Richard Sprott & Anna Randall

In 2016, the National Kink Health Survey (NKHS) collected data from over 1,100 kink-identified people within the United States. The presentation will review evidence from the 2016 NKSH that supports the proposal that kinky people are an unidentified sexual minority facing significant health disparities. The presentation will also review evidence for resiliencies and strengths in light of significant minority stress.

Stasie D. Dear

The primary goal of this research was to determine how sexual motivations differed based on BDSM engagement (BDSM or non-BDSM) and participant gender (male or female).

A total of 253 adults from Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) responded to questions that tapped motivations for sexual behavior. The research investigated gender differences and differences based on BDSM engagement on the sexual motivations, as well as an interaction between gender and BDSM engagement for all motivations.

Eliezer Pliskin

Using Dr. Daniel Goleman’s four quadrants of Emotional Intelligence (EI), this presentation will illustrate how EI skills can support more fulfilling BDSM experiences and how EI skills cultivated through BDSM can be applied to other parts of life.

Richard Sprott, Jules Ostro, Eloora Vilkin, Dane Schnittman, Julius Orejudos, & Lyle Swallow

The Kink Identity and Sexuality Study (KISS) analyzes in-depth interviews from 72 people in the San Francisco Bay Area to discover the dimensions of kink identity, as well as map developmental trajectories and milestones for kinky peoples’ sexual development. This presentation presents a current analysis of the interviews, identifying four large dimensions of kink identity, around which kink-identified people vary: Sex, Power, Community, Headspace

Sam D. Hughes & KIana Namaki

The reasons for kink community involvement among kinky people have received limited academic attention, with a few notable exceptions. Furthermore, to our knowledge, no academic study has asked kinky people who are not part of in-person kink communities to describe their reasons for not participating. To fill this gap in the literature, we conducted an online international anonymous survey of 162 kinky people involved in a local community and 102 kinky people not involved in a local community and asked them to provide their open-ended reasons for their participation or lack thereof. Kink community members identified developing a sense of kinship, social networking, positive emotional benefits, friendship, liberation, education, safety, self-discovery, and social support as commonly cited reasons for their involvement. Non-involved kinky people identified logistics, introversion, not fitting in, distaste for perceived features of the community, outing concerns, safety, and preferring online interactions as reasons for their non-involvement. The implications for creating, developing, and maintaining happy, positive, healthy kink communities will be discussed as well as community-oriented strategies for supporting kinky people’s mental health.

Denice Palacios, Jessica Hernandez, & Patricia Rivas

This qualitative research study highlights the strengths and challenges of work-life balance among individuals working in various aspects of the sex industry in Southern California. Highlighting the voices of 18 diverse sex workers (women, men, and trans-identified), we illustrate the ways in which these individuals navigate their work life, their personal life, their decision-making process for disclosing their work to friends, family, and intimate partners, the challenges they face in their personal relationships, and the ways in which they negotiate tensions they experience. Using a life time-line approach, we also examine the ways in which their connections to various institutions (education, prison, social services, healthcare, etc.) over time inform and shape their ability to prioritize between their work (career and ambition) and their lifestyle (health, pleasure, leisure, relationships and spiritual development).

Charles Mosier, PhD, MD & Susan Wright

Panel Presentation: Some healthcare practitioners see kink identified patients as a marginalized group and wish to reach out. Nevertheless, the practitioners often make blunders that may enfranchise some kink practitioners but further alienate others. This panel will discuss the problems and potential solutions, so these individuals will be able to access nonjudgmental care and help healthcare providers provide sex-positive healthcare.

Jeremy N. Thomas PhD, DJ Williams PhD, Emily Prior MA, Jennifer Vencill PhD, R. Todd Hartle PhD

Panel Presentation: Meet the Editorial Board of the Journal of Positive Sexuality. They will briefly review what the journal has accomplished and then discuss the future of this publication. The audience is encouraged to ask questions throughout the presentation.

