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No One Is Immune To Sexual Shame

8/21/2019

Hi friends,

I have been using previous blog posts I've published here to start my Psychology Today blog. I have written something new that I am sharing both there and here. Read on...

Like fish swimming in water, we are swimming in sexual shame to the point where most of the time we are utterly oblivious to it. No one is immune from sexual shame, not even medical and mental health professionals, and it can even happen within or by institutions. Sometimes a person’s sexual shame is so ingrained and feels so much a part of their deepest self that they simply cannot imagine themselves without their shame. Sexual shame is so ubiquitous that when someone or something does not evoke sexual shame and is actually “sex positive”, it can be a shock to the system and cause reactivity like discomfort, anxiety or fear, judgment, anger, threats, and sometimes even violence. All of us have seen this before. It's a difficult topic for many. So let’s pause, take a breath, and look at shame more closely.

Shame is considered a “social emotion” vs. “basic emotions” like happy, sad, mad, glad and what that means is that it is learned via socialization (all the complexities of interacting with others) and through the transmission of group norms. Whereas guilt can be described as “I feel bad because of something I did,” shame can be described as “I feel bad because of who I am” and examples are “I am unworthy” or “I feel unlovable.” Shame originates from morality and when we are talking about morality we are talking about what we believe is “good” and "bad” or “right” and “wrong”. Where do we learn good and bad, right and wrong from? Things like our family, church, school, storytelling (like movies, TV shows, books), art (like music lyrics and music videos), video games, peers, and the legal system all have influence on our sexuality and specifically our sexual shame. (Think about it: when one is charged with a crime in our legal system we plead “Guilty” or “Not guilty” and not “Ashamed” or “Not ashamed”.)

Unfortunately my profession has contributed to our culture’s sexual shame. We have our own shameful history of getting it wrong when it comes to understanding and working with sexual issues. “Treatments” have included shock treatments, castrations, torture, medications, lobotomies and most recently reparative and conversion therapy. Dated theories and treatments focused on so-called abnormality and malfunction and are based on traditional relationships, assumptions, roles, and beliefs. There has been an inability to see the influence of morality and shame on how we analyze (pathologize?) what sexual behavior is done, how much it is done, with whom it is done, and where it is done. Even today, my profession marginalizes sex in most education and training environments and as a result many clinicians’ own personal sexual shame goes unexamined and unchecked as it relates to its impact on their work with their clients. Therapists are humans swimming in sexual shame too and, just like our clients, are vulnerable to the same complex, contradictory, and confusing sexual thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. That is why it is imperative that we collectively proceed with caution on the huge topic of our clients’ sexuality and not continue the traumatic legacy of harming those who have the courage to seek out our help.

Having said that, here are some examples of both the sexual shame a person may have or where it may have come from. I hope these examples are helpful to you in identifying your own sexual shame. We can have sexual shame:

About bodies and/or genitals. Think back to your sex education class(es) in school (if you had it). Perhaps you watched a video of a baby being born, saw disembodied photos of genitals, or closeup pictures of acute STI flareups in a co-ed group while understandably immature students acted out, laughed, snickered, or made jokes without containment by the educator. Additional examples are of sexual shame can be: “This body part of mine is too big” or “This body part of mine is not big enough” or “That body part and its secretions are gross.”

About sexual acts and/or positions. Examples include (1) Thinking or feeling P-V sex is “good” because it’s procreative/heteronormative whereas (2) Anal sex is “bad” because it’s dirty/dangerous, “is gay”, less than, or emasculating and/or does not result in procreation; (3) Foreplay/outercourse is less than or not sex and (4) Performing oral sex is humiliating.

About pleasure. Examples are: (1) Pleasure is dangerous/“What will happen if I experience too much pleasure?” This is a puritanical belief that pleasure is not to be trusted, and that we might lose control and go wild if we experience a lot of pleasure. The emphasis and blame is placed on pleasure, not the individual. This originates from religious or moral attitudes that denying the self of pleasure is virtuous and leads to moral or spiritual goals such as "I'm a good person". (2) “I like X and I shouldn’t like X” or “I do X and I shouldn’t do X.” This is also a morality-based belief that there are acceptable and unacceptable things we should and should not sexually like or do.

