Sex Therapy Certificate

What if the questions that draw us to learning could also reshape who we become? Across disciplines and life paths, curiosity emerges as sacred work, an opening into connection, healing, and transformation.

In the context of non-monogamy, compersion or the emotion of positive empathy is understood as sharing our partner’s joy regarding their other intimate relationship or relationships. Drawing upon her seminal research with consensually non-monogamous individuals, author and mindful dating and relationship coach, Dr. Marie (two-un) Thouin, unravels the complexity of compersion in her recent book, What is Compersion?, the first ever book to offer a comprehensive model of compersion and a practical roadmap to cultivating it.

In this episode, Dr. Thouin is joined by Poarch Creek Two-Spirit Indigequeer activist, artist, sex therapist, and somacultural theorist Dr. Roger Kuhn in a conversation exploring compersion as a roadmap for radical love in monogamous and non-monogamous consensual relationships.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on August 8th, 2024. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

For over 40 years somatic sex educator Dr. Betty Martin has explored the nuances of consent. In her framework and book, The Wheel of Consent, Dr. Martin traces the fundamental roots of consent back to our childhood conditioning. As children, many are taught that to be “good” we must ignore our body’s discomfort and be compliant. As adults, this conditioning remains with us until we unlearn it. The implications of this approach to consent education extends beyond touch and intimate relationships. When we forget how to notice what we really want, we lose our inner compass. When we continue to go along with things we don’t feel are right, we lose our ability to speak up against injustice.

In this episode, Dr. Martin is joined by Poarch Creek Two-Spirit Indigiqueer soma-cultural sex therapist, sexuality educator, writer, activist, and musician Dr. Roger Kuhn for an empowering conversation on the psychology of consent. Drawing upon her life’s work and The Wheel of Consent, Dr. Martin shares deeply nuanced ways to practice consent as an agreement that brings integrity, responsibility, and empowerment into human interaction—starting with touch and relationships—and further expanding our understanding of consent to social issues of equality and justice.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on October 30th, 2024. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Non-binary therapist, certified sex therapist, and transgender diversity and inclusion educator Rae McDaniel has spent decades exploring gender. Their recent book, Gender Magic, is a first-of-its-kind practical guide to achieving gender freedom with joy, curiosity, and pleasure for transgender and non-binary individuals, gender explorers, and those who love them.

In this episode, Rae is joined by Poarch Creek Two-Spirit Indigequeer soma-cultural sex therapist and sexuality educator Roger Kuhn for an empowering conversation about stepping into our fullest selves and imagining a life beyond gender binaries.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on June 28th, 2023. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Alice Wong is an acclaimed disabled activist whose work and writing has shaped the modern conversation around disability. As the founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project, her work foregrounds the stories of those living with disabilities and paints a vibrant picture of disability media and culture.

In her latest book, Disability Intimacy, Alice uses her distinctive voice to highlight and curate stories of intimacy. More than sex, more than romantic love, the pieces in her stunning and illuminating new anthology offer broader and more inclusive definitions of what it can mean to be intimate with another person.

In this episode, Alice is joined in a conversation with writer, educator and trainer for transformative justice and disability justice Mia Mingus. Their conversation about Alice’s life and work will free your thinking, invigorate your spirit, and delight your desires.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on June 18th, 2024. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Historically, the field of sexuality research in the United States has not included the experiences and wisdom of racialized sexologists, educators, therapists, or professionals. Instead, sexuality professionals have been trained using a color-free narrative that does an injustice by both excluding their work as well as failing to offer a fuller examination of how they expanded the field and held it accountable.

In this episode, educator and sexologist Bianca I Laureano is joined by Founder and Executive Director of Sacramento Peers on Prevention Dr. Ericka Burns for an illuminating conversation highlighting the voices, experiences, strategies, and solutions from sexologists that have been excluded and yet have still emerged as vital contributors to the U.S. and broader North American sexuality field.

Bianca shares insights from her recent collection, The People’s Book of Human Sexuality, a futuristic textbook that offers a significant shift in the way we learn and understand sexuality by featuring an expansive array of past and present leaders in the field committed to liberation, healing, equity, and justice.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on June 5th, 2024. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

The term Two-Spirit is translated from a Northern Algonquin word and is used by some Native peoples of North America to signify variations of gender and sexual orientation. The term gained popularity in the 1990s as a counterpoint to colonial terminology used by anthropologists and academics alike to signify practices of nonbinary gender and sexual orientation among the Native peoples of North America.

Despite over five centuries of ongoing colonial terminology and ideology, Two-Spirit people have survived. Now, they are coming together and returning to values and traditions that existed prior to the invasion of the land we now call North America. But what does Two-Spirit and the transition from surviving to thriving mean to Two-Spirit peoples?

In this episode, Chickasaw Two-Spirit activist, drag queen, and community organizer Landa Lakes is joined by Poarch Creek Two-Spirit artist, activist, and educator Roger Kuhn for an inspiring conversation on Native American ideas on gender, cultural expression, and art as a platform for—and a pathway to—activism.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on November 10th, 2022. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Carol Queen has been on the frontlines of the sex-positivity movement since the 1970s. A cultural sexologist, author, and co-founder of San Francisco’s Center for Sex & Culture, Carol is a long-time advocate for sexual health and pleasure. In this episode, Sex Therapist and CIIS Sex Therapy Certificate Program Lead Zoe Sipe joins Carol for a lively conversation exploring the state of sex in 2021.

