Running Wild with Christine

Hi everyone! Meet Andreia! She is a Marriage and Family Therapy Candidate, based in Denver, Colorado. Andreia joyfully walks me through her Brazilian upbringing, including her progressive Catholic high school, and her journey into American society. We meander through the little life things that end up shaping lives and get us to a point of embracing our true selves. Join us for this lovely introspection - the stuff you wish you knew about your therapist. 

Topics: coming out of one's sheltered childhood, the endless international student life, being nerds, immigrant obstacles, the struggles of corporate life, mental health, anxiety, tools for BIG life changes, relationships and therapy, being true to oneself, facing insecurities, asking "Why Now?",  how COVID has affected couples and families, survival mode and sex drives, redefining joy, grief and lessons, and the state of the world.  Thanks Casey Murphy for the intro! Check her out in ep 37 for more about her businesses! Reference: Esther Perel at estherperel.com.

For more on Andie, go visit her IG @andies.therapy.couch! Thanks for listening. speak to you all next week. Do not hesitate to reach out if you would like to come speak on the podcast, priority will be given to BIPOC, Trans and Sex Workers' voices. All my love, C.

It's a warm welcome back to our dear Ji-Youn (jee-yan) Kim. If you haven't yet met her in ep 78, Ji-Youn is an anti-oppressive, trauma informed counsellor. She's an advocate for rage as liberation, and facilitates workshops called Processing Rage in collaboration with Cicely Blain. She reached out to me a couple of weeks ago to use this platform to talk about white supremacy and toxic power dynamics in the counselling industry. So that's what we did. Here's our unfiltered conversation on spiritual bypassing, white supremacy and oppression as it takes place on a LOT of counsellors' couches. Stay tuned for tools on what to look for in an anti-oppressive counsellor. 

Rage trigger warning. 

Topics: #counselling, trauma, the current climate of #BLM "awakening" for non-Black people, the repercussions on anti-oppression activists of color, #mentalhealth, the toxicity of feel good therapeutic approaches, tone policing, cognitive dissonance and self-doubt, white saviour complex, white fragility, racial gaslighting, de-colonizing your mind, going past attachment theory, the roots of therapy, community vs individual, and SO MUCH more.

Role models and resources mentioned: Dr. Mullan @decolonizingtherapy, Ericka Gail @mentalhealthfemme, Alishia McCullough @blackandembodied.

Thanks so much for listening. Please do share this episode and spread the word. Hire Ji-Youn. You can find her here: itsjiyounkim.com or @itsjiyounkim on IG.  Speak to you all next week! C, xox.

Welcome to our first guest of Season Three: photographer and visual artist Kriss Munsya. He came over to the podcast to talk about his current project The Eraser, as well as his life more broadly. We discuss his upbringing as an immigrant from the DRC in Belgium and his journey to today. We talk about hitchhiking from New York to Brazil (in 2013!!) and the riches of meeting people whose path you otherwise would never have crossed. He casually tells us about his first movie, and subsequent documentaries, expanding on what kind of art and storytelling matters to him. 

Topics: being made to feel "not Black enough"; Europe vs the Americas; feeling lost; stumbling into making his first movie; touring with bands across the world; control issues; culture shock, politeness as a concept, grieving a lifestyle; the charm of grimey bars & their honesty; the current state of the world, the outside look on America today; feelings of hate, hope and sadness; art, love and empathy as activism, and wisdom in humility. 

You can watch more about Kriss' films here: krissmunsya.com/videos. Go check out the gorgeous project @mgmt.krissmunsya and @krissmunsya on IG, as well as his Etsy page where you can purchase his prints. 

Thanks so much for keeping up with the podcast. Can't wait to bring more incredible people to the "couch" and continue to foster this vulnerable and authentic environment we've built. With love, C. xox

Welcome back my lovers. How are y'all holding up? 

Firstly, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. It has been amazing to host the last two seasons and I am beyond ecstatic that we are back for another one. To kick things off, Julia from @soihadanabortion takes the reins in a flipping of the script. I got to experience what it's like relinquishing control and being in the hot seat. Julia has me blabbing about the origins of the podcast, as well as its current process. She asks me poignant questions about the lessons I've learned, in this space we've created, and how they highlight where we are at as a society. We then move on to the AMA questions that you submitted! 

Topics: avoidance, cognitive dissonance, survival, generational patterns, being called in/out, learning as a process of elimination, certainty as the basis for oppression, accountability, non-monogamy, learning about the kink community while entering it, kink anxiety, bullying, the evolution of my understandings of sex from childhood to now, every experience having inherent value, masturbation, world change, activism, anti-racism and other slippery rabbit holes. 

Here are some Black sex-positive advocates you should be following (as promised in the episode) : 

Ericka Hart, M. Ed @ihartericka, Ev’Yan Whitney. @evyan.whitney, Ashley Cobb @sexwithashley, Afrosexology @afrosexology_, Goody Howard @askgoody, Unf*ck Your Polyamory @polyrolemodels, Cindy Lee Alves @cindyleealves. Vagesteem @vagesteem, Jimanekia Eborn, MS @jimanekia, Javay Frye @javaydabae and so many more! 

Plug: Cicely Blain and Ji-Youn Kim's Processing Rage Workshop and the Stratagem Virtual Conference. 

Thanks again my loves. It feels weird releasing an "about me" episode in these times, but the battle continues and will always be an intersectional fight. I hope some of the insights in here are valuable and that we remember this work is only possible today thanks to Marsha P. Johnson and other black trans activists. 

