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PULSATION & PLEASURE

2024 Online Summer Conference
August 2-4, 2024 via Zoom video


ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

After Sigmund Freud, Havelock Ellis and others had established the study of human sexuality as a theme not only for biologists but also for psychologists and scientists of human behavior, Wilhelm Reich made sexuality a prime focus of his research and practice. Through groundbreaking works like The Impulsive Character, The Function of the Orgasm (1927), The Sexual Revolution and The Bioelectrical Investigation of Sexuality and Anxiety, Reich investigated human sexual practices through a biological, a psychological and a sociological lens.

Central to Reich’s therapeutic model was the concept of orgastic potency, which he defined as the ability of the organism to surrender fully to discharge of sexual excitation through the orgasm function. Before Reich, no one had addressed the human orgasm as an object of psychological research. To support his clinical model, Reich pioneered the scientific study of sexuality, including mapping out the human sexual response cycle and studying the physiology of sexual arousal in a laboratory setting decades before the work of Masters and Johnson.

A fierce advocate for sexual and reproductive rights, Reich’s work contributed greatly to the formation of the second sexual revolution in the 1960s. This conference presents views and research from historical to contemporary on social and clinical aspects of human sexuality and orgasm, with comparisons to Wilhelm Reich’s ideas.

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Friday, August 2

 DAY ONE

Jennifer Evans – Welcome

12;10 pm – 12:20 pm EDT




12;30 pm – 1:30 pm EDT

Keynote Speaker: Peter Reich, MPH
A Virtual Visit to Orgonon and Some Remarks on the Conference Agenda

In northwest Maine, at the 45th parallel, Wilhelm Reich lived and worked in a pulsating, energy-rich environment. To provide a sense of place for this virtual and international audience, Peter Reich will describe how the topography and geology of the Rangeley Region of Maine reveal a perfect model in nature of Wilhelm Reich’s concept of energy. Orgonon sits at the heart of a vast system of lakes and rivers in which a network of small, carefully managed dams produced on an annual basis a precise, functioning model of tension, charge, discharge, relaxation. Mr. Reich will also offer some remarks on the conference agenda.

Bio: After writing A Book of Dreams, a memoir about Wilhelm Reich first published in 1973, Mr. Reich enjoyed a 30 year affiliation with Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health as a faculty and staff member. He lives in Western Massachusetts.

Attachment: Peter has requested that we distribute the following handout containing Wilhelm Reich’s description of orgasm as published on pages 79-87 of the Theodore P. Wolfe translation of The Function of the Orgasm (1942). DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT BY CLICKING HERE




1:45 pm – 2:45 pm EDT

Christina Goestl, Artist and Independent Scholar
Orgasm – On the Flux and Flow of a Term through Times and Spaces

An Etymological Exploration – Key points:
1. Debunking universality: What can we learn from languages that do not have a term for “orgasm”? Are there any studies on this?
2. Linguistics: The changes in the meaning of words.
3. My working approach as an artist: The making of Orgasm, or: when historiographical curiosity meets contemporary feminist and queer concepts that question the politics of pleasure.

Bio: Christina Goestl has accumulated an extensive dossier of projects at the intersections of art/tech/science, many of them linked to a comprehensive reflection of sexualities. Her exhibitions, installations, interventions and performances have taken place in many different locations around the world: on streets, in sub-cultural venues as well as in museums and galleries, and on the internet.




3:00 pm – 3:30 pm EDT

Special Feature – David Silver, Executive Director of the Wilhelm Reich Museum, presents rare audiovisual materials from the Wilhelm Reich Archives.




Saturday, August 3

 DAY TWO

12:10 pm to 1:10 pm EDT

Jennifer Evans, PhD
Conceptualizing the Role of Orgasm in Sexual Response: From the Early 20th Century to Today

This talk will focus on Wilhelm Reich’s understanding of the human sexual response cycle and his 4-beat orgasm formula, exploring his views on orgastic potency and the role of orgasm in human health. It will briefly situate Reich’s work within the broader history of theories on sexual response, from Albert Moll and Havelock Ellis in the early 20th century to the well-known sexual response cycle popularized by Masters and Johnson in 1966, as well as subsequent approaches, including non-linear models that de-center or remove orgasm as a phase of the sexual response cycle.

