5th Annual AltSex NYC Conference
Organized and produced by Michael Aaron, PhD, LCSW, CST and Dulcinea Pitagora, PhD, LCSW, CST, the 5th annual AltSex NYC Conference provides a local arena for clinical and educational discourse around alternative sexual practices. 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,… Read More
The Alternative Spirit Conference
The Reverend Dr. Deb Berman, DMin, LCSW, Founder and Spiritual Director of PrideMinistry, will hold The Alternative Spirit Conference at a retreat center in Midtown Manhattan (exact address to be disclosed by organizers directly as to protect the safety and privacy of attendees). The conference will feature eminent Alternative Relationship, Alternative Lifestyle, Kink, BDSM, Poly, LGBTQAI2+, Queer, and Genderqueer affirming authors, psychotherapists, clergy, sexuality educators, advocates, theologians, faith community leadership, and researchers…. Read More
Cultural Competency with BDSM-Oriented Clients
Clinicians unfamiliar with BDSM practices face common issues, including: countertransference; lack of competence in working with people with newly emerging sexual identities and/or with their partners; and discriminating between sexual abuse and “play” (Nichols, 2006; Pitagora, 2015). This seminar has been designed to bolster cultural competence in BDSM sexuality, which to date has been lacking in clinical training. Included will be a review of the literature related to healthy expressions of BDSM… Read More
Cross-post: Dasya Yoga
Click here or on the following url to read the full article on Dr. Michael Aaron‘s Psychology Today blog, Standard Deviations:
Cross-post: Dasya Yoga—Self Development Through Surrender and Pain
Click here or on the following url to read the full article on Dr. Michael Aaron‘s Psychology Today blog, Standard Deviations: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/standard-deviations/201806/dasya-yoga-self-development-through-surrender-and-pain
Hormones & Handcuffs
How many trans or gender nonconforming people are involved in BDSM, nonmonogamy, or other forms of alternate lifestyles? Actual numbers do not exist, but anecdotal evidence suggests percentages are significantly higher than in cisgender (non-transgender) populations. Why? Those of us in the transgender and gender nonconforming community have nontraditional relationships with our bodies. A large number experience bitter dysphoria pretransition, having spent decades tormented by a conflict between our inner identities and external selves. So often this clash centers on genitalia, the most… Read More
The Eulenspiegel Society
By Michal Daveed, the Media Representative for The Eulenspiegel Society. Nowadays, BDSM imagery can be found in mainstream culture, but it’s a double-edged sword. It can be hard to disentangle fact from fiction, and seeing jokes on primetime TV about bondage don’t offer community, or emotional support. But since before the “Fifty Shades of Grey” craze, and surely until long afterwards, The Eulenspiegel Society fills the gaps. The Eulenspiegel Society, or TES, has… Read More
Cross-post: Is it Possible to Eradicate a Fetish?
By Dr. Michael Aaron, originally posted on December 8, 2014 on DrMichaelaaronNYC.com/blog. In a recent post, I wrote about how the field of sexology is uneven in its application and rife with regional and individual biases, largely due to general sex phobia and a subsequent lack of empirical research within the field. Recently, a debate on the mailing list of one of the sexological organizations to which I belong touched again upon discrepancies… Read More