However you’re feeling about sex is normal - whether you feel curious, apprehensive, frustrated, confused, sad, overwhelmed, excited, neutral, or something else.
This episode is here to support you in building a healthy & expansive relationship to sex & intimacy… while acknowledging both your nervous system and the systems around us.
Join me & Dominique, a certified sex therapist, as we discuss:
- how traumas and systems of oppression impact our nervous systems - which then impact our sexual experiences, as the stress response is connected to the desire & arousal systems in the body
- the realities of living within a society that normalizes sexual violence
- how patriarchy shapes conceptions of what “successful sex” looks like; while capitalism says, “there’s something wrong with you” (if you can’t meet certain performative standards), and tries to sell you a solution
Recognizing that these are the waters we swim in, is the first step to unlearning harmful narratives and building a healthier relationship with ourselves.
This episode will leave you with questions & ideas to explore, so that you can bring nervous system regulation into your life and expand your capacity for intimacy & connection, if desired.
This is a non-pathologizing, educational conversation. If you’ve ever been curious about sex therapy, but felt too shy to ask… this is for you.
CHAPTERS
04:40 What is sex therapy, exactly?
08:50 How our nervous systems impact our sexual experiences
13:08 How systems of oppression dysregulate the nervous system
19:32 How do we bring more regulation into our lives and experience more intimacy & connection?
28:05 The impacts of capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy on relationship to sexuality
33:11 A scaffolded approach: real-life sex doesn't always look like the movies
🌿 RESOURCES
>> All About Love (bell hooks)
>> Come Together (Emily Nagoski)
>> Burnout (Emily Nagoski)
>> Mating in Captivity (Esther Perel)
🌿 About the Guest
Dominique Oster (she/her) is a licensed marriage and family therapist and certified sex therapist who specializes in expansive sexuality & relationships. By helping clients understand their unique historical, cultural, and psychobiological influences, she helps individuals, couples, and polycules to move beyond the unspoken expectations of sex & relating into more aligned & personalized frameworks. Her work as an adjunct professor focuses on teaching clinicians how to talk about sex from an intersectional & systems perspective with their clients, preferably without blushing.
🌿 Connect with Dominique
>> Website: www.domostertherapy.com
>> IG: www.instagram.com/ostertherapy
🌿 About the Host
Liz Zhou is a neurodivergent therapist of color, coach, & speaker (MA, LPC, she/her). She helps highly sensitive, neurodivergent adults & couples heal their nervous systems and connect with their authentic selves.
🌿 Connect with Liz
>> Join my newsletter: Liz’s Neurodivergent Letters
>> IG: www.instagram.com/liz.holistic.therapist
