A number of North American sexologists, academics, and therapists spent a weekend on Fisherman's Wharf examining a number of "unpopular" or at least unusual sex acts, from fetishes among teens and adults to transgender coupling.
"These couples have problems that I didn't know how to deal with," said Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality Western U.S. region president Olga Perez Stable Cox to Reuters. "You have to understand the culture, otherwise you're an outsider, and you don't get it."
The four-day gathering focused on a theme called "Unstudied, Understudied And Underserved Sexual Communities," with discussions on topics ranging from autoerotic asphyxiation – a practice which was believed to have factored in the death of rock star Michael Hutchence in 1997 – to bestiality, or "zoophilia" as its practitioners prefer it to be known, as well as less controversial subjects like the sexual motives of dating partners.
"Let me tell you, it was not easy finding these pictures," Hunter College professor Jose E. Nanin was quoted as telling his audience during a seminar about specialized sex among gay men, including pictures of exhibition and sadomasochism as well as safe intercourse alternatives.
"As sex researchers, one of our concerns is distinguishing what can be harmful and what is not—so that instead of being based on myth, public policy can be informed," University of Kansas professor of psychology and women's studies Charlene Muehlenhard told Reuters.
While discussing the case of an American teenager caught stealing girls' underwear, questions reportedly arose as to whether the crime traced to broken family relations since the crime was theft and not his sexual fantasies, Reuters said. The news wire cited Utah State University in Logan psychologist Kim Openshaw as saying limited research has found girls make up no more than 10 percent of underage sex offenders, and the research is so small because people are reluctant to acknowledge the problem.
Hutchence, the lead singer for INXS, was found dead in an Australian hotel room in November 1997. A coroner ultimately ruled it a death by hanging, but until that time reports ran rampant that Hutchence – who had a reputed taste for kinky sex – might actually have died of autoerotic asphyxiation. The practice is said to involve one or both partners cutting off their own air supply in order to intensify an orgasm.
