Profs and Pints Metro Baltimore

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “‘Kink’ or ‘Disorder’?” a look at how psychology approaches unusual sexual behaviors, with Brian A. Sharpless, licensed clinical psychologist, former faculty member at Penn State and Washington State universities and the American School of Professional Psychology, and author of Psychodynamic Therapy Techniques.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/baltimore-kink-disorder .]

Few subjects are as interesting – or as sensitive – as sex. Psychology’s history of dealing with sexual behaviors and, especially, the more unusual among them, has been fraught, in many cases resulting in entirely normal and safe behavior being deemed pathological. In recent decades, however, the field has evolved to be far more open-minded, and to use diagnostic standards focused on the well-being of those involved.

Be on hand as Dr. Brian Sharpless, a popular regular on the Profs and Pints stage, discusses how psychologists and psychiatrists approach some of the more unusual sexual behaviors. You’ll learn how the mental-health field historically has thought about, and currently diagnoses and treats, behaviors it deems as crossing the line that separates a quirk or kink from a legitimate psychological disorder.

Dr. Sharpless will start by giving us background on exactly how psychologists and psychiatrists determine that a behavior qualifies for “disorder” status. The short answer is that current diagnostic systems do not consider sexual behaviors to be disorders unless they meet certain criteria such as seriously interfering in the life of the person engaged in them or lacking consent among the involved parties. But there’s a lot of nuance to this, which he’ll cover in a manner that is straightforward and understandable.

The talk will then offer an in-depth discussion of three paraphilias that can cross the line into being considered as disorders that need to be treated and, in many cases, are illegal: voyeurism, exhibitionism, and frotteurism. Finally, he’ll talk about asphyxiophilia, sometimes called autoerotic asphyxiation, the act of enhancing sexual arousal through the intentional deprivation of oxygen. You may be shocked to learn how many individuals are injured or killed each year while engaging in this potentially dangerous activity.

Dr. Sharpless also will discuss fetishistic fantasies and behavior, which are relatively common in the general population but among a small share end up being formally diagnosed as fetishistic disorder. He’ll discuss how fetishes are defined and summarize the research on them. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Doors open at 5. Talk begins at 6:30.)

Images of feather and chicken from Rawpixel.com.

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “A Feast of Fat Tuesday Knowledge,” on the origins and evolution of a winter holiday, with K. Anne Amienne, former instructor of courses on Reformation and Renaissance popular culture at Duke University, founder and director of Scholars & Writers, and author of Eat Feed Autumn Winter: 30 Ways to Celebrate When the Mercury Drops.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/baltimore-fat-tuesday .]

Why do people party so hard on a Tuesday night halfway between Christmas and Easter?

Come to an ideal place to get answers—Section 771 bar and restaurant in Baltimore’s Camden Yards—and learn Fat Tuesday’s story.

We’ll start with the medieval origins of an observance that started out as Shrove Tuesday, a name derived from the medieval tradition of “shriving,” or confessing, one’s sins before the beginning of lent. You’ll learn how communities sought to celebrate the day with gusto for reasons related to both religious doctrine and agricultural necessity.
Dr. Amienne will discuss how the day turned into a Renaissance carnival of excess—and even violence—resembling the famously licentious, boozy affairs that are today’s Mardi Gras and Carnival in places like Rio and New Orleans.

The sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation, which swept away many Catholic traditions, left this one intact but throughout Northern Europe transformed Fat Tuesday into a day of domestic celebration—often for children. We’ll look at how the British empire, no matter which faith ruled it, fueled its own growth by honoring the rhythm of feast and fast.

You’ll learn how in Iceland the medieval Catholic self-flagellation of Flengingar­dagur (Spanking Day) has become Bolludagur (Bun Day), during which sons and daughters “beat” their parents with magic wands to receive a cream bun for every blow. In Sweden, almost eight million semlor (cream buns) are sold in bakeries on Shrove Tuesday, while Denmark and Norway have similar pastries that remind us of the old medieval tradition of using up eggs, cream, and butter before the fast.

In tracing Fat Tuesday’s journey from medieval feasts to modern celebrations, Dr. Amienne will bring to life a story of ritual, misrule, and culinary transformation. You’ll leave knowing how to celebrate Fat Tuesday with a touch of British or Nordic tradition. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Bar doors open at 5 pm. The talk starts at 6:30).

Image: Carnival as depicted in “Battle of Carnival and Lent,” a 16th Century painting by Pieter Brueghel the Younger

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “The Dark Side of Fairy-Tale Romance,” on the nightmarish elements of the tales we’ve repackaged as the stuff of lovers’ dreams, with Linda Lee, lecturer in folklore and fairy tales at the University of Pennsylvania.

