Not Your Mother’s Gay Community
MARGARET NICHOLS
You don’t need a niche practice these days to encounter clients, especially younger ones, who identify as queer, pansexual, gender fluid, or any number of new and creative sex and gender identities. The expansion of the LGBTQ community to a “big tent” tribe that validates widely different forms of sexual and gender expression has been accompanied by changing psychiatric models as well. So therapists trained even as recently as 10 years ago often practice with outdated models and approaches, and use terminology that some of their clients will consider insensitive. In this workshop, learn about:
- The changes in the LGBTQ community and the radical changes in our best practices, including why affirmation of gender diverse children, rather than their gender, is preferred and why attempts to cure paraphilias are discouraged
- The difference between pansexual, gender queer, gender fluid, polyamorous, and transgender
- A broader understanding of sexuality and intimacy from research on same-sex, kinky, and monogamous couples
Margaret Nichols, PhD, has been a licensed psychologist and AASECT Certified sex therapy supervisor working in the LGBTQ community for 35 years. She founded the New Jersey Hyacinth AIDS Foundation and is the founder and president of the Institute for Personal Growth. Her recent publications include chapters in textbooks Principles and Practice of Sex Therapy and Systemic Sex Therapy.