Ps: you still get 20% @intamopleasurables products with our promo code WILD20! 

Welcome my dears. I was going to do a thing for the big 100, but it hardly seems relevant now. If you sent me your AMA's for that, don't worry, it will be the opener for season three. In the meantime, before we go on a little break, I wanted to leave you with something much more important. 

Here's a list of 100+ resources to educate yourself on anti-racism and Black history. Please, please, please, especially if you are white, take the time to delve into some of the works of the Black artists, activists, writers and thinkers below. We owe it to humanity. Thank you. That is all from me today. Take care of yourselves, stay safe and let's ACT against racism and oppression. 

justbadtiming.com/podcast/blacklivesmatter <- click. 

#blacklivesmatter 

Hello my lovers! Welcome to 90-fucking-9! Meet Cam Fraser! He is a men's Sex Coach, as well as a Certified Sexologist, Counselor, Registered Yoga Teacher, Tantric Practitioner, and Workshop Facilitator. Do you think there's enough there to get us started? We cover his Australian upbringing, American college experience and journey into his current practice, before delving into the good stuff. 

Topics: toxic masculinity, the relationship between early sex and binge drinking, the search for alternative models of masculinity and pleasure, not fitting in, sex ed, yoga for better sex, paying attention the your body, shame, Tantric Shaivism and Hatha Yoga, what it looks like to work with Cam, ejaculatory control, what is sex, statistics of sexuality, AND offering solutions past the criticism.

For more on Cam, go to cam-fraser.com or @thecamfraser on IG! Check out his services, his podcast and his super informational feed. 

(Referenced in podcast: Betty Martin's Wheel of Consent and Jameela Jamil.)

Thank you SO MUCH for being around for episode 99! This is an incredible journey we are on, and I for one couldn't be more grateful! 

Ps: Don't forget to get your lubes and oils from Intamo Pleasurables at 20% off with promo code WILD20. 

Hello lovers! Meet Danica Darling, our guest and sex worker extraordinaire! Although she is primarily an exotic dancer and escort professionally, Danica also holds psychology and paralegal degrees, and guest lectures on sex work legality in Canada! We retrace her steps from childhood in a religious suburb, to thriving during university years and becoming a sex worker. 

Topics: #sexworkiswork, what supportive parents can look like, being nerds, first nights as an exotic dancer, Fort McMurray (yes, you read that right), serving vs. stripping, feeling less judged within the sex worker community, onlive vs. in-person, #OnlyFans, the root of negative stigma, coming out as a sex worker, how to make sex work safer, and much more! 

You can find out more about Danica's podcast 50 plus a tip on your favourite podcast apps or @50plusatip on IG! You can also check out her OnlyFans @danica_darling! Don't hesitate to DM her on IG @danica_darling_ regarding the book club and/or lap dance workshops! 

Thanks for listening and supporting sex workers this week and all weeks. Get yourselves some pleasure! Yours, C. xo 

Ps: Don't forget that you can get 20% off @intamopleasurables with our #promocode WILD20! Get your lubes and oils for slippery fun. 

Hello world! This week, I had the honour and pleasure to chat with incredible Cicely Belle Blain! They are a black, mixed raced, queer writer and entrepreneur, CEO of a diversity and inclusion consulting firm, and activist powerhouse. I'm excited for you all to hear this story of how they founded Black Lives Matter Vancouver and discovered how they could best positively impact society. 

Topics: emigrating to Vancouver, discovering queerness over Rihanna, reinventing oneself, feminism, anti-racism activism, entrepreneurship, #diversity, "fake it 'till you make it", basics in inclusion, the Stratagem conference, broadening education & resources for everyone who can't necessarily afford a consultancy, audience capacity, expertise and imposter syndrome, and being in progress! 

For more on Cicely, go to cicelyblainconsulting.com or @cicelyblainconsulting on the socials! Be sure to watch out for Stratagem 2020 that will take place during the month of July online! You can also find out more about Strategem The Podcast @stratagemvirtual on Instagram!

Thanks so much for listening to this inspiring episode! Please do let me know if you have any suggestions for upcoming episodes and continue to rate, share and like this podcast! With love, C. xo

Resources mentioned: qmunity.ca and Black Lives Matter Vancouver on Facebook.

Hello lovers! Meet my dear friend IRL Devon. He did me the honour of spending an hour on the record talking about all things non-monogamy and political science. You folx are in for a treat! Listen in on how one might go from being a serial monogamist, to currently finding oneself in a polyamorous constellation! This is a joyful episode about alternatives to monogamy, the sometimes awkwardness of play and the magic of pleasure. I hope you'll like listening to it as much as I enjoyed taking part in it. 

Topics: shibari rope bondage, bisexuality, learning how to communicate about sex and relationships, touch & sensualism, breathwork, relationship anarchy & polyamory, words vs. labels, oversharing vs. vulnerability, therapy, falling in love with two different people simultaneously, the work that takes, the connection to your body (from sports-induced endorphins to psychedelic effects), the lasting taboo around what pleasure can look like for men (ejaculation vs. orgasm), AND MORE!

And because I'm a sucker for lessons out of PoliSci100, here's the takeaway: "Models are useful for making sense of the world that we're in, but be weary of defining the world by the model."

Here's the article referenced halfway through the episode: Thirteen things I wish I’d learned before choosing non-monogamy, by Lola Phoenix (on Medium).

Thanks so much for listening my darlings.  I love you. C, xo.