Sexological bodywork

What is sexological bodywork?

Sexological bodywork (also called somatic sex education) is a body-based form of sexual education, in which a trained practitioner teaches someone about arousal, pleasure, and limits through one-way touch, breath, and movement. The term is English and is used that way in the Dutch scene too. Unlike sex, the touch runs one way, from practitioner to client, with learning as the goal.

What sexological bodywork looks like in practice

It is a lesson, not a session between two equal partners. According to the professional description, sexological bodyworkers are somatic sex educators who teach through body experiences: coaching in breath, movement, body awareness, setting limits, communication, anatomy, and sensate focus. What is unique to the field is that the practitioners are trained in genital and anal touch, purely for education, healing, and pleasure. The Association of Certified Sexological Bodyworkers binds its members to a code of conduct and to guidance and supervision, with the ethics of touch at the core.

Where it comes from

The field grew out of the AIDS epidemic. According to the American Board of Sexology, Joseph Kramer developed the practice in the 1980s in Oakland, as a way for men to experience safe touch in a time of fear and loss. The ACSB dates the formalization of the profession to 2003. From that double root, bodywork and sexual education, comes the emphasis on learning to feel instead of to perform.

What sexological bodywork can offer people

The good thing about it is that people learn to feel what they otherwise skip over. According to the American Board of Sexology, it can help with pleasure, with complaints after trauma or surgery, and with pelvic floor problems, because the client learns to process how something feels in the body. For you it means an educational, bounded way to get to know your own arousal and limits better. What it is not: it is not sex and not a replacement for medical or psychological care. The touch is one way and the frame is learning, not mutual pleasure.

What sexological bodywork is not

“It’s sex with another word.” No. The touch runs one way, from practitioner to client, and the goal is education, not mutual sex.

“It’s a recognized medical treatment.” Not everywhere. In California it is a state-recognized certificate, but in the Netherlands the title is not legally protected. So choose a certified practitioner with care.

What I see myself

A sexological bodyworker I am not; I’m a gigolo, and that difference counts. I see the same thing they do, that touch can teach and heal. Only my work is mutual company, not a one-way lesson with a learning goal. What stays with me is how much there is to gain when touch happens without the pressure to perform. If you are really after education in this field, a certified bodyworker is the right address, and I would rather tell you that straight away.

Further reading

• Skin hunger explains why touch is a real need, the basis under this work.
• Sexual healing describes the recovery after trauma that bodywork sometimes touches on.
• Sexological Bodywork gives the international professional description and training programs.

Where this fits on this site

I do not offer sexological bodywork and I do not give education in this field. What I do offer is mutual company with attention and without the pressure to perform. If you are after the educational, one-way form instead, I’ll point you to a certified bodyworker. Curious what I do do? Take a look at my services. A quick word beforehand is always fine, and you don’t have to say yes to anything yet.

Sources

• Sexological Bodywork. Gives that sexological bodyworkers are somatic sex educators who teach through body experiences, with coaching in breath, movement, limits, communication, and anatomy, and that they are trained in genital and anal touch purely for education.
• About the ACSB. Association of Certified Sexological Bodyworkers. Gives that the profession was created in 2003 by Joseph Kramer, and that members are bound to a code of conduct, supervision, and the ethics of touch.
• Somatic Sex Education and Sexological Bodywork. American Board of Sexology. Gives that Joseph Kramer developed the practice in the 1980s in Oakland, and that it can help with pleasure, trauma, recovery after surgery, and pelvic floor problems.

Related terms

• Skin hunger. The need for touch that this work takes seriously.
• Sexual healing. Recovery after trauma, which bodywork sometimes touches on.
• Sex therapy. The talk-based counterpart, without touch.
• Somatic sexology. The broader, body-based view of sexuality.