LOS ANGELES — Internationally renowned sexologist and the best-selling author of “The Bonobo Way: The Evolution of Peace through Pleasure,” Susan M. Block, Ph.D., a.k.a., “Dr. Suzy,” will deliver the keynote address for the upcoming “Practices of Ecosexuality, the First Symposium on Ecosexuality in the Caribbean.”
The event will be held at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (UPRM), from 10:45-11:45 a.m. on Thursday, January 28, in UPRM’s Teatro Figueroa Chapel, and is the first event of the symposium.
Block’s keynote, “The Bonobo Way: An Ecosexual Paradigm for Humanity,” poses the question, “Can we learn to make ‘peace through pleasure’ from our Great Ape cousins?”
Inspired by the real bonobos (pan paniscus), Block presents these fascinating, close genetic cousins of man as a new primate model for humanity in terms of sexuality, war, peace, gender equality, community and “ecosexuality.”
“The ‘killer ape’ paradigm, based on our better-known relatives, the competitive, male-dominant common chimpanzees, has long been used by anthropologists and arms dealers to explain and excuse human violence, rape and war,” says Block. “Bonobo apes are at least as close to humans as common chimps, but rarely rape and never kill each other.”
“Instead, they utilize consensual sexual activity, the sharing of resources, female empowerment, recreational play, hedonic kindness, ecosexual intelligence and lots of hugs to diffuse violent tension before it descends into murder,” Block explains. “Can we humans learn to ‘make like bonobos (not baboons)’ and live in harmony with each other and the Earth? At this turbulent point in human history, it’s worth a try.”
“Perhaps, if we study these amazing creatures — as well as save them from the seemingly imminent extinction that humanity’s bad habits have forced upon them — we can crack the bonobo code of ecosexual peace through pleasure.”
Other Ecosexuality Symposium speakers include UPRM Professor Serena Anderlini-D’Onofrio, Ph.D., and Lindsay Hagamen, co-editors of “Ecosexuality: When Nature Inspires the Arts of Love,” which brings together the voices of 30 leaders of the ecosexual movement; Marsha Scarbrough, author of “Honey in the River: Shadow, Sex and West African Spirituality;” Music Director Mariá Virginia Sánchez Cintrón; UPRM Professor Linda M. Rodriguez Guglielmoni, Ph.D.; “Conscious Communication” Master Trainer Taber Shadburne, M.A.; Agadilla Poet Dr. Anya Trahan; ecosexual poet and activist Karen Hery; Puppetry artists Linda and Camille, and more.
Also on tap is a screening of Drs. Annie Sprinkle’s and Beth Stephens’ documentary, “Good-bye Gauley Mountain: An Ecosexual Love Story.”
Block will also conduct a workshop on January 29, from 3:30-4:15 p.m., entitled, “Release Your Inner Bonobo: A Different Kind of 12-Step Program,” which weaves stories, studies, theories and fantasies into possibilities and a practical path of action that enables a personal “ecosexual revolution,” that deepens “ecosexual intelligence” and “bonobo awareness” of man’s global interconnectivity through empathy, eroticism and play.
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