Kinky Sexceptional Weekend with Midori & Friends!
Join international superstars - Midori, Sunny Megatron, Lee HArrington and JOhn Pendal for this Kinky Sexceptional WEEKEND with SHA in February!
Get ready for two days of unique deep dives into the realities and challenges of BDSM as practiced by people today. We will explore the existing tools, language, identity framework and strategies commonly used within the community.
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:
We will unpack the personal assumptions, unspoken expectations, general cultural stereotyping, and kink subcultures’ own mythologizing narratives. These biases may be held by clients as well as clinicians. For the clients, these may lead to unproductive, unfulfilling or even toxic sexual experiences or relationships. For clinicians, this course fills many gaps in therapy discourse of BDSM sexuality, where clients often go unserved.
Midori will introduce one practical framework around language of play and strategy navigation of desire as well as help you become proficient in an effective model of sex and BDSM negotiation where mutuality and collaboration is emphasized.
Midori’s presentation will be frank and we are encouraging everyone’s first person perspective discussions. Expect break out discussions, role playing conversations, lectures and Q&A.
Over these two days, you will dive into:
What BDSM practitioners are seeking and the challenges that they experience
Practical, judgement-free framework and language of BDSM
Improving cultural proficiency of North American BDSM
Understanding how clients may use Midori’s “BDSM Appetite Grid” for better play and pleasure
Learning Midori’s method of collaborative and co-creative BDSM negotiation
Considering constructive versus destructive erotic humiliation play
Gaining working knowledge of a model to conceptualize and discuss humiliation play
Frank and illuminating discussion with a subject matter expert educator with decades of lived experience
Dates for this Conference:
Saturday Feb 4th, 2023, 10AM - 6PM CST
Saturday Feb 4th, 2023, 10AM - 6PM CST
ATTENDEE & REGISTRATION INFORMATION
*Cant attend live? No problem! This event will be recorded and made available within 7-10 business days. Make sure to purchase a ticket prior to the workshop as it will not be available to purchase after the workshop ends. Please note: If you purchased CEs, you will receive asynchronous credit.
16 LPC, LMFT, LCSW and AASECT* CEs for the Entire Weekend
Please note: CEs for AASECT, Texas, Colorado and other state licenses are included in the CE ticket(s) price options. For all states and licenses, check with your board if they will accept SHA CEs or AASECT CEs.
SHA STUDENTS: THIS WEEKEND CAN COUNT TOWARD CERTIFICATION
BECOME AASECT CERTIFIED AND SHA CERTIFIED
Want to stop paying for conferences one by one and gain hours towards AASECT Certification too? This program can also be registered for and included as part of SHA’s full Sexuality Educator/Counselor/Sex Therapy Certification & Sexuality Coach and Consultant Program. Apply HERE to become SHA Certified and to gain all the CEs you need to apply towards AASECT Certification. Take your sexuality education even further and become sexceptional.
STUDENT DISCOUNTS
Are you a current college or graduate student? Email shacertifications@gmail.com with a copy of your student ID and current or next term’s course schedule to get your student rate!
NEED A SCHOLARSHIP FOR THIS WEEKEND CONFERENCE?
In collaboration with the BIPOC Collective, SHA donates two full weekend scholarship spots to every conference for BIPOC-identifying individuals.
*The BIPOC Collective's mission is to support the diverse community of BIPOC adult performers and sex-workers within the adult industry through mutual aid and advocacy with dignity and respect.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERs:
MIDORI
Known as the “supernova of kink” according to Dan Savage, Midori emerged from the Sex Positive movement in San Francisco in the early 1990s and soon became one of the most highly regarded presenters on sexuality, personal fulfillment, and kinky adventures.
Her reputation as an authority and leading expert on alternative pleasures stem not only from her unique and entertaining process of teaching concrete skills, but in her ability to deconstruct and distill complex matters of desire into surprisingly accessible lessons with eloquence and humanity.
She’s known for tackling challenging topics with fresh and relevant insights. She calls this her “head-heart-hands” method to create a space where people are allowed individual self-exploration. Fundamentally, she is motivated by helping people to create authentic and intimate relationships while emphasizing self-actualization, shame reduction, acceptance, and justice.
Known for her ability to teach with equal parts expertise and heart, her intensives and pop-up classes are often booked months in advance. She is best known for her transformative small-group educational intensives, Rope Dojo and ForteFemme: Women’s Dominance Weekend Intensive.
She is the author of The Seductive Art of Japanese Bondage, Wild Side Sex, and Master Han’s Daughter. She has also contributed her expertise and voice in numerous articles, columns, works of fiction, and instructional books.
When she’s not traveling and teaching, she’s creating provocative and haunting art and performances. For more information about Midori, visit her official website at https://www.fhp-inc.com.
Sunny Megatron
Sunny Megatron is an award-winning BDSM & Certified Sexuality Educator, Certified Relationship Coach, and media personality. She’s the host and executive producer of the Showtime original television series, Sex with Sunny Megatron, plus co-hosts AASECT Award-winning American Sex Podcast and Open Deeply Podcast. Sunny was also named XBIZ Sexpert of the Year 2021 and is Editor-in-Chief of kink-focused Zipper Magazine.