About fantasies and turn-ons. For example: a self-described male feminist has the most powerful orgasms when he fantasizes about sexually degrading/raping a woman he knows and respects and he feels bad or ashamed about how this fantasy really turns him on.

All of these examples of sexual shame are learned. They came from somewhere. You picked them up along the way. And they can be embarrassing, confusing, or even downright scary to look at in yourself. The good news is that since they were learned thankfully they can be unlearned. However, that is no easy task, it doesn’t happen overnight, and takes courage to do.

And like our own individual psychologies, sex is full of contradictions and paradoxes! That is what makes it so fascinating and gives it its edges. There is no reason sex should be feared, thought of as dangerous, judged, or shamed. In fact, your sexual shame is abundant material to explore in therapy. You might learn to move past your judgment and shame and into radical acceptance, experiencing pleasure more fully, and inner peace.

Now an Expert Contributor on Psychology Today

6/6/2019

I am excited to announce that I am now an expert contributor on Psychology's Today's website. My blog, Underneath The Sheets, is now live. You see see my posts on that link. I will split my time writing for them and here. I hope you will check it out!

Value Systems and Sexuality

5/21/2019

When you study human sexuality, you inevitably study human morality systems. How and why humans value what they value. And I think this is part of the reason why studying human sexuality is so threatening to some: if we examine something like sexuality (that is so laden with values and has been for centuries) then there is the possibility of separating out each piece of that puzzle, re-evaluating each piece, maybe hearing new information, deciding what to do with that new information (i.e. allow it to affect our value or not), then there’s the possibility of those new conclusions not being in alignment with our current life, and the cognitive dissonance that comes with that situation. Eeek, a scary prospect indeed.

Thanks to the work of Bill Stayton, a psychologist, sexologist, and Baptist minister, what I’ve learned is how human beings have three different value systems:

- Acts-centered
- Relationships-centered
- The combination of acts-centered + relationships-centered

So let’s break this down.

Acts-centered value systems place an emphasis on acts or behaviors and believe that behaviors are choices. Acts-centered value systems (ACVS) have clear delineations between what is “right” behaviorally and what is “wrong” behaviorally. This is a black-or-white, straight-forward value system and way of relating in the world; you know what the limits are and what the consequences are if you do that “wrong” behavior. It’s about rules and it’s all very clear.

Relationship-centered value systems place an emphasis on relationships: with yourself, with others, with society. Relationship-centered value systems (RCVS) focus on identifying the motives (your relationship with yourself) and consequences (on yourself, on others, on society) of acts or behaviors and those motives and consequences determine if something is moral or immoral. This value system requires some amount of gathering information and some amount of critical thinking skills and predicting. RCVS believe context matters and that in one situation a behavior may be “good” while in another situation that same behavior may be “bad”. This way of thinking is more gray and takes time to come to a decision.

A perfect example is Robin Hood. Was he right or wrong to do what he did? Yes he robbed, and with an ACVS this is “bad”. But he robbed from the rich to help the poor, and in a RCVS this is “good”.

The combination value system borrows from these two other systems depending on the issue and the comfort with the “act” or behavior in question. It’s even murkier than a RCVS. It is generally confusing and it ebbs and flows. On some issues you may be black-or-white while on others you explore the motives and consequences.

Despite what you may think about yourself or others, the combination value system is the value system held by most people. For example when it comes to sexuality most people, or so it seems, seem to be acts-centered on things like pedophilia and bestiality — they have clear, straight-forward opinions about it being “wrong” (whatever their reason). Laws have been created to support this way of thinking on these two issues. While at the same time those same people might be relationship-based on another sexual issue.

So now let’s apply these and take an example straight from current events…abortion. First, let’s all take a deep, deep breath. It’s a heated topic right now and one that, IMO, maybe we can work to bridge the divide if we slow down and better understand ourselves and our perceived opponents.

The ACVS approach to the issue of abortion is: those people that are anti-abortion believe that abortion is “wrong”. These folks are basing this on their belief that life begins at conception and therefore ending that life via abortion is an act akin to murder so therefore this act is “wrong”. Remember, to those with this value system acts are choices so you can choose to act or not act — meaning you can choose to have an abortion or not have an abortion. If you choose to not act, then you are not “wrong” but if you choose to act and have an abortion, then you are “wrong”. Those people who have a RCVS ponder the dilemma of an unwanted pregnancy and look at the relationships with and consequences to those involved: what was the relationship between those two people who had sex and caused the pregnancy? Why is it an unwanted pregnancy (i.e. violence or trauma like rape or incest)? What are the consequences if the pregnant woman brings the pregnancy to term or terminates? What are the consequences if government bans abortion full stop? This is where factors like consent, ages of those involved, access to health care, financial means of support, the role of public school sex education, etc. come into play for the RCVS folks.

