexuality Professional from Denver, CO. While pursuing her Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Missouri she served as a Sexual Health Advocate Peer Educator on her university's campus. It is here that she discovered a passion for sexuality education and an adept ability to present these topics with a unique flair and an engaging personality. That initial act of service triggered a long and prosperous career in sexuality education.

Shanae has provided education on sexuality topics both domestic and abroad. While serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Rwanda she lived on a heath center compound and provided education on Depo-Provera and other contraceptives and barrier methods. Back state-side Shanae worked with Planned Parenthood of the Heartland as an educator and community mobilizer.

On her YouTube channel Honest Sex with Honestlynae, her mission is to provide normalization, explanation, and melanated representation. She takes this mission one step farther with the creation of The Chrysalis House, a sex-positive collaborative with the goal of supporting marginalized groups in Denver.

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About Lori A. Brotto

Dr. Brotto completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of British Columbia (UBC), where her research focused primarily on psychophysiological aspects of sexual arousal in women diagnosed with sexual dysfunctions. Her psychology internship at the University of Washington (UW) specialized in the use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for mood, anxiety, substance abuse and psychotic disorders. Following her internship, Dr. Brotto’s Fellowship in Reproductive and Sexual Medicine at UW was mentored by Dr. Julia Heiman, director of the Kinsey Institute.

As a registered psychologist, Dr. Brotto offers psychological therapy to patients referred from both UBC Departments of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Psychiatry, as well as the BC Cancer Agency. Dr. Brotto also sees private patients.

Dr. Brotto has been awarded many scholarships, fellowships and research grants.

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About Kristen Mark

Kristen Mark, PhD, MPH is a Professor and the Joycelyn Elders Endowed Chair in sexual health education at the Institute for Sexual and Gender Health in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at University of Minnesota Medical School. She is a sex and relationships researcher, educator, and therapist. Her research focuses on sexual wellbeing and relationships, specifically sexual desire, mitigating desire discrepancy in relationships, sexual function, and maintaining sexual and relationship satisfaction in long term relationships. She also focuses on the impact of sexual health education (or lack thereof) on later sexual and relationship health. Dr. Mark places value on disseminating science to the public in an approachable way and is often relied upon for expert comment for print, radio, and television media.

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About Zoe Peterson

I earned a Ph.D. in Psychology with a Clinical emphasis and a Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies from the University of Kansas. I completed a clinical-research postdoctoral fellowship at IU’s Kinsey Institute before taking a tenure-track position at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. I came back to IU in 2018 as an Associate Professor in the Counseling Psychology Program and Director of the Sexual Assault Research Initiative at the Kinsey Institute.

My research interests are in the areas of gender and human sexuality, with a particular focus on investigating experiences of unwanted, coerced, and nonconsensual sex from the perspectives of both victims and perpetrators.

I was the editor of the Wiley Handbook of Sex Therapy, and I served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Sex Research from 2013-2019. I was elected and served as President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality for 2019-2021.

I also am a Licensed Psychologist with an emphasis in sex therapy and feminist, constructivist, and solution-focused approaches to therapy.

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About Janis Roszler

Dr. Janis Roszler is a board-certified sex therapist, licensed marriage and family therapist, certified clinical supervisor, licensed dietitian/nutritionist, and the 2008-2009 diabetes educator of the year (AADE). She received her master's degree in marriage and family therapy from UMass Boston. Her books include Intimacy & Diabetes, Sex and Diabetes, Approaches to Behavior, Diabetes on Your OWN Terms and The Secrets of Living and Loving with Diabetes. Her articles and medical chapters have been published in textbooks, magazines and peer reviewed journals. She is the former host of Janis’ Jump Start to Good Health and dLife radio shows and authored the popular Janis advice column that was featured throughout the U.S., China and Dubai.

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About Emma Turley

I am a Senior Lecturer in Criminology, and a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society. I previously worked at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK for 10 years. I have broad range of interdisciplinary research interests that span criminology and psychology. I am a critical psychologist with specialist areas of interest including gender, social justice, inequalities, LGBTQI+ issues, feminism, community, subculture, sexualities, and the digital world. I am also interested in qualitative research methods, especially phenomenology and experiential research, and the use of innovative data collection techniques. My doctoral research, completed in 2012, examined the lived experiences of participating in consensual Bondage, Discipline, Dominance & Submission, and Sadism & Masochism (BDSM).

