In an age of sex-positivity, we’re encouraged to unshackle our sexual shames and kinks. But if humans are one of the few species who experience shame...
Perv: The Kink in All of Us
Level 2, 400 George Street
2000 NSW
Australia
Featuring
Access and Inclusion
Event Details
In an age of sex-positivity, we’re encouraged to unshackle our sexual shames and kinks. But if humans are one of the few species who experience shame, humiliation and embarrassment, is there a purpose to our pain, even when it weighs down our pleasure?
Join experimental psychologist, human behaviour scholar and author Jesse Bering, in conversation with journalist and author Jenny Valentish, as they detangle why shame and sexuality are innately linked, for better and worse.
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. Inspired by his own experiences with depression and growing up gay in America, Bering’s work questions whether shame will always be used to demonise and divide, or if there’s a more productive use of this powerful emotion. 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+