One “side” is focused on the behavior/act itself while the other “side” is focused on motive/cause and consequences. One “side” frames their position as “pro-life” because they value the life that they believe was just created while the other “side” frames their position as “pro-choice” because they value examining the consequences of a choice. These are two entirely different and separate aspects of the same abortion issue. They are not addressing the other "side's" assertions. Why aren’t the ACVS folks talking about the motives and consequences of an unwanted pregnancy? Some actually are: those who say abortion is permissible if it was caused by rape or incest. And actually, if someone believes that then I would argue theirs is a combination value system on abortion and solely ACVS. And why aren’t the RCVS folks talking about when life begins? No one is listening to “the other side”, that “other side” feels it, and when we feel not heard we usually talk louder, assert our position more unkindly, and get into a fight. On top of it all, emotions naturally run high on an issue like this. So things stay contentious, the divide between the “sides” remains deep and wide, and the impasse unfortunately calcifies.

This so reminds me of high conflict couples; it’s really not that different. Any good couples therapist would teach a high-conflict couple the importance of understanding. That understanding your partner’s “side” does not equal endorsing or agreeing with “their side” and it does not diminish “your side”. It simply means understanding their perspective, why they believe what they do, while holding on to “your side”. Unfortunately many people are defended against understanding their partner; it’s somehow threatening because it requires vulnerability (a.k.a. putting our shields down). But when we understand our partner it can lead to a more respectful dialogue and maybe, just maybe, finding a middle ground. This is what is desperately needed in today’s cultural and political climate. Acting — and listening — respectfully to our perceived opponent requires good self-management skills. I know that’s a big ask but I believe we can do it.

I’ve thought for a long time that Washington needs couples therapy. And so maybe this blog can help you look at this issue, and maybe other issues, and your so-called opponent, with a little more insight, understanding, and calm. IMO it’s the only civil way through this.

Tech, Sex, and Connection

5/1/2019

I usually write about sex and relationships, but on this sunny spring day I’m going to veer off that a little bit and write about technology with a little bit of sex thrown in.

I cannot seem to find a person who doesn’t have a smartphone anymore. Now I realize I live in northern California, one of the more affluent places on the planet and a mere 100ish miles from Silicon Valley and 50ish miles from San Francisco. Technology is what my region is known for (and on a micro level wine and weed too, but that’s another conversation for another time). People say that technology, and specifically smartphones, have radically changed our lives and our norms. True. Fifteen years ago would you have imagined you might willingly pay to sleep in a stranger’s home while you are on vacation or pay to get a ride in a stranger’s car?

(As an aside, I think it’s worth briefly mentioning how most everything we get from our smartphones is based on our own literacy. It seems lost in the conversation when we talk about technology. Last year I attended a conference where a speaker talked about the challenges her medical center had in providing care to patients who could not read or write *in any language* but who had smartphones. Think about that. It’s wild how quickly we take literacy for granted when it comes to smartphones.)

Back to technology. Lately I have been increasingly noticing the very language we use to describe what we are doing with our smartphones and other technology. We say we are “more connected” - but what we really have is more correspondence in the form of emails, texts, likes, and comments. We say we “go online” to look something up — but where are we going exactly? We are not going anywhere with our physical body - we are probably sitting on our couch or at our desk - and instead using the internet as a research tool or library. We say someone is “using porn” — when in reality they are most likely sitting by themselves viewing pornographic imagery. (Do you say you use walking? Do you say you use dinner with friends?)