Bio: Jennifer Evans is an independent scholar based in Atlanta, GA. She earned her doctorate in the History of Science from Harvard University. Her dissertation focused on Wilhelm Reich’s bioelectrical experiments, examining their scientific and cultural context and influence on the development of Reich’s thought. She is currently pursuing a certificate in Sexuality Education from the University of Michigan School of Social Work with a goal of discovering new and creative ways to make Reich’s work on the function of the orgasm accessible to a modern audience.




1:30 pm – 2:30 pm EDT

Alain Giami
Emeritus Research Professor, Vice-President: World Association for Sexual Health
From Wilhelm Reich’s Sexual Revolution to the XXIst Century: Sexual Pleasure at the World Association for Sexual Health

In recent years, the World Association for Sexual Health (WAS) has developed a number of Declarations on Sexual Rights (2014), Sexual Pleasure (2021) and Sexual Justice (2023). These various declarations address the issue of sexual pleasure as a sexual right (human right) and call on institutions to combat inequality. From this perspective, sexual pleasure is seen as a central factor in well-being and social emancipation. These various ideas, which are firmly rooted in the 21st century, are in the perspective of the ideas elaborated by Wilhelm Reich in his various works on the function of orgasm and the emancipation of young people and the dominated classes. The presentation aims to re-establish the influence of Wilhelm Reich’s discourse and action on contemporary discourses on sexual pleasure. The hypothesis is that, after a long period of depoliticization of sexual questions, we are witnessing a return to the link between sexual pleasure and social emancipation. The question remains whether the experience of sexual pleasure always contains an emancipatory dimension.




2:45 pm – 3:45 pm EDT

Barry Komisaruk
Distinguished Professor, Psychology, Rutgers University-Newark
Neural Bases of Genital Pleasure and Pain: Is Orgasm “Non-aversive Pain”?

Genital stimulation activates the same neural pathway to the brain as does pain, and many of the same brain regions activated by orgasm are also classically activated by pain. While pain can inhibit orgasm, conversely, orgasm can inhibit pain. The difference depends on the balance between neuronal activation and inhibition, both of which normally function continuously at varying intensities. Extensive reports in the literature of ‘non-genital orgasms” also most likely depend on this balance. Supportive evidence from our and others’ reported research will be presented.

Bio: Barry R. Komisaruk is Distinguished Professor, Psychology, Rutgers University-Newark; initial appointment:1966. Education: City University New York, B.S. Biology, 1961; Rutgers University, PhD Psychobiology, 1965; UCLA, Postdoctoral NIH Fellow, 1966. Program Director at NIH-NIGMS; Associate Editor, Journal of Sexual Medicine, Sexual Medicine Reviews. Program Director, NIH-minority biomedical research support training grant program at Rutgers-Newark (1987-current). Research discoveries: first identification of brain regions activated during orgasm in women; first organic cause of PGAD (Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder) being Tarlov cysts or herniated intervertebral discs; first evidence that the Vagus nerves convey genital sensation in women with complete spinal cord injury; first demonstration of, and mechanism underlying, the pain-blocking action of vaginal stimulation. Grant funding: NIH, NSF, NJ State, private foundations. 200+ refereed research articles, 6 co-authored/edited books, including “The Science of Orgasm,” published in 7 languages. Awards: First ISSWSH (International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health) Lifetime Achievement Award, 2022. Hugo F. Beigel Research Award in Sexuality; Bullough Award of the Foundation for the Scientific Study of Sexuality; Students: doctoral dissertations of 28 PhDs, 21 postdoctoral scholars.

Attachments:

Non-genital orgasms

Brain Activity Unique to Orgasm in Women: An fMRI Analysis

Physiological Correlates of Imagery-Induced Orgasm in Women

How Does Our Brain Generate Sexual Pleasure?

