EP338 - Sexuality, Race, and Consent: Transformative Conversations with Psychoanalyst Avgi Saketopoulou

Welcome to episode 338 of Sexology Podcast! Today I am delighted to welcome Avgi Saketopoulou to the podcast. In this episode, we discuss Avgi’s book, Sexuality Beyond Consent, and look at the complexity of eroticism and sexuality.

In her office situated in Union Square, Avgi Saketopoulou treats a diverse range of clients, including children as young as age 3, adults, couples, and polycules. She specializes in addressing various issues such as trauma, anxiety, depression, and relationship difficulties. With extensive experience in working with variant genders and queer sexualities, she provides comprehensive care for individuals across different age groups. Her practice embraces individuals from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds.

Avgi Saketopoulou received her clinical psychology training in New York after moving to the United States from Greece and Cyprus. She subsequently completed training as a psychoanalyst at the New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.

In addition to her clinical practice, Avgi Saketopoulou is actively involved in academia. She teaches at the NYU PostDoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis and holds positions in various psychoanalytic institutes, including the William Alanson White Institute, the Stephen Mitchell Relational Center, and the National Institute for Psychotherapies. She offers courses that incorporate an intersectional perspective on psychosexuality and gender.

Contributing to the field, Avgi Saketopoulou publishes her own research, serves on the editorial boards of academic journals, leads study groups, and provides supervision for colleagues' clinical work. In October 2021, she co-chaired the inaugural conference "Laplanche in the States: the Sexual and the Cultural," the first US-based event dedicated to the work of Jean Laplanche. She is also a co-executor of the Muriel Dimen Literary Estate, which administers Dr. Dimen's archive, as well as manages the Muriel Dimen Prize (through Div 39) and the Muriel Dimen Grant through NYU Postdoc.

In this episode, you will hear:

• How Avgi's book was inspired by Jeremy O. Harris' play "Slave Play."
• Why transformational experiences stem from pushing limits, not safety.
• The way “Limit Consent" acknowledges trauma's impact on boundaries.
• Avgi Saketopoulou explores art's risk-taking potential for new experiences.
• Why consent is important in exploring the limits of desires and identities
• How race and sexuality intertwine historically, shaping desire and limit consent.
• The way limit consent enables transformative overwhelm in erotic encounters.

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