I fully admit I am not a digital native. I remember when texting first really came into people’s lives. At the time I myself didn’t quite get it - why would I text someone but not call them? (Yep, I know I sounded a lot like “Get off my lawn!” and I own it.) Also at that time, I was a counselor at a middle school and of course the students had really grabbed ahold of texting with a frenzy. One day I asked one of my middle school-aged clients, “Why do you like texting so much?” And I will never, ever forget what that boy said: “Because there’s times I want to tell someone something but not have a whole conversation about it.” Aaaaaah, yes! From the mouths of babes. He described a one-way communication without a lot of risk or vulnerability. Ding ding ding! Ironically, soon after that conversation I was at a huge and loud outdoor concert and I was trying to find my friends…so I texted one of them and we found each other quickly and painlessly. Texting in that context made it so much easier to fulfill my goal. If I had tried to call my friends on the phone we probably would not have been able to hear each other, certainly not find each other in the mass of people, and just gotten more frustrated. Since then I have come to appreciate texting more and see the value to it as another means of communication/correspondence. But it is most definitely not connection.

IMO how we are thinking about and talking about the internet, technology, and how we use these two things is becoming increasingly problematic and inaccurate. The language we use to describe how we are incorporating the internet into our daily lives is sadly misleading and because of that our language is shaping our experience of it. The experience shapes our language and the language shapes our experience. It’s a peculiar feedback loop to observe. Now I also know that the same word can have different meanings based on a variety of factors. But I’m not sure we as a society get that when it comes to technology — certain technologies came into our lives so abruptly we adapted to it by using existing language to at best approximate what we are doing with that technology. We think we are connected when we are not.

We may have more easy access to other people and other information as a result of the internet but we’re most certainly not more connected. Most of the time we are sitting *by ourselves* having an internal-to-us experience with the technology in our hand or on our desks, several steps removed from real human-to-human interaction.

Technology is also a vehicle for our imagination and projections; it’s there for every flight of ideas we have without any limits. There is a growing body of evidence that tell us with the increased use of tech devices comes increased rates of dysphoric moods, not more euphoric moods. Using technology in certain ways makes many of us feel worse, not better. We think we are connected when we are not...and then we do not know why we feel bad. And when I work with couples and I ask them “What’s your goal in this therapy?”, it is quite common that I will hear the answer “To feel more connected to my partner during sex.” Connected - there’s that word again. If they are referring to that feeling we get when we are “connected” via the internet and technology, I don’t think that is what they are referring to; people don’t come to therapy to feel worse about their situation. Feeling connected from online activities is not even remotely the same event as feeling connected to another human being, in real life, who (maybe) loves and cares for you, and sharing a mutually pleasurable experience with them. Remember, while technology can make you cum it can’t hug you back.

Sex And Death

4/3/2019

I’m sitting in my office today and there’s a funeral happening in the church next door. (This happens regularly.) The church and my office building share a parking lot so the attendees’ cars have filled it up (the deceased person was clearly popular), the people are dressed up and wearing dark colors, there’s a couple of limousines, and of course there’s a hearse parked out front. Always stark imagery.

In case you didn’t know, my office is located in a building that used to be a Catholic school. After the school shut down, it sat empty for years. Then it was renovated I think about 30(?) years ago and converted into professional offices. It’s a majority of therapists in the building now. The church still owns the building (and I like to joke that I make my rent check out to “God” - because hey, don’t we all?) and it even still has a cross on the top it.

Having my sex therapy practice in an environment such as this has been a fascinating experience. One client many years ago who was raised Catholic said she could still smell the special incense used by the priests when she walked into the building the first time. My brother-in-law, who went to Catholic school, briefly came into the building one day to help with a quick furniture project and got the heebie jeebies. For those who have experienced the Catholic church first-hand, it most definitely has an initial effect and then they seem to move on. Other clients don’t notice a thing. Turns out it’s been a useful assessment tool, as sexuality is so often influenced by religion.

Setting aside the deeply troubling controversies of the Catholic church and its profound struggles with sex and sexuality, because of the funeral that’s happening next door today I’m thinking about sex and death. Those in my profession like to say, “Sex and death go together” and it’s true. Creation/destruction. Pleasure/pain. A beginning/an ending. Connection/abandon. Hope/despair. You get the picture. They are two sides of the same coin. It’s not a dichotomy but a complementary relationship. One exists because the other exists.

