Presentation Descriptions

Keynote Address: Saturday, February 21, 2026, 10:30-11:45 a.m. EST

This talk will expand Audre Lorde’s treatment of the erotic as it is manifested across a variety of relationships to present a vision of a “professional eros,” which acknowledges the ways that the erotic serves as an organizing force across a variety of professional relationships.

In doing so, this talk will engage with the ways that the erotic has been problematized within professional spaces, arguing that this problematic eros, what Lorde describes as the “pornographic” fails to account for the generative potential of the erotic due to its organization around patriarchy.

Following Lorde, this paper will decenter the understanding of the erotic as essentially sexual, and draw upon Lorde’s work on teaching and the intersection of sexuality and the public sphere to reframe a “professional erotic” as a means of productive engagement.

Keynote Address: Sunday, February 22, 2026, 10:30-11:45 a.m. EST

This keynote explores positive sexuality through the lens of disability, fetish, and kink, reframing these often-stigmatized practices as acts of liberation and self-determination. Drawing on crip theory and intersectionality, I argue that sexuality is not peripheral but central to the lived experiences and wellbeing of disabled people. Fetish and kink cultures, with their emphasis on negotiation, creativity, and embodiment, offer radical spaces where disabled people can reclaim agency, resist ableist norms, and forge affirming identities. At the same time, celebrating disabled people’s sexualities requires a holistic and responsible practice that honours both vulnerability and strength. I outline principles for working alongside disabled people that centre consent, accessibility, interdependence, and cultural humility, while challenging structural inequalities that shape intimate lives. By engaging with the erotic as a site of empowerment, we move toward a vision of sexuality that is not only inclusive but transformative—where disability is not a limit but a source of radical possibility.

Saturday, February 21, 2026

Saturday, February 21, 2026, Session 1

This presentation will explore how professionals can ethically navigate and manage their own sexual or erotic feelings toward clients, shifting this common but challenging experience from a potential liability to a valuable opportunity for deep ethical learning and professional growth. Attendees will learn practical strategies for creating and maintaining therapeutic boundaries, utilizing self-reflection and supervision to process attraction, and ultimately using these powerful feelings as data points to enhance clinical awareness and sex-positive, ethical care.

Saturday, February 21, 2026, Session 1

This presentation examines how personal ethical failures in intimate contexts can inform reflexive kink research. Drawing on a study with 24 gay fist-fuckers, it explores aftercare as a site where care, personal accountability, and scholarly responsibility converge.

Saturday, February 21, 2026, Session 1

How do we translate broad codes of ethics into clear, transparent practices that reflect our professional values and lived realities? This can be especially tricky for providers who are part of marginalized sexuality communities and who serve those communities. After a brief overview of key concepts—drawing from NASW and AASECT codes, CE trainings, and published guidance—participants will receive a sample ethics statement as a starting point. This presentation empowers professionals to leave with a clearer vision for aligning their ethics statements with sex-positive, client-centered practice.

Saturday, February 21, 2026, Session 2

This presentation explores how trauma play can serve as a site of healing and post-traumatic growth, drawing from 6 participants’ in-depth personal narratives analyzed through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.

Saturday, February 21, 2026, Session 2

Disgust fetishes are sexual practices in which revulsion, shame, or violation become a source of arousal. When taboo sexual expression pushes the boundaries of social norms and safety, how can sex positivity address such expressions in ways that resist erasure and affirm shared humanity?

Saturday, February 21, 2026, Session 2

In shared kink-focused or sex positive spaces, helping professionals are sometimes challenged regarding keeping clear boundaries and possibly managing multiple relationships. Activity or participation in these spaces may lead to possible confusion and blurred boundaries. This presentation will examine some of the ethical implications of these multiple relationships, as well looking at steps to take specific to this type of setting, that helps clients, as well as considerations for boundary setting to help both the practitioner and the client.

Saturday, February 21, 2026, Session 3

Exploring taboo not merely as a reflection of its greater culture but as a testing place for our personal ethics and autonomy, person-centering the sexual experience as a means for growth. By taking advantage of how society distinctly separates our bedroom behaviors from our everyday, we have an opportunity to view facets of ourselves and focus on our own loci of control.

