In our October education event, Rachel Yukimura will be providing an introduction to Surrogate Partner Therapy (SPT). We spoke with Rachel about her career path and how she came to be a Surrogate Partner Therapist. She shared about her background and what she feels is important to communicate to mental health professionals about SPT.
By Essie Shachar-Hill, LCSW and Cindy Trawinski, Psy.D
On a warm summer evening in 2014, over forty clinicians gathered at a networking event for therapists of kinky and polyamorous clients in Chicago. As the late day sun streamed in, the group mingled over drinks and appetizers in the office of LifeWorks Psychotherapy Center, the host for the evening. There was a feeling of excitement, warmth, and connection.
In our July 2023 workshop, “In Decolonizing Kink,” Adria Kurchina-Tyson discusses the structural, colonial nature of compulsory vanilla relationships/sexuality and demonstrate the “coloniality” of kink-phobia, reviewing the fundamental differences between Indigenous frameworks of desire/relation and those of the settler state. Adria shared some additional thoughts with us for this inverview.
By Susan Wright, NCSF Spokesperson
Content warning: this piece includes the mention of violence, sexual assault, and police misconduct.
Until recently, there was no legal definition of affirmative consent for adults who use force or restraint during erotic power exchange and roleplay. Instead, U.S. case law has found, based on moral objections, that consent is not a defense to assault—even for mild, non-injurious kink activities.