Celebrating Sex
I spent the long weekend in my office, with a notebook and pen, watching explicit content and discussing sex and sexuality with other therapists and educators as part of our online Sexual Attitude Reassessment (SAR) course—a requirement for all Sex Therapists and Sex Educators.
A Sexual Attitude Reassessment program is an intense experience—physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. The weekend is designed to help us to learn more about our attitudes, values, feelings and beliefs as sex therapists and sex educators, to examine our internal bias and gain perspectives and insights so we can best support our clients.
According to the American Association of Sexuality Educators Counselors and Therapist (AASECT) website, the primary goals for a SAR seminars are:
To increase understanding of the wide spectrum of human sexual behaviors, identities and orientations, followed by the opportunity to identify their attitudes, values, feelings and beliefs regarding these behaviors including topics of comfort and discomfort.
To increase comfort when addressing and discussing a wide range of sexual topics encountered by the clinical or education professional.
To promote non-judgmental and respectful attitudes toward others whose attitudes, values, feelings, beliefs and sexual behaviors differ from those of the SAR participant.
The weekend was confidential, so I can’t go into any specifics. Naturally, we all had our own unique experiences as we examined our feelings and beliefs around sex and sexuality.
It was interesting to observe my family and friends responses to my weekend plans—ranging from disbelief that I was talking to my colleagues about sex and sex related topics for three days, to surprise and delight that I was shamelessly watching explicit content and talking about sex in the spirit of learning and professional growth. These reactions reminded me how sex is still fairly taboo in our wider culture.
For me, the weekend was a joyful celebration of sex—kinky sex, queer sex, sex after 50, self-pleasure and more.
What an honor and a privilege it is to be a Sex Therapist.
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Reference
AASECT. (2020, April). New SAR guideline proposal.pdf. New SAR Guideline Proposal. https://www.aasect.org/sites/default/files/documents/AASECT%20New%20SAR%20Guidelines%20effective%20Jan%202022.pdf