For example, have you ever been to a funeral or memorial service where there was laughter? I have several times. They weren’t just sad or somber events; they had humor too. Sometimes that humor was intentional and sometimes it was spontaneous. The times I’ve experienced this I’ve genuinely wondered if the laughter occurred because of what I thought was our collective discomfort with death and loss. But over the years I’ve come to think no that’s not the case. Rather, it seems like human nature needs the tension between these two forces of pain and pleasure, anguish and joy. Without it, life seems boring, one dimensional. It also makes life messier (and I say that in a non-pejorative way). Having adopted this opinion, it has certainly changed how I work, I believe for the better. It’s allowed my clients and me to have a fuller, more nuanced and layered experience of their lives both in and out of the bedroom. Helping my clients find all the layers actually brings me joy and a sense of awe for being human.

Sex isn’t just about a biological process in the body. Sex also includes greater ideas and mythologies we’ve internalized along the way. And like death, there is much in sex that is still a mystery. In my profession we call this the spiritual side to sex. Sex can be a transcendent experience, one where you feel an otherworldly communion with your partner(s) where time and space can temporarily fall away. We don’t really know how or why this happens; we just hear people say it happened to them — and maybe it’s happened to you. I sure hope so. It’s one of the better-feeling mysteries in life.

"Porn is not an educational video."

3/14/2019

I say this often in my office. In fact, I said it just the other day to a client. I really believe people know this on some level. They understand that porn is meant for entertainment purposes, the majority of it with the male gaze in mind, and that like the rest of Hollywood it has all kinds of movie-making secrets and techniques to trick the viewer into believing what they are watching is really, authentically happening between the actors.

Yet in the absence of comprehensive sex education in our country, coupled with the inherent curiosity everyone seems to have about sex, I think it’s inevitable that some people look to porn to answer the questions they have about sex. Examples of those questions and curiosities can be:

“My body sexually functions a certain way - is that normal?” (And several of my clients know that the “n” word — “normal” — is not allowed to be said in my office because it’s a word predicated in shame)

“What do different shapes and sizes of bodies look like naked and sexually function like?”

“I’ve heard about or read about X but I’ve never seen it myself; in my imagination it turns me on. I wonder what that looks like.”

“I’ve always been turned on by and wanted to try Y yet I’ve never had a partner who expressed interest in doing it. Porn is where I get to experience Y.”

So much of porn is vicarious experiencing - of different bodies, activities, scenarios, and sexual appetites. It is fantasy brought to life. When we can understand and appreciate porn for this, then almost all of porn’s controversies practically disappear.

Let me also give mention the idea of ‘suspension of disbelief’, something I learned about as an undergrad when I took a few film classes. This phrase is often used to describe how viewers of film and television agree to follow along, so to speak, with the fictitious world they are watching. They stop thinking critically whether or not whatever is being portrayed can actually happen in real life - they are suspending (putting on hold) their disbelief (their doubts and skepticism) in order to join in with the fictional story. Doing this makes watching the story that much more fun for the viewer - gives us a greater, more intimate and emotional experience with the film or show. And this is precisely what art intends to do — give the consumer an emotional experience.

IMO, I think when people suspend their disbelief with porn and believe “it’s real” it’s because much of it does look so darn real. That’s precisely what porn producers are intending to do - making the viewer believe what we’re watching is really happening - and they go to great lengths to make the viewer believe. Believing this is actually happening, or could actually happen, can deepen the emotional investment for a viewer and thus give the viewer an even more enjoyable viewing experience. In online porn this translates to more clicks or pay per views. What is so interesting, however, is that we don’t seem to suspend our disbelief when it comes to animated/anime porn (a human-shaped cartoon character having sex with a unicorn for example). In that situation, we know with certainty it’s animated, we know it’s just make believe…so why can’t we understand that all porn is just make believe and enjoy it for the entertainment value it offers?

Because porn is about sex and we don’t know how to think critically about either porn or sex. There are common tropes in porn - like the pizza guy delivering a pizza and a beautiful, lusty woman answers the door. Do we *really* think this happens to every pizza delivery guy? Of course not. If we did, I can think of a few men I know who would quit their current jobs right now and go get a job delivering pizzas. Other, more noteworthy tropes in porn are: how women are always willing to have sex; how women don’t have any sexual boundaries or say “Ouch that hurts”; how men are always able to get an erection without an issue, maintain their erections, control when they orgasm, and demonstrate no anxiety about any of this/always appear confident; how everyone’s always so enthusiastic to have sex/no one’s tired or had a stressful day and just not in the mood for sex. I think you get the idea. Like I said, porn is fantasy.

