INTEGRAL SEXUALITY & GENDER STUDIES
(reported by Willow Pearson)
Integral Sexuality & Gender Studies is the
place where flesh and spirit meet in a truly integral embrace. Honoring
and including the ascending and descending currents of embodied
wisdom, Integral Sexuality & Gender Studies takes a fresh look
at the dividing and shifting lines of sexuality and gender in our
world today. Drawing on various disciplines, we will take an unflinching
and compassionate look at the psychological, spiritual, biological,
social, and cultural frontiers of sexuality and gender in these
(post)modern times. Here, we will listen to and dialogue about the
feminine, masculine and transgendered dimensions of being in the
world – both where they define Spirit-in-action and how they
deepen Spirit’s revelation. For the brave hearted and fiercely
minded, this is a dedicated place to study the lines between love
and hate that dissolve in no boundary. Willow Pearson, a psychotherapist
and performing vocal artist, will host this site. Her artistry,
teaching, facilitation, and private practice explore and invite
the multifaceted ways in which sexuality and gender manifest in
our day to day lives.
In this site, we will explore these contemporary issues through
audio conversations, integral readings, an annotated library of
current literature, and other learning forums. Through these forums,
we seek to make sense of these contemporary fractures by applying
an integral, developmental framework. Integral Sexuality & Gender
Studies explores the relationships among what some may consider
to be strange bedfellows indeed. How does feminism transform through
a sturdy, strong integral embrace? How does patriarchy submit to
the art of surrender? How is it that straight doesn’t have
to be narrow? Where is it that separatism can be vital? When is
it that queer isn’t necessarily conscious? When and where,
in the placing of labels on human identity and behavior, does language
simply fail us? Where do traditional values help and when do they
harm? These kinds of crucial and provocative questions will be explored
through the various learning forums presented.
At heart, Integral Sexuality & Gender Studies is less about
how we identify one another and more about how we experience and
understand one another. It is a place where men can explore, claim,
and challenge what is means to be men, where women can explore,
claim, and challenge what it means to be women, and where the rest
of us are exploring, including, challenging and transcending gender.
It is a place where we can look into and beyond conventional constructs
of sexuality to the human beliefs, biologies, behaviors and communities
by which we navigate our lives. And, in the balance, there is the
real potential that we all may become increasingly differentiated,
less divided, more and more ourselves. At its core, Integral Sexuality
& Gender Studies is a place where neither sexuality nor gender
is ever separate from the spiritual body – even when the two
are deeply and dangerously disassociated. At its essence, Integral
Sexuality & Gender Studies is a place where the sacred and the
profane join together, in a truly integral embrace.
If you would like to submit an article or receive more information about the Integral Sexuality and Gender Studies site, contact Bronwyn Dietel, ISGS Co- host, at Bronwyn.Dietel@colorado.edu
Stay tuned to this Bulletin Board for more information on the Integral
Sexuality & Gender Studies branch….
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