I have published in the areas of sexualities, particularly marginalised sexual cultures, subculture, gendered violence, and social media, gender inequalities, women’s wellbeing, and activism. I am co-editor of the British Psychological Society's Psychology of Women & Equalities Review, a biannual publication focusing on increasing awareness and action around gender and inequality issues and editorial advisory board member for British Mensa's Androgyny journal.

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About Brooke Wells

I received a PhD in social psychology from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and my research focuses on HIV prevention, sexual minority communities, and the associations between substance use and sexual behavior. As a sexuality educator, I am dedicated to teaching students about gender and sexuality from a multidisciplinary perspective that incorporates content and methodological perspectives from social psychology, health psychology, clinical psychology, and public health.

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About Fredrick Zal

Fredrick Zal’s sexuality education work has focused upon erotically marginalized communities, partnerships, and individuals since 2006 by "Teaching the Art within Sexual Acts" in private lessons, semi-public and private events, and workshops in Oregon, Washington, California, British Columbia, and via Zoom worldwide. They teach mindfulness, ritual, communication, consent, sexual attitudes reassessment, tantra, kink, and other embodied erotic pathways with an ever broadening understanding of power differentials, socio-political impacts over the centuries, and ways to truly dismantle what they feel in their blood and bones to be a corrupt and flawed acculturalized system. When not teaching or doing sexuality research; Fredrick endeavors to focus life around what they love, which is the arts, getting outside for adventures, sharing quality time and food with friends, practicing Chado (茶道 Japanese Tea Ritual), and movement such as yoga and dance.

Thursday, 16 February 2023

1pm Eastern / 10am Pacific

(90 minute meeting)

Click Here to View the Recording!

SSSS BDSM/Kink SIG Research Data Standards

Debby Herbenick, PhD, MPH; Kate Jansen, PhD; Liam Wignall, PhD; Richard Sprott, PhD; Sam Hughes, MS

Moderator: Fredrick Zal, MA

This SSSS BDSM/Kink Research Data Standards panel discussion will coordinate BDSM/Kink measures to avoid multiple researchers ‘doubling-up’ or concurrently constructing similar measures that cannot be correlated. Multi-institutional collaboration could additionally assist any limitations in funding for individual research teams by sharing the work globally through phases. Once preliminary research data is initiated; the measures, procedures, and preliminary data can help additional research teams seek funding, negotiate Internal Review Board (IRB) approvals, and to corroborate / refute the preliminary data findings. The focus of the Panel Discussion shall be upon Quantitative measures, while recognizing that Qualitative and Phenomenological data are interwoven with the spectrum of BDSM / Kink lived experiences. The panel’s direction will be followed-up with a SSSS BDSM/Kink SIG working group to compile and hone the quantitative measures for potential future phased collaborative research projects around the globe.

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About Debby Herbenick

For more than 20 years, Dr. Debby Herbenick's research has focused on understanding how people experience their bodies and sexual lives. Among her 190+ scientific publications, she has developed and validated measurement scales to assess genital self-image, the quality of sexual experiences, and has consulted on the development of a number of other measures. Dr. Herbenick is the Principal Investigator of the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior (NSSHB), an ongoing U.S. nationally representative probability survey of Americans' sexual lives that began in 2008. The award-winning NSSHB covers nine decades of live and has included tens of thousands of Americans. In total—between the NSSHB and several other separately supported studies—Dr. Herbenick has led 13 U.S. probability surveys dedicated to understanding contemporary sex in the United States. Her research has addressed women's sexual pleasure and masturbation, vibrator use, couples communication, consensual non-monogamy, diverse sexual behaviors, condom use, sexual satisfaction, sexually explicit media use, and the use of consumer sexual health and enhancement products (e.g., vibrators, condoms, lubricants, etc.). Most recently, she has turned her attention to studying population-level increases in what some call rough sex behaviors, with a particular focus on understanding people's experiences with sexual choking, which is a form of strangulation, and also understanding its health sequelae.

An award-winning researcher and educator, Dr. Herbenick is internationally known for her creative ways of sharing sexual science with the general public. She has published five best-selling books about sex, several thousand newspaper and magazine columns, served as co-producer for the Emmy-nominated documentary Hot Girls Wanted, and has consulted on sexuality topics for various films and television shows. In addition, Dr. Herbenick wrote The Kinsey Institute's Kinsey Confidential columns and podcasts for 17 years. She has appeared on various television, radio, and web-based video series talking about sex and sex research. She is also the founder and host of the Bloomington Sex Salon, a popular event series dedicated to creating campus-community conversations about sexuality topics.