And finally, a common critique of porn is that it leads to unrealistic expectations about sex and your partner. This is true ONLY IF you do not understand that porn is fantasy and entertainment. And it can also lead to unrealistic expectations about sex if your actual, real life sex life leaves you unfulfilled. But porn isn’t responsible for your sex life; you are.

What Is Sexy?

2/25/2019

In a recent session, a client was struggling to accept and get on board with her husband’s ideas of what is sexy. According to her, he even went so far as to say he doesn’t find her sexy because she doesn’t look or act like the women he sees in porn and he finds those women sexy. (This is a perfect example of why we shouldn’t tell our partners everything we think and feel.) She then told me how she’s been trying, albeit with a lot of anger and resentment if she’s being honest with herself, to be more like the women her husband sees in porn but as a result of that resentment it’s been a half-hearted attempt and ultimately unfulfilling because that’s just not who she is. She’s come to see me to examine her husband’s ideas about what is sexy, how those impact her and their sexual relationship, and how she’s come to feel very un-sexy over the years. I interrupted her and said, “You don’t think you’re sexy?” She said no earnestly. And I said, “I see a smart and feisty woman who, after decades of conforming to her husband’s ideas about all things sex, is finally giving a shit about her own sexual experience and her own sexual pleasure. And THAT is sexy!”

Because it is. And I’ve learned over the years that most people seem agree with me. I’m referring to how my clients say they want their partner to “want to want to have sex.” That "wanting to want" is an IRL energy, attitude, and enthusiasm that is sexy to most people. More than any nameless digital visual will ever be. And if more people thought about ‘what is sexy’ in this way instead, perhaps they’d find the eroticism, sexual pleasure, and connection with their partner that perhaps they have been longing for.

"Working On The Relationship" (Ugh)

2/14/2019

On my way to work this morning (Valentine's Day 2019), I heard an internationally-known psychologist and expert on relationships be interviewed. In the course of the conversation about marriage and relationships, the interviewer asked “Some people say you need to work on the relationship while others say if you need to work on the relationship then something’s wrong. What is your take on that?” And the expert replied, “Well, I hate to break it to you, but you need to work on your relationship.”

NO NO NO NO NO. My profession’s marketing department has gotten this all wrong.

It drives me bonkers when I hear the phrase “The Relationship.” It’s not THE relationship - something that’s out there, separate from you and your partner, an entity that you manage like your checking account.

But this is, unfortunately, the bill of goods my profession has sold people to expect when they hear an expert on the radio say what they said today. So it's no surprise many clients come into therapy with a laundry list of complaints about their partner (because it's about "The Relationship", not me personally). They want the therapist to fix their partner while they sit passively by, nodding in agreement when the therapist points out their partner’s imperfections. They’re waiting for the “I told you so!” moment. At least that is what I think some people fantasize will happen in therapy. Like a form of destructive validation. Meanwhile, when one partner engages in that behavior, *of course* their partner is going to become defensive and/or counterattack and tell the therapist all the ways their partner is at fault. And we’re off to the races. This is not a productive use of everyone’s time in therapy.

The fact is, it’s YOUR relationship or even better yet it's OUR relationship. Try thinking about it this way instead: “I create this relationship together every day with my partner. This relationship is a part to me, it’s a part of my partner, and it’s a part of our life together. It is ours to own, change, and nurture.”

Because the reality is, you need to work ON YOURSELF, not “The Relationship.” This is what my profession needs you to know. Any relationship, but particularly the intimate one you’re currently in, *will* challenge you and you *will* feel uncomfortable feelings. It’s inevitable. And it’s not your partner’s job to make sure you aren’t challenged and don’t feel uncomfortable feelings. If they believe this (or you lead them to believe this), you will find out down the road all the harm it causes.

So how do you cope with all this? You need to work on understanding your feelings. You need to work on listening non-defensively. You need to give up black and white thinking. You need to work on identifying what you want and need (and what the differences are between these) while learning how to communicate those as requests, not demands or threats, and preparing yourself for disappointment. You need to learn about your anger and how to soothe yourself when you feel it. You need to practice empathy, loving kindness, and patience in those moments when it’s especially hard to do so. You need to remember why you chose your partner in the first place. And the built-in paradox of all this attention to self is that you need to learn it’s not all about you.