Orgasm and Related Disorders Depend on Neural Inhibition Combined With Neural Excitation

A neurologic excitation/inhibition “faucet model” for orgasm and pain

Orgasm utilizes the pain pathway: is orgasm “nonaversive pain”?




Sunday, August 4

 DAY THREE

12:10 pm – 1:10 pm EDT

Renata Reich Moise, CNM, MSN, BSN
Female Sexuality, Energy and Birth

This talk will discuss Renata’s observations, with an energetic perspective, from over 40 years of practice, of which 25 years were spent in direct care of women from puberty through old age in the intimate setting of the exam room and the labor room. Renata will explore how the concepts of emotions or trauma held within the body (which Wilhelm Reich called armoring), and energetic bonding (between parents/child, couples, as well as between the patient and clinician) are key factors within the context of female sexuality, contraceptive needs, pregnancy, the birth process, and postpartum challenges such as breastfeeding, postpartum depression, and return to work pressures. Renata is left with many of the same questions Wilhelm Reich had: why don’t we as clinicians ask women about sexual response/orgasm on a regular basis in gynecological settings? How can practitioners be of help to average people who don’t have access to sex therapy? How can we help improve sex education everywhere? As we see the attacks on reproductive rights and sexuality in the USA and elsewhere, how can we make a difference?

Bio: Renata Reich Moise is a recently retired Certified Nurse Midwife who lives in Hancock, Maine. She is the daughter of Eva Reich MD, Wilhelm Reich’s daughter, and the artist Bill Moise, Wilhelm Reich’s assistant. She earned her Master’s degree in the Science of Nursing with a Specialty of Midwifery in 1994 from the University of Pennsylvania. She practiced full scope Midwifery in a unique rural hospital based group Midwifery practice from 1998- 2023; the practice was able to spend adequate time with patients, have a tub for hydrotherapy and water birth, led groups, and survived many hospital administrations. Renata also long ago taught sex education as a school nurse, and provided contraception to all ages in outlying rural clinics. She finally is devoting herself to painting, and serves currently as the President of the Board of the Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust/Wilhelm Reich Museum.




1:30 pm – 2:30 pm EDT

Gonzalo R. Quintana Zunino
Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Tarapcá.
Psychosocial Determinants of the Orgasm Experience

Main points:

  1. Sexual experiences modulate the experience of orgasm;
  2. Response-bias modulates the experience of orgasm.

Bio: Dr. Quintana is a trained psychologist from Chile, who studies a Ph.D. under Dr. Jim Pfaus in behavioral neuroscience of sexual behavior, particularly focused on the molecular and behavioral mechanisms of first sexual experiences, and their role in partner preferences. Currently, he works as an Assistant Professor at Universidad de Tarapacá where he has expanded his research into the exploration of psychological and sociocultural determinants of sexual behavior, function, and wellbeing, as well as other sexual phenomena such as problematic consumption of pornography, compulsive sexual behavior, paraphilias, BDSM, among others. Nevertheless, his current research projects aim to evaluate how achieving or withholding orgasm repetitively may alter the orgasm experience, as well as how previous sexual experiences modulate the orgasm experience.




2:45 pm – 3:30 pm EDT

Final Q & A




 CONFERENCE HOURS IN SOME OTHER TIME ZONES

Time Zone

Hours

United States East Coast12:00 noon to 4:00 pm EDT
(Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-4)
United States West Coast9:00 am to 1:00 pm PDT
(Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-7)
United Kingdom5:00 pm to 9:00 pm BST
(British Summer Time, UTC+1)
Germany18:00 to 22:00 CEST
(Central European Summer Time, UTC+2)


Sponsor: The Wilhelm Reich Museum, Rangeley, Maine
Conference Committee: Jennifer Evans, Håvard Friis Nilsen, Renata Reich Moise, David Silver
Moderator: Jennifer Evans
Technical Director: David Silver