Queering “Straight” Black Relationships: Navigating Sexual Behavior and Relationships with Black Heterosexual Individuals and Couples in the Southern United States (4 CE Hours, 2024)

$160.00

Presenter: Marla Stewart, MA

 

Saturday, July, 20, 2024 | 9am – 1pm EST

 

4 CE Hours

 

Live via webinar or available via video recording following the live event.

 

AASECT Category:

Human Sexuality Education
Section D

Course Description:

The Southeastern of the United States, popularly known as The Bible Belt, has been a breeding ground for various repressions around sexual identity and behavior.  When it comes to navigating sexuality, the South has been notorious for shaming and stigmatizing people based on their sexual orientation, sexual identity, and/or sexual behavior.  This is commonly rooted in religious trauma from family upbringing, as well as identity tropes, such as “The Southern Belle” and the “The Southern Gentleman,” which cause identity strain and tension.

 

In this class, I aim to do 3 things:

  • Examine sexual identities and behavior with Black individuals and couples, especially as it relates to femininity and masculinity
  • Educate counselors, therapists, coaches, and sex educators around the nuances of Black sexualities in the South
  • Give practical techniques to help release religious and/or identity tension

 

As a sexologist, a sex coach, and a sex educator, I have seen many Black clients who have struggled with their identities, which ultimately affect their communication and behavior patterns.  This includes, but is not limited to anal sex, kinky sex, bisexual identities, and diverse (or alternative) relationship styles.  Using Intersectionality and Queer theoretical frameworks have enabled my success with working with clients who are not used to being understood, usually because of their heterosexual and patriarchal privilege, and I use these frameworks to open the dialogue that would otherwise be silenced. Although this takes a look at a particular population, the implications of this work can be used for other populations of color who have particular patterns of relating with regards to religion and other various pervasive identity tropes. By the end of this class, you should be adequately equipped to address the needs of your couples who have identity strain and have multiple layers of non-privileged identities.

 

Learning Objectives

  • Describe 2 common issues that plague Black heterosexual couples
  • Explain how to help your clients reframe their distressed identities
  • Demonstrate how to communicate and normalize “queer” sexual behaviors
  • Discuss sexual identities and behavior with Black individuals and couples, especially as it relates to femininity and masculinity

 

Speaker Bio:

Marla Renee Stewart, MA, is a professional sexologist, intimacy/relationship/sex coach, speaker, and author. She is the owner of Velvet Lips, a sexuality education company, as well as Contract Liberation, a company focused on research for non-profit groups. As a faculty member at Clayton State University, she teaches Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies. As the Co-Founder of the Sex Down South Conference, Marla aims to bring diverse groups together to learn and share their experiences in the essence of being authentic and fostering sexual liberation across communities.

Marla has studied human sexuality for over 20 years, has educated over 20,000 people in over 13 years, given over 400 workshops, and have served over 100 clients in her private practice, all around the world. She has had her influence in the media, as well; she has written over 200 articles, featured in over 20 magazines and books, and has been on over 30 podcasts and independent television shows. She was featured on Netflix’s Trigger Warning with Killer Mike, VH1’s Love & HipHop Atlanta, and filmed as a sex expert for GPB’s Personal Injury Court and Oxygen’s Bad Girls Club: Atlanta. In addition, she also sits on the Board for SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW!

She co-wrote her first book, The Ultimate Guide to Seduction & Foreplay (2020) with Dr. Jessica O’Reilly and wrote a chapter and co-edited An Intersectional Approach to Sex Therapy, coming in December 2021.

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MSTI is an approved CE organizational provider for APA, AASECT, ASWB. Modern Sex Therapy Institutes is part of the Advanced Mental Health Training Institute.
The Advanced Mental Health Training Institute has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No.6901. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified.
The Advanced Mental Health Training Institute is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
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    Modern Sex Therapy Institutes is part of the Advanced Mental Health Training Institute (AMHTI).

    AMHTI is approved as a provider of continuing education by numerous national agencies and routinely applies for continuing education credits for professionals from state agencies when needed.

    There are many national, state and local licensing boards and professional organizations that will grant continuing education credit for attendance at AMHTI’s seminars and activities. If you have questions as to whether AMHTI’s continuing education credits will count for your state, please contact us.

    The Advanced Mental Health Training Institute is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. AMHTI maintains responsibility for all programs and their content.

    The Advanced Mental Health Training Institute has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No.6901. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. The Advanced Mental Health Training Institute is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

    Modern Sex Therapy Institutes [1787, 4/30/22-4/30/25], is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit.

    AMHTI is an approved provider with the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling. Provider#: 50-11996. AMHTI is an approved provider with the The Florida Certification Board. Provider #5273-A.

    AMHTI is an approved provider with the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT). Provider # 07-110-J.