WMHCA: Re-Visioning Gender-Affirmative Care: Centering "Gender-Pleasure"

Presented By

2-CEs Recorded: Spring 2024

Too often the focus of gender-affirmative care is the alleviation and resolution of gender dysphoria. But what if we could expand our clinical imagination and engage with clients in conversations that are more pleasure-positive? Emerging from the lived and professional experiences of a transmisogyny-affected sexuality professional, this workshop will challenge attendees to explore how to support clients, both cis and trans, in attuning to gender-pleasure. This workshop will provide attendees with increased awareness of how a focus on gender dysphoria can limit our work with trans and non- binary clients; as well as tools and frameworks to better support clients, cis and trans, in finding "gender-pleasure" in their bodies.

Objectives By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the history of the concept of “gender dysphoria” and develop increased awareness of how a focus on gender dysphoria can limit work with trans and non-binary clients.
2. Define the concept of “gender-pleasure” and be able to articulate at least two (2) examples of how “gender-pleasure” might show up in work with trans and non-binary clients.

Outline Introductions (10 mins) Gender Dysphoria as the Focus of GAC (30 mins) Introducing Gender-Pleasure (30 mins) Gender-Pleasure Activity (15 mins) Centering Gender-Pleasure in Practice (20 mins) Closing/Q&A (15 mins)

EPDC CE Hours: 2

Presenter: Lucie Fielding, PhD, MA, LMHC

Lucie Fielding, PhD, MA, LMHC, Resident in Counseling (she/they) is a queer, non- binary femme, and a therapist practicing in Virginia and Washington (on Monacan and unceded Duwamish lands, respectively). She holds an MA in Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute (2018) and a PhD in French from Northwestern University (2008), specializing in erotic literature. Their background in literature attunes them to the ways that cultural scripts inscribe themselves on our bodies and inform our embodied erotic lives. In addition to being a therapist, Lucie is a sex educator who has facilitated workshops for a range of groups, organizations, universities, and agencies. They are the author of Trans Sex: Clinical Approaches to Trans Sexualities and Erotic Embodiments (2021), which was named a 2022 Lambda Literary Award finalist (in the Trans-Nonfiction category) and the winner of the 2022 AASECT Book Award (Book for Sexuality Professionals) as well as the 2024 SSTAR Health Professionals Book Award. She is presently working on a second book, co-written with the renowned sex educator Tristan Taormino. You can find out more about Lucie at https://luciefielding.com or follow them on Instagram (@sexbeyondbinaries) or BlueSky (@sexbeyondbinaries.bsky.social).