107: Sexological Bodywork – Charlie Glickman

My guest, Charlie Glickman, has been a sex educator for over 25 years. But it wasn’t until about 15 years ago that he realized the power of bodywork for managing and working through sexual shame. After solely teaching and writing as a sex educator, Charlie experienced firsthand just how powerful somatic therapy can be in a sexual shame context. So, he then developed his own course and practice around that discovery. This episode traces the advent of his important work in the field and moves beyond that to deliver practical insights and knowledge on the topic. A really, really important topic that I hope you get a lot from. Thanks for listening!

What is Sexological Bodywork?

When asked to define the term, Charlie says that sexological bodywork is “somatic education in erotic embodiment.” To further break this down, he sums it up as follows: the central focus is on the somatic aspects – the body.

Education, in the context of sexological bodywork, is achieved when his clients leave a session with more knowledge and experience than they had coming in. This is a huge goal of the practice.

Erotic embodiment encompasses erotic activity, but also, it adds staying present and truly “embodying” the eroticism in the moment, in all moments, that it happens.

The Power of Flirting

Charlie shares interesting insights on a couple who struggled to discern each other’s sexual signals. When speaking to the wife, Charlie asked her to practice flirting with him, in a professional capacity, during one of their one-on-one sessions. After doing so, Charlie said that it was hard to tell she was even doing so because her body signals were not doing the communicating for her. Instead of feeling rejected by her husband, she realized her husband probably had no idea when she was flirting. This also turned out to be the case on the opposite end of the spectrum: the husband was wary about flirting because he didn’t feel like his wife was all that