ABSTRACT
This chapter utilizes personal stories, social data, and best practices based in the ORCA-Stance and sex therapy to tackle what the author believes to be the most reactive issues facing relational health and parenting in America today: sex and intimacy. Dr. Schermer Sellers explores the worlds of fetish, fear, and family-of-origin to show the ways in which truly listening with an ORCA-informed framework – with openness and curiosity – can begin to tackle the deep-seated issues of inadequate sex education, religious sexual shame, and the commodification of the body that are so prevalent in our country. A case study is examined and best practices suggested. Dr. Sellers argues that only through creating safe spaces for people to feel seen, known, loved, and accepted can we begin to heal.