Saturday, February 21, 2026, Session 4

This lecture will explore the discrimination faced by BIPOC kinksters from a variety of sources (BDSM/kink, LGBTQIA+, and BIPOC spaces), and how these experiences of marginalization and oppression exponentially increase minority stress. Suggestions for providing more affirming, culturally humble care with these clients will also be explored.

Saturday, February 21, 2026, Session 4

Comprehensive sexual health services, such as sex therapy and sex education, create a difficult dilemma for participants or former participants of Christian Nationalist communities, which encourage participants to restrict their sexual expression and conform to rigid gender norms and other tenets of heteronormativity. This presentation will help sexual health professionals navigate the inherent movement into, and engagement with deconstruction that these clients will likely experience.

Saturday, February 21, 2026, Session 4

This presentation explores the revolutionary “Orgasmic Birth” model proposed by Debra Pascali-Bonaro, which challenges the dominant biomedical framework by re-centering pleasure, autonomy, and sexuality within childbirth practices. Drawing on recent scientific literature and hormonal physiology, this approach frames respectful perinatal care that integrates the anatomy of pleasure, sexual empowerment, and holistic ethics. By fostering a culture that acknowledges birth as an intimate and sexual experience, we reconnect professional ethics with honoring the voice, choice, and embodied wisdom of birthing individuals.

Sunday, February 22, 2026

Sunday, February 22, 2026, Session 5

An autoethnographic exploration of how Total Power Exchange, behavioral conditioning, and neuroplasticity converge to reshape and reimagine the submissive self and aid in healing from past traumatic experiences.

Sunday, February 22, 2026, Session 5

Mainstream media utilizes the term “breeding kink,” which is often interrelated with specific celebrities, perpetuating stigma around this sexual practice. Our team conducted an online mixed-methods survey of the breeding kinksters in the U.S. and used qualitative methods to understand who these people are and how they see themselves in their kink practices.

Sunday, February 22, 2026, Session 5

Defining desirability politics as a system of oppression that dictates who is deemed desirable, often based on anti-Blackness, anti-fatness, and other forms of systemic violence, this lecture will explore how these dynamics play out on digital platforms, such as dating apps and social media, where algorithms can reinforce biases against marginalized individuals. The presentation will also differentiate between genuine attraction and fetishization, emphasizing the importance of respecting an individual’s humanity and consent.

Sunday, February 22, 2026, Session 6

This workshop challenges the idea of Western sexuality education as a neutral universal script and exposes how ‘adaptations’ for marginalized communities often reproduce epistemic injustice. Drawing on African feminist, queer, and Global South perspectives, this interactive workshop invites participants to interrogate their own assumptions, distinguish cultural sensitivity from cultural justice, and leave with concrete strategies for centering marginalized epistemologies in their curricula and practice.

Sunday, February 22, 2026, Session 7

Despite increased visibility and cultural shifts toward acceptance, negative perceptions and misconceptions about Autism persist, driving a widespread infantilization of Autistic individuals. This lecture will challenge that trend by exploring the importance of acknowledging Autistic people’s sexuality and interest in sex, using a case vignette to illustrate the necessity of challenging parental misconceptions.

Sunday, February 22, 2026, Session 7

What does it mean to be sex positive while personally not wanting sex? This presentation contrasts cultural values about sex with personal attitudes toward participation, using Asexual perspectives to deepen inclusive framing.

Sunday, February 22, 2026, Session 7

What if we stopped seeing disability as a barrier to pleasure? This talk invites you to reimagine intimacy, confidence, and connection through a lens of possibility and pride.

Sunday, February 22, 2026, Session 8

The rise of AI Large Language Models (LLMs) has opened up new possibilities in the realms of intimacy, companionship, and sexuality —but what does it mean when a generated script replaces human connection? This work critically examines the ethical implications of positioning AI as a substitute for the physicality of sex work.

Sunday, February 22, 2026, Session 8

Parenting in polyamorous frameworks is often misunderstood, and for Black queer families, it is further shaped by systemic invisibility, stigma, and resistance. This session explores how Black queer polyamorous parents and caregivers are crafting liberatory approaches to family, care, and legacy that defy narrow, nuclear norms. Through storytelling, reflective dialogue, and lived experience, we will reimagine what family, care, and legacy can look like when Black queer polyamorous joy is centered as both a personal truth and a professional ethic. Participants will leave with new frameworks for understanding family abundance and tools for applying these lessons in both personal and professional contexts.