Susan Block

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For persons of a similar name, see Susan Bloch (disambiguation).

Susan Block
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Occupations
  • Sexologist
  • author
  • filmmaker
  • therapist
  • cable TV talk show host
  • cultural commentator
Years active1977–present
Known forHBO television specials on philosophy of ethical hedonism and sexology

Susan Block, also known as Dr. Susan Block and Dr. Suzy, is an American

sex therapist, author, filmmaker, cable TV talk show host, and cultural commentator. She is perhaps best known for her television specials on HBO. She is the founder and director of The Dr. Susan Block Institute for the Erotic Arts & Sciences.[1]

Block is also known for her philosophy of ethical hedonism and The Bonobo Way, as well as her writings on sex, love, politics, and culture in

weblog, Bloggamy.[7]

Block is also known for her

sex therapist in private practice and works with clients from all over the world, using her therapy techniques to deal with various sexual problems, both in person and over the telephone.[8]

Biography

Early life

Block was born in

Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality.[10][11]

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Block continued her studies in theater, sex and philosophy at PWU,

Mime, performed as a member of the casts of New England Commedia and La Mer Mime, and Mask Theater, and wrote freelance articles.[citation needed] She climbed to the top of the Golden Gate Bridge,[12] as well as the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, several times with members of the San Francisco Suicide Club. She also traveled extensively throughout the United States, Mexico, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Israel, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal.[citation needed
]

In 1984, Block published her first book, Advertising for Love

personal ad
revolution that soon began in newspapers and magazines and now, the Internet.

Radio

Toward the end of that year, she began hosting her first radio talk show Radio Match, It was broadcast from

singles meet on the air, (but only on the air). Later it went out as Date Night on Saturday nights. The content was largely provided by listeners, male and female, who would call in and be linked up with each other from the control room.[14] The show was produced and financed by John Clark
.

Marriage and collaboration with Lobkowicz

In late 1984, she met her husband-to-be Maximillian Rudolph Lobkowicz-Filangieri through KIEV. Though they became good friends, they were in relationships with other people, and didn't get romantically involved until six years later. In 1986, Block started some of the first 976 and 900 number telephone dating, advice and fantasy lines. In 1987, Block moved her radio program to

anthologies
, Pleasures, Erotic Interludes and The Erotic Encounter. She wrote the last story with Lobkowicz.

In 1990, Block collaborated with Lobkowicz to produce the

The Dr. Susan Block Show, for cable TV. They also founded the Dr. Susan Block Institute for the Erotic Arts & Sciences. In 1993, Block's show was syndicated nationwide on over 75 radio stations through the Independent Broadcasters Network. In 1996, after the owners of IBN were indicted for fraud, Block started one of the Internet's first radio stations, RADIOSUZY1.com, where her show is still broadcast, live and taped, 24 hours a day. That year, she also hosted her first HBO special, Radio Sex TV with Dr. Susan Block, and published her third book The 10 Commandments of Pleasure: Erotic Keys to a Healthy, Sexual Life (St. Martin's Press
).

The Bonobo Way

In 1994, Block first saw the "Make-Love-Not-War"

Harvard anthropologist Richard Wrangham
. She is also featured in the documentaries Cousin Bonobo and Humanimal, among others. Her book The Bonobo Way: The Evolution of Peace Through Pleasure was published in November 2014.

Sex, fetish, and Dr. Suzy's Speakeasy

In 1998, BlockFilms began producing the Encyclopedia of Sex & Fetish series, including "The New Horny Housewife", "Feet: An Erotic Study in Podophilic Sexuality", "

Public Defender
's Office, Death Penalty Sex Crimes Division.

Also, in 1998, she moved her institute and production company from the "Villa Piacere" in the

Felliniesque
" and "Warholesque."

Eros Day

On January 22, 2000, Block, Lobkowicz and

Inaugural
Ball.

Freedom of speech, politics, and education

On the evening of February 26, 2000, for the second time in two years, armed officers of the

censored the nudity on her Public-access television show. She told her viewers to "Dump Adelphia stock".[15]

After the

September 11, 2001 attacks, Block began writing The Terror Journals, a series of essays which Steven Mikulan in the LA Weekly called "among the most readable to come out of LA, smartly combining outrage...with levelheaded warnings about the loss of civil liberties
."