This episode contains explicit language and, as the title suggests, discussions of sex. It was recorded during a live online event on June 9, 2021. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

As a body justice advocate and leader Dr. Joy Arlene Renee Cox believes that the spaces carved out by third-wave feminism and the fat liberation movement fail at achieving true inclusivity and intersectionality. She believes that fat Black women need to create their own safe spaces and community—instead of tirelessly working to educate, chastise, and strive against dominant groups.

Dr. Cox’s latest book, Fat Girls in Black Bodies: Creating Communities of Our Own, breaks down the myths, stereotypes, tropes, and outright lies we’ve been sold about race, body size, belonging, and health.

In this episode, educator and sexologist Bianca I. Laureano talks with Dr. Cox about rejecting the myths and lies that hold back fat Black women, and ways for their communities to flourish.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on October 7, 2020. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

What exactly is sexual attraction and what is it like to go through life not experiencing it? What does asexuality reveal about gender roles, romance and consent, and the pressures of society? In her latest book, Ace, journalist Angela Chen set out to further understand her own asexuality by examining the perspectives of a diverse group of asexual people.

In this episode, Angela is joined by journalist Sabrina Imbler for a conversation about what it means to be asexual in a world that’s obsessed with sexual attraction, and what the ace perspective can teach all of us about desire and identity.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on October 29, 2020. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

In their early twenties, author and artist Mimi Zhu was a survivor of intimate-partner abuse, which left them broken and in search of healing paths to re-learn love. Mimi began writing a collection of powerful, interconnected essays and affirmations that followed their journey toward embodying and re-learning love after their violent romantic relationship. The result is a stunning and provocative book, Be Not Afraid of Love, which like all of Mimi’s work, is a testament to the strength and adaptability humans possess and a tribute to love.

In this episode, Mimi is joined by author and multidisciplinary artist Fariha Róisín for an empowering conversation on life, art, and what it means to not be afraid of love.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on October 12th, 2022. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Feminists have long challenged the ways in which men tend to sexualize women.  But pioneering activist, biologist, and trans woman Julia Serano argues that sexualization is a far more pervasive problem—it’s something that we all do to other people, often without being aware of it. 

In her latest book, Sexed Up: How Society Sexualizes Us, and How We Can Fight Back, Julia examines how the stereotypes of sexualization push minorities farther into the margins, and how even the privileged are policed from transgressing, or they also become targets.

In this episode, Julia is joined in a conversation with writer and editor Abeni Jones that exposes the harmful ways we are all sexualized and shares ways of seeking a bold path for resistance.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on July 21st, 2022. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Modern-day sexual ethics has held that “anything goes” when it comes to sex—if everyone says yes and does so enthusiastically. So why, even when consent has been ascertained, are so many of our sexual experiences filled with frustration, disappointment, even shame? In her book Rethinking Sex, reporter and Washington Post columnist Christine Emba calls for a more humane philosophy, one that starts with consent but accounts for the very real emotional, mental, social, and political implications of sex.

In this episode, Christine is joined in a conversation with CIIS Professor and Program Chair of the department of Human Sexuality Michelle Marzullo that invites us to reimagine sexual intimacy, and in turn, attain greater affirmation, fulfillment, and satisfaction for ourselves.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on May 11th, 2022. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

For most of his life, Boston-based artist P. Carl lived as a girl and a queer woman, building a career, a life, and a loving marriage, yet still waiting to realize himself in full. After fifty years, he embarked on his gender transition amid the rise of the Trump administration and the #MeToo movement—a transition point in America’s own story.

In this episode, recorded shortly after the release of P. Carl’s memoir, Becoming a Man: The Story of a Transition, CIIS Human Sexuality Program Chair Michelle Marzullo talks with P. Carl about his personal journey, as well as gender, power, and inequality in America.

This episode was recorded during an event on March 19, 2020 in front of a live audience in San Francisco, California.

In this episode, Bay Area author and organizer Kim Tran has a brash and enlightening conversation with reporter and linguist Amanda Montell about gendered language and the way it shapes us.

This episode contains explicit language and was recorded during an event on October 10, 2019 in front of a live audience in San Francisco, California. 

CIIS Professor and psychologist Nicolle Zapien discusses her recent research into cases of infidelity, and how we can reframe the way we think about infidelity and sexuality in our relationships.

This episode was recorded during an event on January 9, 2019 in front of a live audience in San Francisco, California.

In this episode, transgender activist and pioneer Theresa Sparks is in conversation with Dr. Jamison Green.

Theresa Sparks is an internationally recognized leader in the human rights community and the first openly transgender city department head in the history of San Francisco.

This conversation, which explores how local communities impact global LGBTQI voices, was recorded during an event on November 11, 2015 in front of a live audience in San Francisco, California.