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About Kate Jansen

Dr. Jansen received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Toledo and completed her Postdoctoral Fellowship in health psychology and primary care psychology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Department of Family Medicine. Prior to joining the Clinical Psychology program at Midwestern University she worked with the University of Iowa Family Medicine residency training program, where she specialized in providing behavioral health services within the primary care setting and residency education. She has published and presented research and scholarship on medical communication, human sexuality, and research ethics. Her research interests are in implementation of integrated healthcare services and meeting the healthcare needs of diverse sexual practices. Dr. Jansen also serves as the behavioral health consultant for the MWU Graduate Medical Education department. Dr. Jansen supervises the Midwestern University Behavioral Health Consult Team at the Multispecialty clinic, a clinical practicum dedicated to providing integrated healthcare services to Family Medicine, Speech Language Pathology, and other specialties.

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About Liam Wignall

I am a Senior Lecturer in Psychology in the Faculty of Science and Technology. Before joining BU in March 2018 as a Lecturer, I completed a PhD on non-heterosexual men's kink sexual practices at the University of Sunderland. I am member of the International Academy of Sex Researchers, the Centre for Positive Sexuality, the BPS Sexualities committee, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I am editor for the BPS Sexualities' journal "Psychology of Sexualities Review" and associate editor for "Psychology & Sexuality" and "Journal of Positive Sexuality".

I specialise in qualitative research, exploring the experiences of non-heterosexual individuals, using theories from psychology, sociology and cultural studies. My work focuses on the impact of the internet and the role of community participation for these individuals. I am currently developing a monograph looking at the experiences of non-heterosexual men who engage in kinky sexual practices with Oxford University Press. I have conducted research into the kink activity of pup play, framing the socio-sexual activity as a form of leisure and documenting how the pup community have adopted social networking sites to form online communities. I have also published on the experiences of bisexual individuals and people with non-exclusive sexualities.

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About Richard Sprott

Richard Sprott received his Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from UC Berkeley in 1994. As a researcher he has examined in detail the relationship between professional identity development and the development of professional ethics in medical doctors, ministers and teachers, and professional identity development in emerging fields of work.

He is currently directing a research project that looks at social saturation, the Postmodern Self, and identity development. He also researches identity development and health/well-being in people who express alternative sexualities and non-traditional relationships, with a special emphasis on kink/BDSM sexuality, and polyamory or consensual non-monogamy.

Richard currently teaches courses in the Department of Human Development and Women’s Studies at California State University, East Bay and graduate and undergraduate level courses at various universities in the Bay Area, including UC Berkeley, the California Institute of Integral Studies, and Holy Names University. He currently is Executive Director of CARAS – Community-Academic Consortium for Research on Alternative Sexualities.

CARAS is dedicated to the support and promotion of excellence in the study of alternative sexualities, and the dissemination of research results to members of alternative sexuality and research communities and to the general public.

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About Sam Hughes

Sam Hughes, M.S., is a PhD student in social psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who studies kink, BDSM, and sexual fetishism. He has 4 publications so far, with several others on the way. He is currently in the process of completing his dissertation proposal and working to prepare for the academic job market.

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About Fredrick Zal

I love the arts, outdoors, cooking food with friends, learning with differing perspectives, and practicing 茶道 (Chado, Japanese Tea Ritual). Thriving since cancer; I have found new erotic embodiment, dancing, hiking and yoga when my body has capacity, teaching, and rigorously working toward a PhD in Sexology.

Nurturing erotically marginalized people; I teach consent, sexual attitudes reassessment, and sensuality with understanding of power differentials, socio-political impacts over the centuries, and ways to truly dismantle what I feel in my blood and bones to be harmful acculturalizing systems. I implement meta-cognition, sexual world-view expansion, and value delineation through a multi-faceted lens of post-structuralism, decolonialism, intersectionality, phenomenology, and embodiment.

Feeling unsafe in our current socio-political climate; I often mask my erotic and societal marginalizations behind my privileged hegemonic pale skin and 'manly' vintage fashion. I have experienced less discrimination and trauma than many, and significantly more than others. Resilient optimism inspires my advocacy work in social restorative justice, accountability, stopping harm perpetuation, and radical nurturing.

