Biography
Susan Marilyn Block, Ph.D. is the founder and director of the Dr. Susan Block Institute for the Erotic Arts & Sciences. A magna cum laude graduate with distinction from Yale University who received her doctorate in philosophy with a major in psychology from Pacific Western, as well as an honorary doctorate of the arts from the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, Dr. Block is a world-renowned sexologist, best-selling author, award-winning filmmaker, talk show host, speaker and commentator as well as a therapist in private practice, serving clients the world over. Her newest book, The Bonobo Way: The Evolution of Peace through Pleasure is already getting rave reviews.
Many people know "Dr. Suzy" from HBO. A familiar face on HBO's late-night programming through her #1 Nielsen-rated specials, Radio Sex TV with Dr. Susan Block, as well as her popular episodes of the classic HBO series Real Sex and Cathouse, she has also made numerous appearances on radio and TV shows, from Oprah to MTV, from Nightline to Today.
She is also the director of her own media production company, Block Studios, an 8,000 square-foot facility in West LA that houses radio, television and Internet broadcast and recording studios, as well as the Institute, "Bonoboville," "Dr. Suzy's Speakeasy" and the Speakeasy Gallery of Erotic Art. From this campus of operations, she and her faculty produce sex educational and entertainment media and art, as well as provide therapy to an international clientèle from nearly every country on the planet.
A professional member of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT) and the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS), Dr. Block utilizes both conventional and very unconventional methods of therapy in her practice. She takes a three-pronged approach to most treatment, involving 1) Analysis, 2) Technique and 3) Adventure. Based upon her work with clients, artists and others at the Institute over the past two decades, Dr. Block has developed the uniquely effective and exciting system of "erotic theater therapy," practiced both in her brick and mortar "Womb Room" studio and via the telephone, webcam and other private communications media.
Chosen as one of "America's Greatest Thinkers" (twice) by the Great American Think-Off, praised for her "prescient financial advice" by the Wall Street Journal, and dubbed "the Erin Brockovich of the Bonobo" by Salon, Dr. Block is an active advocate of the highly endangered bonobo chimpanzees, using their very sexual, non-violent and gender-egalitarian "lifestyle" as inspiration for her philosophy of "ethical hedonism," her system of "Bonobo Liberation Therapy," her educational site blockbonobofoundation.org, her new community site bonoboville.com, and her upcoming book The Bonobo Way.
Her first book, Advertising for Love (Morrow), a popularization of her master's thesis, forecast the current online dating explosion. Her second book, Being a Woman (Random House) which she wrote with pioneer radio psychologist Dr. Toni Grant, became a NY Times bestseller. Her third book, The 10 Commandments of Pleasure (St. Martin's), has been published in 15 countries (now in its third English-language printing). Creator of the award-winning documentary series, Encyclopedia of Sex, Dr. Block is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and The LA Press Club. Always a fascinating speaker on multiple subjects related to sexuality, she has addressed a variety of groups from the YPO (Young Presidents' Organization) to the LSO (Lifestyles Organization) on sex, love, pleasure, relationships and the Bonobo Way.
Her sex educational film Dr. Suzy's Squirt Salons (an instructional film bringing the mysteries of female ejaculation into the grateful grasp of thousands) was featured in the Barcelona Erotic Film Festival as well as the Cinekink Film Festival, and her music video Blonde Island: Funk Me was screened as part of the LA Erotica Film Festival. She is currently co-producing Speakeasy, a documentary about her institute, with award-winning filmmaker Canaan Brumley (Ears Open, Eyeballs Click), San Diego Filmmaker of the Year and First Prize winner at the Marseille Film Festival.
Dr. Block has been a visiting lecturer in the Human Sexuality Department at the University of Southern California (USC), and at her alma mater Yale University, including Sex Week at Yale. She has also lent her expert knowledge of the human sexual condition to community service and the cause of justice, having served as a consultant to the LA Public Defenders' Office (Sex Crimes Division) as well as private attorneys. Her columns on sex, health, politics and culture are published in various print and online magazines from Counterpunch to Perfect 10 (as well as appearing in her own online journal at Bloggamy.com), and are touted as "among the most readable to come out of LA" by Steve Mikulan in The LA Weekly. She is a contributor to the upcoming Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sex, writing encyclopedia articles on the subjects of "Fetish," "Striptease," "Phone Sex," "Cuckolding" and "Spanking."
But she'll never quit her day job as a sex therapist in private practice. Her primary daily focus is serving her telephone sex therapy clients all over the globe. And don't worry, when you call her for telephone sex therapy, you are not on her show, nor are you being recorded in any way (unless you specifically request that we record you). Everything is absolutely private, completely discreet and confidential. Furthermore, as a private client, you will receive Dr. Block's total focused attention, and you can talk with her about absolutely anything.