Known for her one-of-a-kind build-your-own-adventure approach to sex, kink & relationships, Sunny coined the BDSM community catch-phrase, Kink is Customizable™. In her sell-out workshops, her unique brand of “edutainment” seamlessly combines her humorous lecturing style, interactive exercises, and the latest sexuality research. Sunny’s passion is helping others overcome shame and find power through play and pleasure. Currently, she’s working on her first book, “Customizable Kink: A Strategic Guide to Adult Play.”
Lee Harrington
Lee Harrington (he/they) is an internationally known sexuality, gender, relationships, and personal authenticity educator. He brings a combination of playful engagement and thoughtful academic dialogue to a broad audience, having taught over one thousand classes, presentations, and keynotes across all 50 states and worldwide. An award-winning author and editor on gender, sexual, and sacred experience, his books include “Traversing Gender: Understanding Transgender Journeys,” "Sacred Kink: The Eightfold Paths of BDSM and Beyond," “Playing Well With Others: Your Guide to Discovering, Exploring and Negotiating the Kink, Leather and BDSM Communities” (with Mollena Williams), and “Become Your Own Beloved: A Guide to Delighting In Self Connection,” among many other titles. He has been blogging online since 1998 and has been teaching since 2001. You can check out Lee’s adventures, as well as his podcast, tour schedule, free essays, Patreon, and videos over at PassionAndSoul.com.
John Pendal
Experienced BDSM educator John Pendal joins us all the way from England, UK.
In 2003 John became the 25th person to win the annual International Mr Leather contest in Chicago. Since then he has traveled extensively leading workshops, giving speeches, hosting events or performing kinky stand-up comedy.
Amongst others, John has taught BDSM workshops at Beyond Leather in Fort Lauderdale; Darklands, Antwerp; Down an Dirty in Melbourne, Australia; Edgeplay Scotland group in Edinburgh; HunCon in Budapest; Kinkferansen in Oslo; Kinkfest in London; Leather Camp in Wichita; Lupercalia in Canada; Minnesota Leather Pride; Mr Leatherman Toronto; Palm Springs Leather Pride; Rome BDSM Conference; SINSations in Leather; SM Bergen, Norway; Spring in the South in Atlanta; Tribal Fire in Oklahoma; and for twelve consecutive years at Thunder in the Mountains in Denver.
He has been part of panel discussions on BDSM at Leather Leadership Conferences in New Orleans, Minneapolis and Atlanta; the Cleveland Leather Awareness Weekend; the Victorian AIDS Council in Melbourne, Australia; and at Lupercalia in Edmonton, Canada.
John was the closing keynote speaker at the Leather Leadership Conference in Minneapolis (2007). He received two Pantheon of Leather awards in 2004: the International Award and the Community Choice Award for Men. He’s also been interviewed on-screen for two feature film documentaries: ‘Kink Crusaders’ (2011) and ‘Age of Consent’ (2014).
During Covid lockdown, he gained a diploma in life coaching and two qualifications in First Aid for Mental Health.. He now works online with English-speaking clients anywhere in the world, both directly and as an Associate Coach with “Thriving Autistic”.
Dr. Ruth Neustifter
Ruth Neustifter (said: NEW-stiff-trr), PhD, RMFT-SM, RP (they/them) is an openly sex and gender queer, polyamorous, kink affirming, and helplessly nerdy advocate for pleasure and intimacy. They strive to base their work in anti-oppressive, decolonized, and trauma-informed approaches and are dedicated to continued to growth and accountability as an anti-racist white person. They are a practicing therapist and sexuality educator as well as a faculty member at the University of Guelph. On campus they serve as co-lead of the Sexual and Gender Diversity Lab Cluster and the Anti-Oppression Rainbow Lab, former co-chair of the Guelph Sexuality Conference, and an Editorial Collective member for the open access journal Participator. Off campus they are an anti-oppression trainer for the Rainbow Diversity Institute, Board President for HIV/AIDS Resources Community Health (ARCH), relationship advice columnist for Exhibitionist Magazine and a co/author of numerous mainstream and academic publications. Their outreach and qualitative research has most recently included topics and focuses such as: trans and genderqueer experiences of micro-aggressions in healthcare, intimate relationships of adult learners, experiences of queerness on campus, defining sex/gender/kink outness, BIPOC definitions of outness, non-physical aspects of dating violence, texting-based sex education, and BDSM & body image.
Creative, applied, and accessible dissemination of data-driven findings are a major component of their efforts. Ruthie strives to meet potential knowledge users where they are, including at: sex parties & orgies, BDSM spaces such as dungeons, sex toy stores, and kink events, as well as churches, homeless shelters, health centres, universities and more. They are actively engaged with on-going learning and work around anti-oppressive practices and continue to strive to decolonize their work in all areas.
When they aren't doing that long list of things, they can be found snuggling their pets, going on adventures with their polycule and other queer fam, buried in books, or making very queer creations as the artist behind Moon And Flame. Ruthie would like to remind you that they love you very much, and don't need to have met you yet to know that. They are grateful that you exist, and hope that you continue to keep doing that.