Another Week, Another Class on the Calendar

We’re coming out of a brief cold snap here in the South, and I’m grateful for that. I spent Sunday with my windows and door wide open, blasting Bachata (sorry neighbors) while I got a final deep-clean in before hunkering down for winter.

This week, I graded assignments on kink and wrote about therapists who won’t talk about sex. I also scheduled another class at the Happy Kitten Pleasure School and started plotting a new educational offering.

Let’s get into the details.

Coursework at the Sexology Institute

Friends are asking about what my new instructor role at the Sexology Institute is like. Some also want to know what completing the course entails.

On the instructor side, things are pretty straightforward. The course is self-guided. Students mostly read texts or watch educational videos, then write or record responses to questions at the end of each lesson.

My job is to read or listen to those responses and determine whether the student demonstrates an understanding of the lesson. If they do, they pass. If not, they don’t pass. Sometimes I issue a passing grade but include a note with clarifying information if part of their response was slightly off-base or incomplete.

For those interested in taking the course, you can learn more on the Institute’s page on Sex Coach Training. Feel free to reach out with any questions. Hope to see you in class!

My Therapist Won’t Talk About Sex

Photo by Alex Green

I’ve had clients approach me because their therapist didn’t feel like the right resource to turn to for counseling on sexual topics. When I dug into this phenomenon, I learned quite a bit about the history sex-negativity in psychotherapy.

Many therapists are perfectly comfortable talking about sex. For some, however, it’s not so simple. Some reasons for this include:

Professionalism. The American Psychological Association’s (APA) ethical principles forbid therapists from having outside relationships with clients. This includes relationships of a sexual nature. Some therapists may feel that simply talking about sex crosses this boundary.

Sexual stigma. Therapists are people, and as a result can hold many of the same stigmas we do about sex or sexual interests that aren’t heterosexual, cisgender, and monogamous. For some, even sex that does fall neatly into these categories can cause discomfort.

Lack of information. Historically, therapist training has only briefly touched on sexual health and human sexuality. Counselors have to seek additional continuing education in order to be adequately informed about how to help clients with sex-related issues.

If your therapist is uncomfortable talking about sex, learn what to do in this week’s article, My Therapist Won’t Talk About Sex.

Strap-On Sex at the Happy Kitten Pleasure School

The Happy Kitten Pleasure School has scheduled its second weekend of classes at Prive. This time, attendees can purchase a single ticket good for one person and attend on their own. Classes will be reformatted to accommodate both solo and partnered attendees – hurray!

My pegging class has also been reworked into a strap-on sex class to accommodate more diverse uses for harnesses and dildos in sex. Here’s the class description:

Strap-On Sex

Whether you and your partners are strap-on novices or pegging aficionados, there’s always something more to discover about this fun form of penetration. From new and classic lube options to finding the right dildo and harness to meet your desires, come get hands-on practice with harness fitting and equipment selection. Learn about preparing for strap-on play, stimulating areas like the g-spot and prostate, different positions to try, and how to achieve even more pleasure with strap-on sex.

Classes take place this weekend, November 13th and 14th, in New Orleans. Learn more about my class and others and buy your tickets here.

Looking Ahead

After some reflection inspired by last week’s sex ed business course by Cameron Glover, I’m assembling a new event centered around collaborative learning and sex-positivity. Keep an eye out for more exciting information.

That’s all for this week. Stay warm, and of course…

Stay sexy. <3

Published by Shannon Burton

Sex educator and writer by day, poet and flash fiction author by night, I occasionally manage to get out of the house to enjoy New Orleans as it's meant to be.

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