Join renowned psychologist and science writer Jesse Bering (USA) and Jenny Valentish for a funny and thoughtful conversation on sexuality. Jesse will...

Perv: The Kink in All of Us

Location:

Level 2, 400 George Street
2000 NSW
Australia

Venue:
Vivid Ideas Exchange - Telstra Customer Insight Centre
A banana hugging a banana next to a condom packet
A banana hugging a banana next to a condom packet

Featuring

Jesse Bering

Jesse Bering

Jesse Bering is an award-winning science writer specializing in evolutionary psychology and human behaviour. He is the author of several acclaimed popular books, and he and his work have been featured on numerous documentaries, television shows and radio programmes.

He has written for Slate, Guardian, The New York Times, Discover, Chicago Tribune, New Republic, Vice and many others. Several of his science-writing projects have sold for option rights to major US television and film producers, and his ‘Bering in Mind’ column at Scientific American was nominated for a 2010 Webby Award from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.

An experimental psychologist by training, he spent his early career researching the cognitive science of religion, and has published extensively in that field. Formerly director of the Institute of Cognition and Culture at Queen’s University, Belfast, and a professor at the University of Arkansas, he is currently Professor and Head of the Department of Science Communication at the University of Otago, New Zealand.

Photo: Guy Frederick

Jenny Valentish

Jenny Valentish

Jenny Valentish is an immersion journalist fascinated with the fine line between hedonism and endurance. Her books include Woman of Substances: A Journey into Addiction and Treatment; and Everything Harder Than Everyone Else: Why Some of Us Push Our Bodies to Extremes. Her podcast The Love Experiments, with her partner Frank Magree, dunks them into wild and wonderful ways of how couples can keep their chemistry.

Event Details

Join renowned psychologist and science writer Jesse Bering (USA) and Jenny Valentish for a funny and thoughtful conversation on sexuality.

Jesse will talk us through the smorgasbord of sexual behaviours that make humans unique and together the duo will untangle whether sexuality and shame will always be used to demonise and divide. In this session, Jesse will unpack the complex dynamics at play behind repulsion and attraction, question what is considered 'normal behaviour' and explore whether there is a little bit of kink in all of us.

With a decade of tackling taboos with humour, warmth, meticulous research and a judgement-free inquisitiveness in books including Perv: The Sexual Deviant In All Of Us, Why Is The Penis Shaped Like That?, The Belief Instinct and, most recently, Suicidal: Why We Kill Ourselves, Bering isn’t afraid of awkward questions and awkwarder answers. There will be plenty of time left to answer your burning questions.

Jesse has won numerous science communication awards and is known for his warmth, wit and empathy. He will be in conversation with Jenny Valentish (author of Woman of Substances and Everything Harder than Everyone Else). Be warned: things are about to get positively filthy, funny and thoughtfully transgressive.

Jesse Bering appears at Vivid Ideas as part of our Global Storytellers series, where you'll hear from international thought-leaders and creatives who are tackling taboos, asking difficult questions and creating zeitgeist-defining work.

Recommended for ages 16+

Access and Inclusion

  • Auslan Interpreted Auslan Interpreted - Auslan interpreted events are for audiences who are Deaf and use Australian Sign Language (Auslan) as their primary means of communication. Experienced Auslan theatre interpreters stand to the side of the stage and translate what the speakers are saying or Auslan signing the text and dialogue live. Audiences requiring this service are seated in the section closest to the interpreter to ensure good sightlines.
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  • Wheelchair Accessible Wheelchair Accessible - Access to the venue is suitable for wheelchairs (toilets, ramps/lifts etc.) and designated wheelchair spaces are available.