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
The Intersection of Gender Roles and BDSM Power Roles
I was so pleased when the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom—an organization which I have long admired for their tireless support of alternative lifestyles—asked me to submit a guest blog for their site, and posted a excerpt on the presentation I gave at the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Summit in 2014 based on my paper “The BDSM Power Exchange: Subversion, Transcendence, Sexual (R)evolution.” The excerpt they included was chosen because it aligned well with one of their main goals,… Read More
The (In)visibility of Gender Diversity in Graduate Level Education
While the abstract below refers to the lack of education on gender diversity in graduate level psychology programs and to the pathologization of gender diversity in related literature, it’s clear that the reification of heteronormative gender roles is also rampant in the field of social work (Hicks, 2014). As someone who holds master’s degrees in both psychology and social work, I experienced this phenomenon first hand twice, and as someone whose practice… Read More
Call for NYC Kink/Poly/LGBTQ Affirmative Providers
Welcome to the launch of ManhattanAlternative.com! We are a network of therapeutic service providers in New York City who are sex-positive, affirmative, and have expertise related to issues that kink, poly, consensually non-monogamous, trans, gender non-conforming, and/or LGBQ-identified individuals face. I started working on this collaborative in 2014 in an effort to address the lack of openly affirmative support to the communities I’ve been a part of in NYC for the past 10+ years, and am… Read More