These are not things your partner, or your couples therapist, can do. Only you. And I promise that when you take your focus off your partner’s faults and instead focus on how you can grow and stretch yourself, “The Relationship” will improve. Not because of any magic that the therapist spun, but because you took ownership and responsibility for what you are doing and choosing to act differently.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Partnered Sex

1/28/2019

Last year my friend’s husband died suddenly and like when all young and thriving people pass unexpectedly it was and still is a huge loss for our group. A few months after he died, my friend asked if she could talk to me since, as she said, “You’re a sex therapist and all.” She told me about a specific pain and heartache she feels regarding the death of her husband. They had a monogamous relationship and with his abrupt death she also lost her partnered sex life that same awful day. She told me that sure she misses the sex, but what she is realizing in her grief is that she is also missing the laughing, the cuddling, the caressing, the hugging, the holding each other, the looking into each other’s eyes, the silly moments, the awkward moments, and yes even the disappointing moments. While masturbation scratched an itch, she said with partnered sex she had exactly that: a partner and intimate friend with whom she could share all those things. It was the 'sharing with' that felt particularly special for her, and is something she profoundly misses now. I was, and still am, deeply moved by her experience and her description of her experience. And with her permission, I share it here as a way in to discuss how partnered sex is different than solo sex.

(On a side note, she also said this issue has not been addressed in any of the grief support groups she’s been going to. Yet another time my profession falls short when it comes to sex. And just this morning on my way to my office I heard the radio deejays describe partnered sex as “that special connection you have with someone else.” It seems everyone understands partnered sex is fundamentally different than solo sex.)

As I talked about in my previous blog (see below), I define solo sex as your first and primary sexual relationship and it is a relationship you have for your entire life regardless of your external relationship situation. I also said that solo sex is your internal experience of your sexuality and chosen external expression of that internal experience. For those that also desire a partnered sex life (because there are people that do not and that’s just fine), solo sex is the foundation of partnered sex.

Partnered sex is when you decide to share your solo sexual self with another person or persons and they decide to share theirs with you. So all parties must first consent. While consent is necessary it is not enough. What exactly is everyone consenting to? For how long? In what order? What kind of safer sex method(s) will be practiced? Who decides when it’s over and how? And what will happen after it’s over? When I ask my clients that initial question (“What are you consenting to?”), they usually say “Duh, sex!” But that still is not clear enough because as I’ve learned everyone has a different idea of what sex is (and isn’t).

As you can see from my questions, when we choose to engage in a partnered sexual encounter, there is a lot more that needs to be addressed ethically. How many times in your life did you engage sexually with another person but you didn’t discuss beforehand about what would and would not happen or what you would and would not do? I think everyone. Looking back, what was missing? “Yeah Diane, it’s called communication” is probably what you’re thinking. OK sure. But that word, “communication”, is horribly inadequate to describe what skills are needed in a partnered sex scenario. A better description of what is needed are things like: self-awareness regarding your likes and dislikes, turn ons and turn offs, and hard and soft boundaries; verbally describing these things clearly and assertively — and of course having the courage to say it; knowing how to negotiate when differences occur; resolving your ambivalence if there is any about any aspect; understanding your hopes and expectations for the experience itself, what happens after, and describing these expectations; preparing for the possibility of disappointment (or judgement) and coping well if it happens; and then having the knowledge that, empathy for, patience with your partner(s) has all these things going on too. You don’t need all these skills in solo sex and this is what is precisely different about solo sex vs. partnered sex. And you can see why when partnered sex “is good”, it brings people closer together and they say they feel more connected - they’ve not only shared of themselves and shared something with someone else, but they’ve also revealed something about themselves to another and it was received with respect and (hopefully) tenderness. And you can also see why when partnered sex “is bad”, just why it’s so darn painful: partnered sex offered the promise of intimacy and connection, seeing and being seen, and mutual pleasure but resulted in hurt feelings, disconnection, and perhaps even relationship discord.

Yes, it is a complex process that in my experience most vanilla (as opposed to kinky) people don’t take the time to do…and when they don’t, they end up experiencing all kinds negative consequences. If you know anything about kinky folks, one of the the hallmarks of kink is how and what is discussed and negotiated beforehand. This is a valuable skill many vanilla people need to learn from kinksters.

