This is a recording of The Sexploration Project's June 2023 virtual roundtable on Recentering BIPOC Joy, Pleasure, and Flourishing, featuring:

• Moderator: Alexandra Magallon, Manager of Programs and Services at The TransLatin@ Coalition

• Dr. Candice Hargons, Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology at the University of Kentucky and Director of The Center for Healing Racial Trauma

• Shelby Chestnut, Executive Director of the Transgender Law Center

• Dr. Celiany Rivera Velázquez, Research Associate at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO) at CUNY Hunter College and and Executive Director of Circuito Queer de Puerto Rico

• Omisade Burney-Scott, advocate, creative, and founder of The Black Girls Guide to Surviving Menopause

Access the transcript for this roundtable.

Look through the resources and references mentioned during the talk.

Today we chat with two more of the project's Community Steering Committee members, Bria Brown-King and Divine Rae. Bria (they/she) is a Black, queer, non-binary, and intersex person. Bria works as the Director of Engagement for interACT Advocates for Intersex Youth. Bria got their start in intersex advocacy in 2018 as a Youth advocate, and in 2019 she became the first openly intersex person to speak about intersex issues on the steps of the Supreme Court. Bria now serves on multiple advisory boards, representing intersex people both nationally and internationally.

Xir Divine Rae (they/he) is a spiritualist and energy healer who uses musicality and pleasure rebellion as an avenue for liberating the stagnated energy left in our fields from trauma. They are a certified meditation instructor, somatic bodyworker, and performing artist based in Atlanta, GA. In 2021 The Divine Kink Academy was born to share with others the 20-plus years of personal and professional experiences in the BDSM lifestyle, with an emphasis on spirituality and ritualistic kink and fetish exploration. Divine is also Head of Household of House of Rae & co-owner of Dark Haven ATL, a creative studio and BDSM gallery that strives to create safer spaces of education, creation, and exploration of all.

Download this episode's transcript.

Peruse the references and resources mentioned within the episode.

0m:38s - Everyone introduces themselves

15m:02s - Bria and Divine discuss pleasure, bodily autonomy, and what drew them to this project

35m:40s - Everyone discusses stories/narratives/initiatives that deserve more centrality in the conversation about pleasure today

55m:40s - Episode outro