I sincerely hope that society and individuals can bridge 'from' cis-heterosexual monogamous ableist vanilla white wealthy kyriarchy, other forms of marginalization, inertia, and exclusionary gate-keeping 'to' a proactive and optimistically safe 'salad bowl' of inclusion, connection, abundance, embodiment, compassion, compersion, and global advocacy. By listening to each other's vulnerable truths; there is potential to start healing harm, deconstruct kyriarchy perpetuation, inspire intentional communities, and manifest new pathways for people to thrive together.

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Thursday, 4 August 2022

1pm Eastern / 10am Pacific

(90 minute meeting)

Click Here to View the Recording!

Hall Monitors and Ambassadors to Ecstasy: How Dungeon Monitors View Their Role in Semi-Public BDSM Venues
Ashley Haymond, PhD, Med, MPM

The BDSM community has norms of consent, negotiation, and safety. In semi-public BDSM venues, these norms are enforced in part by dungeon monitors (DMs), individuals assigned to observe play. This presentation will examine how DMs view their work. Based on 22 semi-structured interviews, DMs viewed their role in two broad ways. First, DMs saw themselves as integral to facilitating BDSM experiences and nurturing a connection between play partners. They did this by creating a supportive environment and ensuring physical and psychological safety for both BDSM players and onlookers. Second, DMs felt a responsibility to their community. This responsibility encompassed a duty to protect their BDSM venue, teamwork with other DMs, community leadership, and an ethic of continuous personal improvement. The presentation will discuss implications for educational interventions, including bystander intervention and norm enforcement in other sexualized environments.

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About Ashley Haymond

Ashley Haymond is a sexuality educator and researcher. Her current research focuses on bystander intervention in the BDSM community, specifically how the trained observers called Dungeon Monitors make decisions in a complex environment. In addition to interest in the kink/BDSM community, other educational and research interests include anatomy/physiology and how ideas about sexuality influence law and public policy.

www.ashleyhaymond.com

Sick Fuck: Navigating Kink and Chronic Illness
Anne Barringer, BA & Yoseñio V. Lewis, BA

BA 6 in 10 American adults have at least one chronic illness, so it is highly likely that either you, a client, or a loved one is learning how to live with this challenging reality. But what if BDSM practitioners could use the skills they have learned through kink to better manage their illnesses? Is it possible to work around pain or medical issues during play, or even work through them? In this session, chronically ill kinksters Melody Anne and Yoseñio V. Lewis draw from lived experience and empirical research to explore these questions and identify ways that chronically ill, pained, or disabled kinksters can be supported within health care settings, interpersonal relationships, and BDSM/kink communities.

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About Melody Anne Barringer

Melody Anne Barringer is a sex educator, workshop facilitator, researcher, and BDSM enthusiast from Vancouver, Canada. She received her B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Critical Studies in Sexuality from the University of British Columbia, where she was a research assistant at two sexuality labs. Her first academic paper, Dispositional Mindfulness Among BDSM Practitioners, has recently been published in the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality. Melody Anne has completed sexual health educator training from Options for Sexual Health, and has presented her workshops on sexual health, pleasure, and kink to thousands of individuals at conferences, universities, and venues across North America. With over 15 years experience in BDSM and sex-positive communities, Melody Anne is passionate about helping people explore their sexuality, navigate their kinks, and discover their authentic pleasure.

www.EroticEducator.com

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About Yoseñio V. Lewis

Yoseñio V. Lewis is a Latino of African Descent female to male transsexual who has been a social justice activist since he was 13 years old. A consultant, health educator, speaker, trainer, facilitator, writer, performer, out poly and kinky person and a spiritual hugger, Yoseñio has been a panelist and keynote speaker at numerous universities and sexuality conferences. He was one of the inaugural honorees of The Trans 100 list. Yoseñio is a Board Member of TASHRA (The Alternative Sexualities Health Research Alliance), a Board Member of the Columbia University/Emory University/San Francisco State University Project AFFIRM Transgender Resilience Study and a member of The Association of Black Sexologists and Clinicians. Yoseñio is a Certified Restorative Justice Practitioner and has completed the Introduction to the Principles of Kingian Nonviolence. He is on the faculty for the Sex Justice Track of the National LGBTQ Task Force Creating Change Conference. Yoseñio is a Trans Patient Educator at Stanford University.

Yoseñio has been featured in several documentaries about gender identity and the trans* experience. He is the founder of Written In The Flesh Erotic Readings (an on-stage opportunity for the lifting up of People of Color voices in Erotica and Sexual Liberation). Yoseñio is also an aspiring Voice Over Artist.

Yoseñio believes that there can be no art without activism and no activism without art.