I’ve had clients tell me that there are times when they are in the mood for and ready to handle all the complexities of partnered sex that I just described and there are times when they are not in the mood and not ready for dealing with the complexities of partnered sex. I think that’s great - that someone has that much self-knowledge to know this about themselves. I hope more people will come to know and understand themselves better in this way.

Solo Sex

1/14/2019

I often talk with my clients about “solo sex” and “partnered sex.” If you Google “solo sex”, you’ll see that in the majority of the articles where the phrase is used, it’s referring to masturbating by yourself and that seems to be how most of my clients understand the term. OK sure, that’s fine — another phrase for masturbating — but don’t we have enough of those already? Ask any 14 year old adolescent male or Adult Swim viewer how many terms for masturbating he/she/they can think of in 10 seconds and you’ll see what I mean. Instead, I want you to expand your conceptualization of the term “solo sexuality” to include SO MUCH MORE. I think that if you do, your sex life will improve.

So what do *I* mean when I say “solo sex”? Yes, I can be referring to masturbating by yourself. That’s just one aspect of solo sex. But I’m also talking about your internal experience of your sexuality and chosen external expression of that internal experience. This can include your romantic, sensual, erotic, and sexual fantasies; your turn ons, turn offs, and how you relate to them (if you don’t understand what I mean by this just think of the ashamed fetishist); how you experience your sexuality in your body sensually, erotically, and sexually; your relationship to pleasure; how you utilize your mind and body to express this sexuality (so here’s where masturbating comes in but I also mean things like how you dress or dance or when and where you choose to feel sexual feelings and with whom); and heck even things like that pleasurable and fun zing! you get when you see an attractive person on the street or the decision-making involved when you decide to flirt with that cute barista who makes your latte every Friday just the way you like it.

Do you see what I mean now? Solo sexuality needs to encompass all this and more!

Your solo sexuality is your first and primary sexual relationship and it is a relationship you have for your entire life regardless of your external relationship situation. It can and does frequently change over the course of your life as you grow and have new experiences both challenging and successful. Unfortunately for many, their solo sexuality can also cause immense confusion, fear, and shame.

Based on the clients I have seen over the years and speaking in generalizations (something I should probably get a slap on the hand for), it seems that a lot of men regardless of sexual orientation seem to understand my broad concept of solo sexuality. They have already had hundreds (if not thousands or more) of private experiences with themselves and their solo sexuality. One subset of people that seem to need some help with this idea is women. Many of my female clients don’t have a solid understanding of, acceptance of, or pleasure in their solo sexuality. There’s lots of possible causal factors for this: our culture’s fear of a truly sexually empowered and embodied woman; the taboo nature of female pleasure; and how historically female sexuality has been minimized or denied or thought to be there for the purpose of men. Some women feel uneasy about masturbating (see my previous blog entry) or some women feel that they *should* (there’s that word) only experience their sexuality in a partnered setting. In fact, it’s not just some women who have this latter belief. Another subset of people who seem to need help with my idea of solo sexuality are a few religions and 12 step programs that say partnered sex is the only acceptable sex one can have. Ay yi yi.

Besides all the things I’ve mentioned above, another thing I tell my clients who have little understanding, acceptance, or pleasure with their solo sexuality is that their pleasure during partnered sex is dependent upon their understanding of their solo sexuality. How can you tell your partner where or how you like to be touched if you haven’t explored that on your own? In the absence of that knowledge, these clients stressfully default to focusing on their partner’s experience “I’ll just make it about you tonight”. So long as their partner isn’t pathological, at first this can be experienced as my client is giving them a gift and/or being sexually generous. But it’s been my experience that if this behavior happens repeatedly over time it’s inevitable that their partner will want them to become invested in a mutually pleasurable sexual experience. Their partner is asking for a sexual equal. What’s more feminist than that? This means knowing what you like and want sexually in a partnered experience. So once again we’re right back where we started: developing and understanding your solo sexuality. It’s a worthy endeavor to embark upon. And I hope that by reading this, you’ll become more attuned to your solo sexuality and its fascinating nuances and edges. In a future blog post, I’ll discuss more about the differences and similarities between solo sex and partnered sex.

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