Introduction

Erotically marginalized clients face stigma and discrimination in their lives and in clinical settings their identities and experiences are often overlooked and lack mirroring. For many clients these marginalized identities or behaviors remain obscured and unnamed; the ability to give language to these subtle and nuanced experiences is at the cutting edge within the field of sex therapy. Narrative approach to therapy is designed to unravel the double binds within family systems and to address the oppression of marginalized identities within a larger societal context. The heart of dialogic clinical practice is a therapeutic setting that requires “presence, an attention to the living moment without a preconceived hypothesis or specific agenda”. The nine principles for affirming therapeutic practice aim to aid clinicians in better meeting the needs of erotically marginalized clients in the face of a sexuality and desire landscape that is rarely spoken about and for which there is little language in therapeutic settings.