Alexandria Baker

Non-judgemental, moment to moment awareness, or mindfulness, increases satisfaction and well-being when one brings focus to themselves and their surroundings. The brain is trained to have greater control and attention so one can better steer the ship of their life towards meaningful experiences. The practices of mindfulness include tools that everyone can use to increase satisfaction and happiness, encouraging progress and growth individually and within relationships.

Dan Copulsky

Are particular personalities prone to polyamory? Are non-monogamous folks more open, conscientious, extroverted, agreeable, or neurotic? Are they more intuitive or sensing, more feeling or thinking, more perceptive, or judging? Are there other measures where they differ? A limited number of studies have examined these questions, offering a few tentative answers and a lot more avenues for future study. This research can help deepen personal understanding, dispel social stigma, and improve care for these communities.

Yosenio V Lewis

Poster Presentation: Many activists for Sexual Liberation are introverted, yet wish to be at the forefront of the fight for justice. Sometimes introversion blocks us from doing the best work we can. In an effort to fit in, we take on more than our bodies and psyches can tolerate. Reaching our highest potential to effect change requires superior techniques for self-care. The presentation will showcase opportunities to discover, honor, and implement strategies that nourish us and increase our potential to do meaningful justice work.

Michelle Anklan

While there is a fair amount of quantitative information surrounding women’s use of vibrators, there is a notable lack of qualitative information about women’s lived experiences using vibrators. This presentation is based on responses gathered from a qualitative study conducted through a Sociology of Human Sexuality course. I will discuss women’s perceptions of vibrators, how vibrators play a role in their sexuality and share real-life stories of women and their vibrators.

She received her B.A. in political science from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, and currently works as a graduate and teaching assistant at MNSU. Michelle’s research interests include gender, sexuality, mindfulness, and policy advocacy regarding the care and treatment of intersex infants and children. Michelle is currently an MSW intern at the Transgender and Intersex Specialty Care Clinic at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.

Along with presenting on sexuality and consent to college students, he has presented original research at the Alternative Sexualities Conference and the PCA/ACA National Conference. He is also the founding editor of SexEdPlus.com, a collection of sex-positive infographics and comics.

JoJo is also a Clinical Hypnotherapist who uses hypnosis, guided imagery, and NLP in his practice. JoJo uses a technique called “HYPNO-MASSAGE” which integrates hypnosis and bodywork for healing as well as working on specific matters. He facilitates workshops all over the country that revolve around intimacy, sexuality, and pleasure. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York, but now lives and has a private practice in the San Francisco Bay area. Visit JoJo’s website at Metamorphic Embodiment or his blog at Sex Talk with JoJo Bear.

Jessica is trained in anti-oppressive social work and has worked as an intern with over 200+human trafficking victims & sex workers doing case management, translating for Spanish monolingual clients, and advocating LGBTQ sex awareness. After graduating in 2016 with her Bachelors’s in Social Welfare Jessica started working with special needs and foster care children, while still volunteering at Journey Out facilitating our “HealingThrough Arts” classes every Tuesday for a year. Jessica was officially hired at Journey Out August 2017 as a Crisis Case Manager and has been certified in Human Trafficking Case Managing.

Sam studies the psychology of sexual minorities in the context of the social world, focusing especially on kinky people and LGBTQ youth. In particular, he explores the origins of kinky sexual desires, as well as the impacts of minority stress processes (like stigma, concealment, and self-pathologization), sexual minority community participation, intersectionality, and sexual identity development on sexual minority mental health outcomes. He’s also interested in how discrimination, policies, and diagnostic criteria from powerful institutions like prisons and psychiatric medicine can harmfully pathologize diversity in human sexuality. His work also investigates the content of sexual fantasies and representations of kinky behavior in pornography. Beyond his research, he is at the same time an active member of the kink community and has taught workshops related to negotiation, erotic hypnosis, BDSM safety, and controversial issues in consent.