Later in 2002, Block's show was threatened with censorship by Berkeley City Councilwoman Betty Olds in

independent presidential campaign.[16]

In 2003, Block and Lobkowicz founded the Cannes Press Club in

South of France
. In 2004, she starred in The A-Z of Fetish.

Female ejaculation, health, and ethical hedonism

In 2005, Block produced, directed and hosted Dr. Suzy's Squirt Salon: Secrets of

Barcelona Erotic Film Festival
and New York City's CineKink Film Festival. Dr. John Perry, author of the best-seller The G-Spot, calls Dr. Suzy's Squirt Salon "Masterful...raising the bar for female ejaculation videos". In 2005, she also started working with award-winning filmmaker Canaan Brumley on a documentary entitled Speakeasy which will be released in 2008.

Besides ethical hedonism and the Bonobo Way, Block promotes what she calls "Pleasure Sex", sex that is recreational, healthful, relationship-oriented or celebratory as opposed to reproductive. She also advocates what she calls "Faith-Based Sex" and "Blue Values". Cara Jepsen put it this way in the Illinois Entertainer: "Dr. Susan Block's HBO specials expose inhibited Middle America to the idea that it's OK to discuss—and enjoy—sex..."

Works by Block

Books

  • The Bonobo Way: The Evolution of Peace Through Pleasure] (2014,
    ISBN 0692323767
    )
  • The 10 Commandments of Pleasure (book and audio book, 1996)
  • Advertising for Love (book, 1984)

Videos and television series

Art exhibits

  • Eros Day (2005)
  • Republican Torture (2004)
  • Democratic Sex (2000)
  • Erotic Art of the Apocalypse (1999)
  • Sex Acts with the Artist Heilman-C at Jack Tilton Gallery[17] (interactive art exhibit, 1997)

Other

  • Bedtime Stories for Adults (audio series, 1991), featuring "The Great Train Ride", "Passions of the Plaza" and "Office Fantasies"
  • Dr. Susan Block's Journal (magazine, 1991)
  • Desert Susan (audio series, 1990)
  • The Dr. Susan Block Show (radio show, 1984– ), formerly called Radio Match, Date Nite and The Susan Block Show, Block's talk show has gone from radio to cable TV to the Internet. As of 2007, Block has produced over 1000 installments of her radio program, over 800 cable TV shows and many more Internet shows.
  • Mattress Madness (performance poetry, 1983)
  • Chaingangs (play, 1978)

References

  1. ^ "The Dr. Susan Block Institute". Dr Susan Block Institute.
  2. ^ "Alternet.org".
  3. ^ "Make 2015 the Year of the Bonobo!". The Ecologist. January 5, 2015.
  4. ^ "Perfect 10". archive.drsusanblock.com.
  5. ^ "Biography". archive.drsusanblock.com.
  6. ^ "Singles Looking for a Date Learn It Pays to Advertise". Los Angeles Times. June 23, 1985.
  7. ^ "Dr. Susan Block's Journal". DrSusanBlock.com.
  8. ^ "About Dr. Susan Block".
  9. ^ "Up Front". Jewish Journal. July 17, 1997. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  10. ^ "Bloggamy.com".
  11. ^ "BiG WiN in VEGAS: A New PhD & an Orgy in the RV, Great Erotic Art, Slot Machines That Cum". August 17, 2012.
  12. ^ Desk, TV News. "DR. SUSAN BLOCK SHOW to Discuss Cacophony Society and More, 6/22". BroadwayWorld.com.
  13. OCLC 9829147
    .
  14. ^ "Matchmaker Hopes End of Cold War Will Thaw Hearts : Radio: Susan Block's call-in dating program will air tonight from West Germany to 'celebrate love, liberation and the fall of the Wall.'". Los Angeles Times. January 1, 1990.
  15. ^ Artists, Eroplay com Featured (June 24, 2014). "adelphiagate" – via Vimeo.
  16. ^ "Frank Moore For President 2008". Frankmooreforpresident08.com. 2008. Retrieved July 14, 2013.
  17. ^ "Art - SEX ACTS". archive.drsusanblock.com.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Susan Block.
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