Facebook: yosenio.lewis

Twitter: @YosenioL

Somatic Re-Experiencing of Sexual Trauma
Andrew Pari, LCSW, CCTP

From Freud to van der Kolk, compulsive repetition of trauma has been discussed for 100 years. However, the replaying of sexual trauma has been largely ignored, poorly understood, and, even within the sexual assault recovery field, largely disbelieved and shamed. Survivors are often confused and mortified at their drive towards these behaviors, though they may gain sexual satisfaction and temporary release from them. This controversial talk will provide a brief overview of these behaviors, qualitative data exploring them, and a radical proposed treatment intervention that aims to address and reduce associated trauma symptomology.

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About Andrew Pari

Andrew is the Founder of Sexual Assault Awareness, LLC, dedicated to ending sexualized violence and shame through a sex-positive lens. He provides psychotherapy and training with a focus on the “taboo,” that most in the field won’t address, including specialized populations in sex trade and trafficking. A nationally recognized expert in trauma and sexualized violence, he’s developed sex trade policy and hosted worldwide online discussions on rape. He is the Certification Program Director on the Board of the Center for Positive Sexuality (CPS).

www.SAAwareness.com

Kink Cultural Competence Scale
Vanessa Brown, PsyD; Lexi Gird, MS; & Courtney Cabell, MA

The Kink Practice Guidelines, published in 2019, outline the necessary components required for mental health professionals to provide culturally competence care to kink-identifying clients as well as clients engaging in kink behaviors. Utilizing the collaborative work from the Kink Practice Guidelines Project (2019), a Kink Cultural Competence Scale was created and disseminated to 279 mental health professionals. This team will discuss their scale and provide an overview of the data.

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About Vanessa Brown

Dr. Vanessa Brown (she/her) is the Associate Chair of Clinical Psychology at Saybrook University and Adjunct Faculty at the Michigan School of Psychology. She is a Member-at-Large and the Continuing Education Chair for APA Division 32, the Society for Humanistic Psychology. Lexi Gird (they/them) is a clinical psychotherapist specializing in sex and sexuality, gender, relationships, and trauma. Their work emphasizes a trauma-responsive, anti-oppressive, empowered-centered approach. They graduated from Capella University and are looking forward to beginning a doctoral degree at the Michigan School of Psychology this fall. Courtney Cabell (she/her) is a first-year doctoral student at the Michigan School of Psychology (MSP). She currently serves as a student ambassador for APA’s Division 32 and sees clients part-time at a private practice. She is the founder and CEO of Open Heart Communities, a non-profit organization dedicated to serving foster children and youth who’ve aged out of foster care.

www.msp.edu

Thursday, 12 May 2022

8pm Eastern / 5pm Pacific

(90 minute meeting)

Click Here to View the Recording!

AltSex NYC Conference
Dulcinea Pitagora, PhD, LCSW, CST & Anastasia Sielski Elizalde, LMSW

The phrase “alternative sexuality” is purposefully broad, and inclusive of non-conforming gender identifications and sexual orientations and an intersectionality of gender and sexual expressions. The AltSex NYC Conference is a forum designed to disseminate information in a respectful, sex positive, and affirmative manner, including but not limited to kink and BDSM, polyamory and consensual non-monogamy, non-binary identifications, and non-traditional relationship and kinship structures. The conference organizers and presenters are experts and professionals currently working clinically, teaching and conducting seminars, and/or conducting much needed research on the populations that have historically had access to minimal support and understanding of their lifestyles, behaviors, and relationship structures.

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About Dulcinea Alex Pitagora

www.dulcineapitagora.com
www.altsexnycconference.org

I offer affirming psychotherapy and sex therapy for individuals, couples, multiple-partner relationships, and poly and leather families. I am an expert in alternative sexualities, and I specialize in working with adults in the kink, poly, trans, GNC/NB, LGBQ, and sex work communities. I work with those who live openly and out; and those who have more conservative and private lifestyles. My approach is holistic, person-centered, and collaborative. I welcome people of every ability, age, gender, national origin, race/ethnicity, religious affiliation, and sexual orientation. As a white anti-racist therapist, I create space for conversations that de/reconstruct whiteness, and cultivate positive racial and intersectional identities.

People seek therapy with me for many reasons, including: a deeper understanding of identity or sexuality; difficulty adjusting to relationship difficulties or traumatic experiences; anxiety and/or depression; sexual functioning issues; compulsive thoughts or behavior; and/or changes in relationship structure or power dynamic. Most people decide to work with me because of my specialized training and experience, or because they feel more comfortable speaking to a therapist with first-hand knowledge of alternative identities and lifestyles.