She works at the intersections of folklore, anthropology, and gender studies to help people contextualize their embodied experiences and integrate the knowledge of storytelling into their lives. Her areas of research include gender and sexuality in fairy tales, non-monogamy, relationship communication, narrative, body image, and shame. Currently, Dr. Jorgensen is teaching at Butler University and Indiana University. She has written for MySexProfessor.com, kinkly.com, CondomMonologues.com, and YourTango.com in addition to her own blogs, primarily The Foxy Folklorist at Patheos.com.

Since 2013 she’s been a dedicated volunteer with the Center for Positive Sexuality. Initially joining to support behind the scenes, she’s become a driving force at CPS as board secretary, providing social media support, and as an events coordinator. LaTerra also serves as a volunteer sex educator for the Center speaking on panels about body image, polyamory, and BDSM. When it comes to sex education her passions are self-love, body positivity, ecosexuality, and advocating for performers in the adult film industry. LaTerra created the presentation How Being Sex-Positive Can Save the World which she was invited to present at the UC Santa Cruz Ecosex Symposium in 2017. She also led a presentation for Catalyst Con West called RT This: How Cyberbullying is Impacting Women of Color in Porn. LaTerra was recently invited as a guest speaker for the educational seminar series during the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas this past January. She’s excited to be presenting a new and improved version of How Being Sex-Positive Can Save the World at SexPosCon in May.

His research to date has revolved around stigmatized sexuality and gender groups. His other interests include intimate partner selection, social identity development, and the negotiation of sexual consent.

She specializes in working with and is strongly connected to, the LGBTQIA+, kink, and non-monogamous communities. Leigh offers sex and relationship coaching to individuals in the Los Angeles area and via Skype from anywhere in the world. You can read her twice-monthly column, “Ask Sex Coach Leigh,” on the Take Back Your Sex blog. She has presented at Catalyst Con and hosts and facilitates a monthly women’s/genderqueer/non-binary polyamory discussion group. Leigh believes that healthy sexuality is key to a happy life, and she deeply values body positivity, sex positivity, comprehensive sex education, intersectional feminism, and social justice.

As an independent researcher, she engages in qualitative research that explores the lives of women, men, trans folks working in the sex industry. She uses her lived experiences and education to empower others to share their stories.

Not only is it possible, enjoyable, and beautiful, it is even FUN. She is convinced she’ll be able to share her secrets with you. Having dabbled in sex education from the time she joined a traveling theater troupe in college, performing in a show all around the country to help spread messages of acceptance, sexual orientation, and safer sex practices to most recently as a sex educator and consultant, Ariella loves to not only talk but teach about sex. She is also no stranger to education, having been a camp counselor, teen mentor, elementary school teacher, and mother as well. This is Ariella’s first presentation at a conference but has spent her life on stage and in front of the camera, pretending to be someone she’s not. However, her presentation is all about not pretending, but being proud and confident of exactly who you are and taking it to the sheets. A bisexual, fat, middle-aged, Latina woman who owns her size and sexuality, she is ready to teach fellow fat people how to find their confidence in the bedroom.

She is a research assistant for Project SPEAK (Sexual and Personal Experiences Among Kinksters) in the Politics, Culture, and Identity Lab. Kiana takes a critical and feminist approach to psychology that is deeply informed by social justice scholarship and activism towards transformational change. Her research interests include intersections of race-ethnicity, social class, and nationality in gender and sexual identity development. She is interested in the interactions of medical, legal, and cultural contexts for clinical practices. She considers the role of false consciousness, pathologization, and stigma in the mental health outcomes and well-being of marginalized sexual and gender minority groups (particularly sex workers, trans and non-binary, and/or kink-identified people of color). Kiana has a desire to create effective mental health interventions, through advocacy and alliance, for marginalized and stigmatized groups within the context of clinical psychology.