[Doors open at 5. The talk starts at 6:30. The room is open seating. Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/baltimore-fairy-tale-romance .]

From romcoms to reality TV shows to wedding venues to Valentine’s Day, we’re inundated with messages idealizing the idea of a “fairy-tale romance.” But the fairy tales underlying all the hype about charming princes, grand balls, true love’s kiss, and the happily-ever-after actually can be profoundly unsettling and full of reasons to run like hell.

Gain an appreciation of how modern society glosses over the darker elements of fairy tales with Linda Lee, who previously has given excellent Profs and Pints talks on witches and on Christmas folklore.

She’ll begin by discussing how much the idea of fairy-tale romance pervades mainstream media and popular culture, giving her audience a brief tour of fairy-tale romance tropes across genres and in movies, television, advertising, video games, and elsewhere.

It’s understandable that people might swoon over canonical fairy tales’ fancy dresses, crowded ballrooms, expansive libraries, and magical enchantments. But the romances at the core of the actual fairy tales often can be quite problematic, and we’ll also look at those.

“Cinderella,” for example, depicts women competing for male attention in ways that involve extreme measures like self-harm. Dead mothers, abusive stepparents, and family pressure to marry factor in as well.

In “Beauty and the Beast” a younger daughter is expected to sacrifice her future to rectify her father’s mistake. Other beastly elements of the tale: dubious consent, arranged marriages, anger management issues, monstrous love interests, isolation, manipulation, and possibly Stockholm syndrome.

In “Snow White” a young girl’s seemingly dead body is an object of desire, and we’re told of pedophilia, the threat of violence, cannibalism, necrophilia, and consent violation. “Sleeping Beauty” features a prince who believes he’s entitled to sexual access to a sleeping princess, as well as adultery, cannibalism, and abandonment.

You’ll come away with a deeper appreciation of the tales themselves and reason to roll your eyes at those who try to sell you on fairy-tale romance as an ideal. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID.)

Image: A Jennie Harbour illustration of “Sleeping Beauty” from My Book of Favourite Fairy Tales, published in 1921. (Public domain.)

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “The Dark Side of Fairy-Tale Romance,” on the nightmarish elements of the tales we’ve repackaged as the stuff of lovers’ dreams, with Linda Lee, lecturer in folklore and fairy tales at the University of Pennsylvania.

[Doors open at 5. The talk starts at 6:30. The room is open seating. Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/baltimore-fairy-tale-romance .]

From romcoms to reality TV shows to wedding venues to Valentine’s Day, we’re inundated with messages idealizing the idea of a “fairy-tale romance.” But the fairy tales underlying all the hype about charming princes, grand balls, true love’s kiss, and the happily-ever-after actually can be profoundly unsettling and full of reasons to run like hell.

Gain an appreciation of how modern society glosses over the darker elements of fairy tales with Linda Lee, who previously has given excellent Profs and Pints talks on witches and on Christmas folklore.

She’ll begin by discussing how much the idea of fairy-tale romance pervades mainstream media and popular culture, giving her audience a brief tour of fairy-tale romance tropes across genres and in movies, television, advertising, video games, and elsewhere.

It’s understandable that people might swoon over canonical fairy tales’ fancy dresses, crowded ballrooms, expansive libraries, and magical enchantments. But the romances at the core of the actual fairy tales often can be quite problematic, and we’ll also look at those.

“Cinderella,” for example, depicts women competing for male attention in ways that involve extreme measures like self-harm. Dead mothers, abusive stepparents, and family pressure to marry factor in as well.

In “Beauty and the Beast” a younger daughter is expected to sacrifice her future to rectify her father’s mistake. Other beastly elements of the tale: dubious consent, arranged marriages, anger management issues, monstrous love interests, isolation, manipulation, and possibly Stockholm syndrome.

In “Snow White” a young girl’s seemingly dead body is an object of desire, and we’re told of pedophilia, the threat of violence, cannibalism, necrophilia, and consent violation. “Sleeping Beauty” features a prince who believes he’s entitled to sexual access to a sleeping princess, as well as adultery, cannibalism, and abandonment.

You’ll come away with a deeper appreciation of the tales themselves and reason to roll your eyes at those who try to sell you on fairy-tale romance as an ideal. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID.)

Image: A Jennie Harbour illustration of “Sleeping Beauty” from My Book of Favourite Fairy Tales, published in 1921. (Public domain.)