December 2014 - Dr Michael Aaron

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Announcement: New Book Deal

Announcement: New Book Deal

It’s been a lot of hard work and a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but I’m pleased to announce that just this past week I’ve been offered a book deal with a large publisher. The book will be based on my work as a sex therapist and will provide a platform for various ideas that I’ve been developing for years about sociology, society, culture, psychology, and sex. The book’s content is entirely original, with material I mostly haven’t written or shown anywhere before and it maybe only touches on 5-10% of the topics I’ve written about in this blog. In other words, the stuff in this book will be all fresh. My intention in writing this book is to put some ideas out there into the public square and start a discussion going. I’m looking at a publication date somewhere in late spring 2016 (Edit: late fall 2016), so we’ve got a lot of time and I’ll keep everyone posted. My agent is currently working on specifics of the contract, so I will have more details and info to come.

I would like to thank to my literary agent, Matthew Carnicelli, who believed enough in my ideas and in their importance to take time away from his celebrity clients and help me develop and streamline those initially loose ideas into a cohesive narrative that he could show to publishers. Most importantly, he connected me with an editor at the publishing house who really understood my material and has the passion, experience and vision to help me polish and develop it to the next level.

I will keep this post short for now, and I will […]

By Michael Aaron|December 23rd, 2014|Sex and Culture, Sexuality and Psychology|0 Comments

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Sexuality and Censorship

Sexuality and Censorship

Earlier this month, UK anti-porn advocates won a monumental and far-reaching victory when the UK government passed the Audiovisual Media Services Regulations 2014, in which a whole host of sexual acts are now banned from British porn, based on what the board deems as “content that is not acceptable.” I will get into the list of taboo acts in a moment, but first I think it is important to take a look at what this ruling means. In my opinion, it sets an extremely dangerous precedent, in which some third party or government body can effectively censor anything that they may subjectively object to, even if the material is consensual and harms no one.

Avant-garde Yugoslav film director Dusan Makavejev created films in the 1970s focusing on the intersection between government, society, and sexuality. In his work, he raised a critical eye towards authority and its desire, or more like incessant drive, to eradicate and suppress all freedom and dissent. For his efforts, he was persecuted and eventually blacklisted. As Makavejev so deftly shows in his films, the first line of suppression for any authoritarian government is one of the key sources of our human creativity, inspiration, and personal sense of freedom– our sexuality. History shows that as soon as an authoritarian government rises to power, one of the first things to go is human sexual rights.

Take a look around at the world, and you can see for yourself the crackdown of human sexuality imposed by authoritarian and dictatorial regimes– Egypt’s gay community targeted by government crackdown http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/17/egypt-gay-community-fears-government-crackdown , Russia’s institutional violence and discrimination towards gays http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/religious-right-leader-backs-russian-cra , Uganda’s anti-homosexuality legislation http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29994678 , […]

By Michael Aaron|December 16th, 2014|Sex Addiction, Sex and Culture, Sexuality and Psychology|0 Comments

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Is it Possible to Eradicate a Fetish?

Is it Possible to Eradicate a Fetish?

In a recent post, I wrote about how the field of sexology is uneven in its application and rife with regional and individual biases, largely due to general sex phobia and a subsequent lack of empirical research within the field. Recently, a debate on the mailing list of one of the sexological organizations to which I belong touched again upon discrepancies within the field. The discussion in question concerned whether or not it is possible to eradicate a fetish. Most respondents were in agreement that, like a sexual orientation, eradicating a sexual fetish is not only not possible, but particularly in fetishes that cause no harm, even unethical.

One clinician, however, stated not only that eradicating a fetish is possible, but then went on to describe exactly how (he/she believes) it is done. The methodology described was so disturbing, however, that I felt it necessary to challenge the ideas presented and to present both his/her perspective as well as my response here on my blog as a cautionary tale to individuals who may have questions regarding their own sexuality so that the know what to avoid in therapy. I have eliminated any details that could reveal the identify of the other clinician.

Below is what the clinician wrote in support of fetish eradication. I am highlighting and italicizing the most objectionable aspects:
I don’t see a fetish as similar to sexual orientation – it is something that does reflect “something wrong”, and in my own experience, DOES respond to therapy! One issue is that sexual fetishes – paraphilias – typically involve sexual activity with something that does not provide the […]

By Michael Aaron|December 8th, 2014|Sex and Culture, Sex Therapy, Sexual Minorities, Sexuality and Psychology|2 Comments