What does inclusive sex positivity really ask of us? Sometimes, it means sitting with discomfort and curiosity as we explore the darker, messier edges of desire.

Join Mistress Mia Action (professional Dominatrix and independent scholar) and Dr. Kirin Wachter-Grene (Associate Professor, SAIC) at the Leather Archives & Museum on Thursday, April 23rd at 7pm for an evening of presentation and conversation that dives into taboo, arousal, and the erotics of disgust. Dr. Wachter-Grene will bring her years of experience writing about abjection and jouissance to support Mia Action’s forthcoming study on Disgust Fetishes in collaboration with The Community-Academic Consortium of Research on Alternative Sexualities (CARAS) as well as years of ethnographic research into the topic. 

Together, we’ll explore questions like: What are disgust fetishes and why are some people drawn to them? How do pleasure and revulsion intertwine? What does pushing personal limits (beyond the comprehension or moral limits of some people) reveal about RACK (Risk-Aware Consensual Kink), and our current political moment?

Come curious. Withhold judgment. Let’s explore desire at its edges—thoughtfully, respectfully, and together. 

You can join this session in person, or online. If you choose online, you will receive a zoom link in your confirmation email.

About Mistress Mia Action

Mistress Mia Action is an independent scholar, alternative sexuality consultant, Dominatrix, and artist based in Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia. In 2018, she founded the Power Exchange Roundtable, a social, support, and discussion group for people involved in or curious about Power Exchange. Mia is a current research fellow with the Community-Academic Consortium of Research on Alternative Sexuality (CARAS), studying how disgust and stigma can animate sexual arousal in fetishism. Her work bridges academic research, lived experience, and cultural critique.

About Dr. Kirin Wachter-Grene

Kirin Wachter-Grene is Associate Professor of Liberal Arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an interdisciplinary scholar. Her research and publications focus on African American literature; gender and sexuality studies; queer studies; BDSM and kink; sex work; and transgression. She is a guest editor of two special issues of The Black Scholar on Black radical pleasure and serves on the journal’s editorial board. Wachter-Grene has been a Visiting Scholar at the Leather Archives & Museum and consults with the Tom of Finland Foundation. Her monographs are forthcoming from Fordham and Cambridge University Press.