This is a recording of The Sexploration Project's June 2023 virtual roundtable on Recentering BIPOC Joy, Pleasure, and Flourishing, featuring:

• Moderator: Alexandra Magallon, Manager of Programs and Services at The TransLatin@ Coalition

• Dr. Candice Hargons, Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology at the University of Kentucky and Director of The Center for Healing Racial Trauma

• Shelby Chestnut, Executive Director of the Transgender Law Center

• Dr. Celiany Rivera Velázquez, Research Associate at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO) at CUNY Hunter College and and Executive Director of Circuito Queer de Puerto Rico

• Omisade Burney-Scott, advocate, creative, and founder of The Black Girls Guide to Surviving Menopause

Access the transcript for this roundtable.

Look through the resources and references mentioned during the talk.

Today we chat with two more of the project's Community Steering Committee members, Bria Brown-King and Divine Rae. Bria (they/she) is a Black, queer, non-binary, and intersex person. Bria works as the Director of Engagement for interACT Advocates for Intersex Youth. Bria got their start in intersex advocacy in 2018 as a Youth advocate, and in 2019 she became the first openly intersex person to speak about intersex issues on the steps of the Supreme Court. Bria now serves on multiple advisory boards, representing intersex people both nationally and internationally.

Xir Divine Rae (they/he) is a spiritualist and energy healer who uses musicality and pleasure rebellion as an avenue for liberating the stagnated energy left in our fields from trauma. They are a certified meditation instructor, somatic bodyworker, and performing artist based in Atlanta, GA. In 2021 The Divine Kink Academy was born to share with others the 20-plus years of personal and professional experiences in the BDSM lifestyle, with an emphasis on spirituality and ritualistic kink and fetish exploration. Divine is also Head of Household of House of Rae & co-owner of Dark Haven ATL, a creative studio and BDSM gallery that strives to create safer spaces of education, creation, and exploration of all.

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0m:38s - Everyone introduces themselves

15m:02s - Bria and Divine discuss pleasure, bodily autonomy, and what drew them to this project

35m:40s - Everyone discusses stories/narratives/initiatives that deserve more centrality in the conversation about pleasure today

55m:40s - Episode outro

This is a recording of The Sexploration Project's April 2023 virtual roundtable on Love, Sex, and Intimacy Outside and Beyond Cishetero-Monogamies, featuring:

• Moderator: Dr. Lucie Fielding, PhD, MA, LMHC
• Aubri Lancaster, BA², CSE, ANTE UP! Certified
• Dr. Justin Clardy
• Leanne Yau of Poly Philia Blog

Access the transcript for this roundtable.

Look through the resources and references mentioned during the talk.

On today's episode, we're joined by Jax Kelly, the President of Let's Kick ASS (Aids Survivor Syndrome) Palm Springs, and Yvonne Venegas, Kind Clinic Administrator at Texas Health Action. Together, we talk about navigating sex, intimacy, and relationships--across the lifecourse--when you're also HIV positive, in sero-different relationships, and/or diagnosed with an STI. Tackling myths and misconceptions about the livability of life, and how STIs and HIV are no longer death sentences nor diagnoses to be ashamed of, we focus on the power and possibility of centering pleasure in conversations about lifelong sexual health.

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Explore the references and resources mentioned in today's episode.

0m:58s - Jax and Yvonne introduce themselves

5m:51s - We explore the history of STI and HIV-focused sexual health prevention and intervention in the U.S.

18m:15s - We break down some still-remaining stigma-based myths and misconceptions

50m:23s - We end by talking a bit more about infusing pleasure into the work we do

1hr:07m:35s - Episode outro and what's to come on the next episode

Today we chat with two more of the project's Community Steering Committee members, Omisade Burney-Scott and Josie Auger. Omi (she/her) is a Black southern 7th generation native North Carolinian feminist, mother and healer with decades of experience in nonprofit leadership, philanthrophy, and social justice. She is a founding tribe member of SpiritHouse and previously served as a board member of The Beautiful Project, Village of Wisdom, and Working Films. Omi is also the creator of The Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause, a multimedia project seeking to curate and share the stories and realities of Black women and femmes over 50. She is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, the proud mother of two sons, and resides in Durham. Josie (she/her) is Associated Professor in the Centre of Interdisciplinary Studies in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Athabasca University, Turtle Island (Canada). She served Indigenous peoples as an experienced senior administrator and elected leader for Bigstone Cree Nation (Treaty 8), and is author of “My People’s Blood Indigenous Sexual Health Recovery” (2014). You can also listen to Josie on the kikapekiskwewin podcast! “kikapekiskwewin” is a Cree word referring to a future conversation. At the heart of each podcast, Indigenous cultural values in the context of post-secondary research ethics are discussed.

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0m:38s - Everyone introduces themselves

22m:04s - Omi and Josie explore legacies of white supremacy and our current work on bodily autonomy and body sovereignty

35m:18s - Everyone discusses stories/narratives/initiatives that deserve more centrality in the conversation about pleasure today

56m:02s - Episode outro

Today we are joined by three folks who know a lot about disability, neurodivergence, and sex, and want to help us debunk common myths and misconceptions about disabled and crip sexuality. Dr. Alan Santinele Martino (he/him) is a tenure-track Assistant Professor (Teaching) in the Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies program in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary, where he runs the Disability & Sexuality Lab. Ligia Andrade Zúñiga, MA (she/her/ella) is Board Trustee of the San Mateo Union High School District and former Director and Sex Educator with Sexability. Dr. Sami Schalk (she/her) is an Associate Professor of Gender & Women’s Studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of, among others, the recently released book Black Disability Politics.

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0m:10s - Episode intro

0m:49s - We introduce ourselves

10m:32s - Can you talk a little bit more about the common stereotype/assumption that disabled and/or neurodivergent people aren't sexual (aka that we're all asexual/sexless)?

23m:42s - Can you share some stories or highlight some aspects of crip sex that have been erased/downplayed/not told, specifically ones that decenter whiteness, cisness, heterosexuality, etc.?

52m:30s - Do you have any final thoughts you'd like to share with our listeners?

56m:53s - Episode outro (and what's ahead on Episode 4)

Today, we introduce you to two of our project's Community Steering Committee members: Shanna Katz Kattari (PhD, MEd, CSE (they/them/theirs), an associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department (by courtesy), and director of the [Sexuality | Relationships | Gender] Research Collective) and T.J. Jourian (PhD (he/him/his), an independent scholar, consultant, trainer, and educator, with 20 years of experience helping people and organizations incorporate equity and inclusion, and founder of Trans*Formational Change, LLC).

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0m:39s - We introduce ourselves.

9m:58 - Shanna and T.J. explore the growing violent and repressive attacks on bodily control in the U.S., and how some of their work pushes back against this rising tide.

30m:25 - Shanna and T.J. share why it's important to destigmatize pleasure and center it in all areas of our lives (not just our erotic ones).

49m:25s - Outro and brief description of our next episode, where we'll chat with Sami Schalk, Alan Martino, and Ligia Andrade Zúñiga about disability, neurodiversity, and sex/uality.