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About Anastasia Sielski Elizalde

www.manhattanalternative.com

www.expressyourselftherapynyc.com

Having grown up as a queer, Hispanic New Yorker has allowed me to develop a unique approach to psychotherapy that is social justice informed, trauma-informed, and client-centered.

In my work with individuals and couples, I work to take an LGBTQI+, kink/BDSM affirming, and anti-racist approach. Although my clinical lens is primarily psychodynamic, I incorporate different therapeutic skills, including aspects of CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy), DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy), and Motivational Interviewing depending on your needs. In addition to my eclectic therapeutic style, I bring energy, curiosity, and humor to each session so we can both experience the power of the therapeutic relationship.

Everyone’s journey to therapy is different. It can be uncomfortable and challenging, but I am a firm believer that we all have the capacity to change patterns that no longer serve us and that our identities are sources of strength. I hope to create a space where we can safely and creatively explore your authentic self, as well as identify and inspire areas of growth.

I am bilingual - Spanish (lee abajo) and English. See Spanish below.

¡Hola! Me llamo Anastasia Sielski. Soy una psicoterapeuta bilingüe (español /inglés).

Mis experiencias como queer, latina y neoyorquina me han llevado a desarrollar un enfoque único de la psicoterapia, el cual no solo tiene en cuenta la justicia social y los traumas multigeneracionales, sino que además es firmemente antiracista.

Mi trabajo con individuos y parejas se basa en un enfoque afirmativo de las comunidades LGBTQI + y fetichistas/BDSM. Aunque mi perspectiva clínica es principalmente psicodinámica, incorporo diferentes modalidades terapéuticas, entre ellas elementos de las terapias cognitivo-conductual y dialéctica conductual, dependiendo de las necesidades de cada caso. Además de tener un estilo terapéutico ecléctico, traigo mi energía, curiosidad y humor a cada sesión para que ambos podamos experimentar el gran poder de la relación terapeuta-paciente.

El camino hacia la terapia es diferente para cada persona. Para algunos es incómodo y difícil. Ahora bien, estoy convencida de que todos podemos cambiar aquellas conductas que ya no nos sirven y que nuestras identidades nos fortalecen. Espero crear un espacio donde podamos explorar de forma segura y creativa tu auténtico “yo”, así como identificar y desarrollar oportunidades de crecimiento.

2020 Consent Violations Survey
Susan Wright, MA & Russell J. Stambaugh, PhD, DST, CSSP

Despite the emphasis on consent in the kink communities, individuals do experience consent violations and sexual assault both prior to engaging and during their involvement in alt-sex activities. However, the 2020 Consent Violations Survey found a lower rate of consent violations in the alt-sex community (26%) compared to sexual assault as an adult outside of alt-sex contexts (34%) and sexual assault as a minor (40%). Within the most recent consent violation, the most common behaviors were non-kink related, except for lack of aftercare. Nearly 40% of participants reported the reasons for their most recent consent violation in alt-sex contexts were being selfish or caught up in the moment. Focused interventions are needed to address how different populations are experiencing assault and violations in alt-sex contexts, and how they may report these violations to others.

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About Susan Wright

www.ncsfreedom.org

Susan Wright, M.A., (she/her) founded the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom in 1997, and currently serves as Executive Director. In addition, she serves on the advocacy and community advisory committees for AASECT, the APA’s Division 44: Task Force on Consensual Non-monogamy, Kink Clinician Guidelines, and the Diverse Sexualities Research Education Institute. She chaired the successful DSM-5 Revision Project which helped result in the consensual paraphilias being separated from the APA’s Paraphilic Disorders in 2013. She currently chairs the Consent Counts Committee that worked with the American Law Institute on the new Model Penal Code on Sexual Assault to create Section 213:10: Affirmative Defense of Explicit Prior Permission for use of force and restraint with sexual contact. Her research for NCSF focuses on discrimination and violence against alt-sex practitioners; consent practices and attitudes; and the mental and physical health of alt-sex practitioners, with papers published in journals including the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Psychology & Sexuality, Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Archives of Sexual Behavior, Journal of Sexual Medicine, Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, International Journal of Social Psychiatry, and Journal of Homosexuality.

