Handbook for Human Sexuality Counseling: A Sex Positive Approach

by Angela M Schubert (Editor), Mark Pope (Editor)

Overview

Sexuality is a significant part of the human experience, yet it is often a neglected topic in both counselor training and the counseling process. In this preeminent guide, expert clinicians with a variety of mental health and medical backgrounds write on diverse issues related to sexuality through a radical acceptance lens. Each chapter illustrates an affirmative and expansive approach to sexuality that considers clients' sexual and cultural identities and emphasizes sexual wellness. Students and professionals alike will learn how to respectfully and ethically approach sexuality considerations not commonly mentioned in the professional literature, such as sexuality and disability, healing after sexual violence, older adult sexuality, the impact of chronic illness on sexual expression, and paraphilias.

The text is organized around eight comprehensive parts-Foundations; Physiological and Psychological; Attraction, Orientation, and Gender; Sexual Wellness; Sexual Agency; Approaches to Sexual Divergence; Relationships; and Education-with case examples, "Questions You Always Wanted to Ask," and additional resources interwoven throughout.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781556203985
Publisher:	American Counseling Association
Publication date:	09/28/2022
Pages:	504
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Angela M. Schubert, PhD, LPC, NCC, BC-TMH, is a clinical practitioner and associate professor for the CACREP-accredited clinical mental health counseling program at Central Methodist University. A member of the American Counseling Association (ACA), Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES), Sexuality and Aging Consortium, American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT), and the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, Schubert served for 6 years as Missouri state chair for AASECT. She currently serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Counseling Sexology & Sexual Wellness. Dr. Schubert is the president of the Association of Counseling Sexology and Sexual Wellness (ACSSW) and co-host of the Let’s Get Uncomfortable podcast. Her research interest focuses on intersectionality of culture, gender, age, and sexuality through a relational-cultural theoretical lens. She has continued to act as expert consultant on sexuality-related topics such as sexual wellness, aging sexuality, sexual consent, sexual assault, and body image. She is currently undergoing supervision to become an AASECT-certified sex therapist.  

Mark Pope, EdD, NCC, MCC, MAC, ACS, was professor and chair of the Division of Counseling and Family Therapy at the University of Missouri–Saint Louis. He was the author of 6 books, more than 30 book chapters, more than 40 journal articles, and more than 100 professional presentations at the international, national, and state levels. Dr. Pope wrote extensively on various aspects of counseling, including counseling with and the career development of ethnic, racial, and sexual minorities; violence in schools; teaching career and multicultural competence in counseling; psychological testing; international issues in counseling, and the history of and public policy issues in career counseling. His work has appeared as books, as conference presentations, and in such journals as the Journal of Homosexuality, the Journal of Lesbian and Gay Social Services, the Journal of Counseling & Development, The Career Development Quarterly, The Counseling Psychologist, The Family Journal, the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, and American Psychologist. Dr. Pope served as president of the American Counseling Association; the National Career Development Association; the Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues in Counseling; and the Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues (APA Division 44). He was elected a Fellow of the American Counseling Association; American Psychological Association; National Career Development Association; Society of Counseling Psychology; Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues; and Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues. He also served as the editor of The Career Development Quarterly, on the editorial boards of several other professional journal, as well as as the Director of Psychological Services for the American Indian AIDS Institute and the Native American AIDS Project in San Francisco.

Dr. Pope passed away in January 2023.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Foundations

Chapter 1 Ain't No Shame in This Game: The Foundation of a Radically Informed Sex Positive Approach 

Chapter 2 Adam and Eve/Steve/Pat and the History of Sexual Behavior: From Sin to Illegal to Deviance to Difference

Chapter 3 Nonmaleficence: A Terrible Safe Word But a Necessary Component of Counseling Ethics in Sex Positive Practice 

Part 2 Physiological and Psychological

Chapter 4 The Physiology of Sex 

Chapter 5 The Role of the Brain in Sex and Desire 

Chapter 6 The Big Bang? The Role of Orgasm 

Chapter 7 It's Not All in Your Head, But It's Pretty Close: Those Damn Societal Messages 

Part 3 Attraction, Orientation, and Gender 

Chapter 8 The Multidimensional Nature of Attraction 

Chapter 9 Sexual Orientation and Identity: Let Me Be Perfectly Queer 

Chapter 10 Exploring Sex and Gender Diversity 

Part 4 Sexual Wellness

Chapter 11 Masturbation, Vibration, and Lube—Oh My! 

Chapter 12 They Hurt Me and I Didn't Ask Them To: Healing After Sexual Violence 

Chapter 13 I Still Yearn for Connection: Illness and Chronic Pain 

Chapter 14 Healthy While Sexual: Preventing and Living With Sexually Transmitted Infections 

Part 5 Sexual Agency 

Chapter 15 "Yes, We Can and We Will!" Sexuality in Later Life 

Chapter 16 The Queer Crip 

Chapter 17 Embracing Our Sex, Race, and Ethnicity 

Chapter 18 You Want Me to Feel Ashamed? The Influence of Religion on Sexuality 

Part 6 Approaches to Sexual Divergence

Chapter 19 Beyond Awareness: Becoming a Kink-Affirming Counselor 

Chapter 20 You Want to Do What? Treating Paraphilic Disorders Through a Sex Positive Framework 

Chapter 21 You Can Have Too Much Sex? The Line Between Sexual Expression and Addiction 

Part 7 Relationships

Chapter 22 Sex and Love: What's Love Got to Do With It? 

Chapter 23 Flipping the Scarlet Letter: A New Approach to Infidelity 

Part 8 Education

Chapter 24 Adolescents Do It Too! Sex Education in America 

Chapter 25 Human Sexuality Is Not an Elective: Why Sexuality Education in Counseling Is an Ethical Imperative 

Index