5 minute read
Let's Talk About Sex
LET’S TALK ABOUT SEX
Shining a (night) light on psychotherapy and the erotic
STORY BY TYNAN POWER PHOTOS BY SHANA SURECK
Sex therapy can trace its roots back to ancient civilizations and the first documented attempts to improve, or alter, human sexual behavior. The most well-known example of these efforts may be the Kama Sutra, but similar explorations of sexuality are evident from Europe to China. Yet despite these ancient roots, contemporary sex therapy only emerged in the mid-20th century and is sometimes erroneously conflated in popular culture with sexual surrogacy. The place of sex therapy within clinical social work has not always been clear—something a number of Smith College School for Social Work alumni are helping to change.
“I think that the erotic in the context of psychotherapy has always been a siloed and separate exploration, as it is in a larger cultural sense in the U.S.,” said Shannon Sennott, M.S.W. ’08, LICSW, a SSW adjunct instructor and co-author of Sex Therapy with Erotically Marginalized Clients: Nine Principles of Clinical Support (Routledge, 2019). “The most we have seen in psychotherapy training is the investigation of erotic transference and countertransference. Actually working with clients around sexuality, sexual practices, erotic fantasies and internal landscapes should all be part of a therapist’s clinical training. However, that is not what we regularly see in clinical programs.”
BREAKING NEW GROUND
In 2017, Sennott and Assistant Professor Rory Crath, M.A., Ph.D., began offering the course A Sex Primer for Clinical Social Work in SSW’s HBSE track. Since then, Sennott has taught the course each year and hopes to expand it to two sections in the future.
“At the time we created the class, it was the first course specifically teaching sex therapy theory and practice in a social work program,” said Sennott.
“It is important because intimacy and sexual practice and identity are a huge part of clients’ internal and external landscapes.”
Along with Davis Chandler, M.S.W. ’11, LICSW, and Madeline Nussbaum, M.S.W. ’11, LICSW, Sennott founded the Center for Psychotherapy and Social Justice in downtown Northampton. Chandler, also a coauthor of Sex Therapy with Erotically Marginalized Clients, said, “I was surprised and disappointed to not only not be able to access any sex therapy training in my graduate education, but felt like sex and bodies were left almost entirely out of my education. I feel envious of current Smith students who are able to access Sennott’s class.”
SEXUALITY A KEY PART OF WELL-BEING
The availability of sex therapy training in graduate programs is key because sexuality is a fundamental part of most social work clients’ lives and identities —and because coursework and specialized supervision are required for the certification by the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT). Kelly Wise, M.S.W. ’05, Ph.D., covered the required coursework in his doctoral program in human sexuality. By contrast, Sennott found that AASECT certification—which is recommended but not required— meant three to five years of additional training.
“Being AASECT-certified creates a professional structure and community that is critical to my work as a sex therapist,” said Sennott, who feels certification is especially important for therapists who hold multiple identities of privilege.
Wise, certified as both a sex therapist and a sex therapy supervisor, agrees. “Certification honors all the training a therapist has gone through and creates the standards for what is necessary to consider yourself a sex therapist,” said Wise.
Kelly Wise, M.S.W. ’05, Ph.D., believes listening to a client is one important aspect of working in sex therapy.
EXPERIENCE, SPECIALIZED SUPERVISION ALSO USEFUL
Chandler, on the other hand, has opted to delay certification but includes sex therapy in their counseling work. “I am centering my clinical work on working primarily with trans/ nonbinary and queer folks and feel that I have completed enough training to feel comfortable incorporating a sex- and body-positive model into my work,” Chandler said. “I have weekly peer supervision with two therapists who are extensively trained in sex therapy, which helps bolster my work.”
—KELLY WISE
ATTRACTED TO SEX THERAPY
In fact, it was their work with nonbinary , trans and queer clients that led Chandler to their interest in the field. “Being able to offer therapy to folks who are marginalized based on their identities or sexual or relationship practices has always been at the center of my passion and interests,” said Chandler. “As a nonbinary/trans-identified therapist to nonbinary, trans and queer folks, it feels liberatory and critical to be able to welcome marginalized people as their fullest selves into my office.”
Wise traces his interest in the field back to a SSW course on gender. “This was the first time I studied gender, and I wanted more,” said Wise, who followed his M.S.W. with doctoral studies in human sexuality at Widener University and eventually recognized and accepted that he was transgender. “From that point, I knew I wanted to help people with their complex feelings on their own gender or sexuality.
As a sex therapist, Wise sees clients who range in age from 18-82, with “every gender identity and sexual orientation imaginable.”
“Through our work, the categories keep expanding, which people find quite freeing,” said Wise, who finds the unique ways people see their gender and sexuality fascinating and liberating.
WIDE RANGE OF GENDERS, ORIENTATIONS, RELATIONSHIP STRUCTURES
Sennott is particularly intrigued by the sexuality and sexual practices of people who may be sexually marginalized, such as people who identify as queer, poly, trans, nonbinary, people of size and people with visible or invisible disabilities.
“I have a very wide range of clients, currently spanning age 3 to 72, people of all genders and all sexual orientations, all kinds of relationships and sexual practices,” said Sennott. “It is critical that people who are in poly or open configurations be able to access competent and supportive therapy. Having family therapy training and then using a social justice and transfeminist lens is the start to being able to work integrally with polyships and alternative family structures. Being able to locate oneself as a therapist is crucial in working with polyships, but the process of learning how to do that cannot happen in a vacuum. Clinicians need to have training, support and peer networks to rely on.”
—DAVIS CHANDLER
Sennott sees a shift taking place in sex therapy that includes greater awareness of intersectional identities and oppression.
“Intersecting theoretical practices —including a social justice lens, trans feminism, freedom paradigm, intersectionality and preemptive radical inclusion—are key to supporting clients effectively.”
This intersectional lens is a fundamental part of Chandler’s approach. “I believe that sexual issues never exist in isolation—they are one facet of a person’s self and intersect with countless other issues a person is grappling with at any one time,” said Chandler. “Additionally, I always want to make space for clients to bring their whole selves into the work, to talk about sex as openly and comfortably as possible, while holding contextually the fact that our culture is predominately sex-negative and steeped in shame and secrecy around sex, particularly sex involving erotically marginalized identities and bodies.”
Wise also treats sexuality as part of the larger whole.
“So much of sex therapy is getting people to communicate, be vulnerable, work through past hurts/traumas, so they are even interested in connecting with someone sexually,” said Wise. “Many people find me for regular therapy but want to make sure it’s a safe space to bring their entire self.” ◆