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About Russell J. Stambaugh

https://elephantinthehottub.com

I retired as a clinical psychologist in private practice in 2014. I was a member of The American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT) 1994-2018, and maintained a Diplomate in Sex Therapy 2005-2018. I was a Sex Therapy Supervisor 2011-2018. I served in the AASECT leadership 2000-2018, including 5 years as a Director. I was twice Awarded the Distinguished Service to AASECT Award in 2012, and 2015, I chaired the AASECT AltSex Special Interest Group for 2011 -2015. In May of 2017, I was Awarded a 'lifetime achievement award in training , research and advocacy' by the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF and the Community-Academic consortium for Research on Alternative Sexualities (CARAS). In 2016 NCSF took over that award, renaming it the Race Bannon Advocacy Award. In 2019, I became an adviser to Tickle.Life. Prior to all of that, I had been formally studying sexual deviance, sex variation, and the psychology sexuality for 40 years.

BDSM Practitioner Perceptions of Discrimination and Inequality with Healthcare Services
Kate Jansen, PhD, MA

The study evaluated the perceptions of and experiences with discrimination in the mental and medical healthcare systems from individuals who identify as members of the BDSM community. Discrimination because of kink was reported in nearly a quarter of participants, and trust in the health community was very low. Reluctance to disclose was associated with experiences of discrimination and perceptions that members of the kink community receive unequal care. These experiences and perceptions likely serve as a barrier to mental and medical health services among BDSM practitioners.

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About Kate Jansen

www.midwestern.edu/academics/our-faculty/kate-jansen-phd
Instagram: @jansen_psych

Kate Jansen, PhD is an associate professor in the clinical psychology department at Midwestern University, Glendale. She has published and presented research and scholarship on medical communication, human sexuality, and research ethics. Her research interests are in implementation of integrated healthcare services and meeting the healthcare needs of those who engage in diverse sexual practices.

Honing Sexual Attitude Reassessment (SAR)
Fredrick Zal, MA, CSE

This presentation will outline exemplary practices in teaching a Sexual Attitude Reassessment (SAR). SAR is sometimes colloquially referred to as diversity, equity, inclusion, and intersectionality training in the field of sexology. However, SAR is much more than that. SAR is a bridge 'from' cis-hetero-monogamous-ableist kyriarchy and other forms of erotic marginalization 'to' embodiment, loving kindness, compassion, compersion, and equanimity. Analysis of SAR lesson plans from multiple leaders in the field, to compare and critique methods and pedagogy utilized. Literature review of books, dissertations, and peer-reviewed journal publications on SAR. Professional recommendations based upon research and analysis. Recommendations will be made around sexually explicit media, live / virtual formats, group discussion formats, positionality, vulnerability, and other resources.

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About Fredrick Zal

www.TantricKink.com

www.NWIOI.com

Thursday, 10 February 2022

8am -9:30am Pacific / 11am -12:30pm Eastern

(90 minute meeting)

Click Here to View the Recording!

International Kink Health Study
Richard Sprott

Presentation about the 2021 International Kink Health Survey, which proposes

● to expand measures of stigma and discrimination, overall and specifically in healthcare settings, paying closer attention to questions of multiple minority status and intersectionality, and their relation to health status and health disparities
● to collect more in-depth information on the health impact of kink community involvement, paying attention to online activities as part of community involvement in light of the COVID-19 pandemic
● to collect more fine-grained information about injuries or medical complications that arise from engagement in kink scenes/activities

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About Richard Sprott

Richard Sprott
https://www.tashra.org
https://www.kinkhealth.org

Richard Sprott received his Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from UC Berkeley in 1994. His early work was on social and language development in early childhood. Throughout the 1980s, he conducted program evaluations for educational programs for migrant farmworker families and worked in other areas of migrant farmworker education. As a researcher he has examined in detail the relationship between professional identity development and the development of professional ethics in medical doctors, ministers and teachers, and professional identity development in emerging fields of work. He is currently directing research projects focused on identity development and health/well-being in people who express alternative sexualities and non-traditional relationships, with a special emphasis on kink/BDSM sexuality, and polyamory or consensual non-monogamy. He is the President-Elect of the Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity (APA Division 44) for 2020-2021. He is also the co-author of Sexual Outsiders: Understanding BDSM Sexualities and Communities (Rowman & Littlefield, 2013). Along with Dr. Elisabeth Sheff, he is co-editor of a new book series Diverse Sexualities, Genders, and Relationships from Rowman & Littlefield. All of these efforts highlight the ways in which stigma, prejudice, minority dynamics, health, language, identity development and community development all intersect and affect each other. Richard currently teaches courses in the Department of Human Development and Women's Studies at California State University, East Bay and graduate level courses at various universities in the Bay Area, including UC Berkeley and Holy Names University.

An Intersectional Approach to Sex Therapy: Centering the Lives of Indigenous, Racialized, and People of Color
Marla Renee Stewart

Marla Renee Stewart will be speaking about this book's research pertaining to when a Black, Indigenous, or racialized individual or relationship works with a sex therapist, a host of cultural circumstances can contribute to intimacy discord and sexual dysfunction. This collection brings together clinicians and educators who share their approaches, bridging sex therapy with a client’s relationship to their racial, cultural, and ethnic identity. This essential book aims to enhance therapists’ supervisory practices and clinical treatments when working with culturally diverse and marginalized populations, fostering greater understanding and awareness. Innovative tools that integrate the impacts of acculturation, minority status, intersectionality, and minority stress are discussed, with case studies, demonstrations, and critical questions included. This collection is a necessary read for anyone who is training to be or who is an established sex therapist, marriage and family therapist, relationship counselor, or sexuality educator and consultant. ISBN: 978-0367471958

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About Marla Renee Stewart

Marla Renee Stewart
https://www.marlareneestewart.com

Marla, a Californian native and a Southern transplant, is a woman with passion, charisma and integrity. Motivated by passion, her mission in life is to educate and inspire others in a variety of ways. First and foremost, she is truly dedicated to getting people in touch with their body, mind and spirit. She believes in harnessing love and accepting people for who they are and where they are at in their lives. Her non-judgmental spirit speaks to people from all different backgrounds and she has the ability to get along with just about anyone. She is a maven in most everything that she pursues and she strives for perfection in everything she does. Mediocre is not in her vocabulary. She has a wonderful and supportive family, as well as amazing and compassionate friends. When she has some free time, she likes to watch movies, have provocative conversations with her friends and play basketball. She also loves to dance and convince her house guests to play strategy games with her.

De-pathologizing The Black Superwoman’s Kinky Sexual Fantasy
Lexx Brown-James

Lexx Brown-James will be speaking about the impacts of intersectionality on Black women's sexual pleasure and how their pleasure around power exchange is pathologize in Chapter 9 of the above book.

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About Lexx Brown-James

Lexx Brown-James
https://www.lexxsexdoc.com

Dr. Lexx is a phenomenal sex therapist, educator, and media consultant. The #CouplesClinician runs The Institute for Sexuality and Intimacy, LLC and is an Amazon best-selling author twice over! She’s the coolest nerd you'll ever meet and she’s passionate about helping others build, maintain, and perpetuate true relationship intimacy with #shamefreesexed.
For Dr. Lexx, therapy work helps people heal from relationship distance, intimacy challenges, depression, anxiety, grief, and trauma. Her educational work teaches others about sex positive comprehensive sexuality from an intersectional lens. It is The Institute's mission to deliver sex positive, comprehensive, gender expansive, adipositive, culturally diverse, queer and trans inclusive, medically accurate, shame free sex education.
Combining therapy and education allows Dr. Lexx to create a well rounded experience. Clients, learners, and professionals develop new applicable skills through our work together, whether that be in the therapy office, classroom, professional seminar or keynote.

Emerging Research on Unique Fetish Interests and Communities
Sam Hughes

Research on BDSM and Kink has exploded in the past two decades, as academic researchers and health practitioners have come to better understand the lives, experiences, motivations, needs, and communities of people who practice mainstream BDSM and kink activities. However, smaller, niche fetish communities have also sprung up in this same time, especially facilitated by the internet, but have received comparatively less attention. In this workshop, we will explore recent academic research focused on the psychology and social dynamics presented by these less well-understood fetish interests, identities, and communities. Communities and fetish interests that will be covered include: Pup play, Erotic Hypnosis, ABDL/Ageplay, Furries, Haircut Fetishism, and Cuckolding. Participants will also be invited to analyze and discuss hypothetical clinical case examples involving people who hold these interests, in an effort to improve clinical skills and competencies with these less well-understood communities.

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About Sam Hughes

Sam Hughes
https://psychology.ucsc.edu/about/people/grad-directory.php?uid=sadhughe

Sam Hughes, M.S., is a PhD student in social psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who studies kink, BDSM, and sexual fetishism. He has 4 publications so far, with several others on the way. He is currently in the process of completing his dissertation proposal and working to prepare for the academic job market.