About Faye
Hi! I am Faye Hermine,
a Certified Sexological Bodyworker and Certified Somatic Sex Educator, and I have a passion for supporting people who are addressing challenges with their bodies, sexual responses, and sexual relationships. My intention is to help people enhance their erotic lives in ways that are pleasurable, healthy, and emotionally safe. My approach is practical, empathetic, and non-judgmental. I use tools including breathwork, guided visualization, movement, embodied consent, and optional touch.
I’ve been helping people openly explore their sexuality since 2007. Through training and experience, I’ve developed approaches that guide people as they listen to their bodies, communicate about their sexuality, and, most importantly, learn to be present and mindful in their sexual selves.
I identify as a non-binary transmasculine genderqueer, neurodiverse, white, Jewish person who uses they/them pronouns. When I was born, doctors decided I was female. As a child, I was a tomboy. As an adult, I was perceived to be a masculine woman (who sometimes dressed up as a feminine woman). Around age 38, after healing some childhood trauma, I realized that “non-binary” and “genderqueer” described my gender more effectively than “woman.” At 40, I decided that making changes to my body and hormones would be exciting and wonderful. Taking testosterone (resulting in facial hair and a low voice) and having surgically acquired a small but not flat chest, my presentation is outside of the gender binary, and that is delightfully aligned with my internal gender identity.
I have spent most of my life with a decidedly queer appearance and enjoying sex with people of all genders and genitals. I also identify as queer, bisexual, kinky, and polyamorous. As such, I have an embodied understanding of the social and sexual experiences of a wide range of folks. However, a majority of my sexual experiences were as a self-identified bisexual woman engaging with straight and bisexual men. Based on that, I feel an intense empathy towards the particular challenges experienced by straight and bisexual women in relating to the men with whom they are sexual. My professional training filled in the gaps where empathy alone is insufficient. I enjoy working with clients of all genders and orientations!
Academic and Training Background
- Certification as a Sexological Bodyworker
- Certification as a Somatic Sex Educator
- Tammy Lynn Kent’s Holistic Pelvic Care Practitioner Training
- Barbara Carrellas’ Urban Tantra Professional Training Program
- Betty Martin’s Like a Pro program (Wheel of Consent)
- Ellen Heed and Kimberly Johnson’s Scar Tissue Remediation Education and Management 4-day course
- Academic degrees from MIT and the London School of Economics
Experience
- Over a decade of attending and teaching at sexuality conferences and workshops (including events that focused on BDSM and polyamory)
- 10-day Vipassana silent meditation retreat
Empathy based on personal experience is also insufficient in places where I hold privilege such as racial privilege, class privilege, educational privilege, and, at times in my life, cisgender/passing and able bodied privilege. As much as possible, I use my privilege as leverage for the benefit of others and avoid allowing it to inadvertently cause harm to people.
I educate myself through books, courses, and introspection on the ways that privilege intersects with sexuality, including on the issues of racism, colorism, texturism, power dynamics, sizeism, ageism, ableism, and accessibility. I acknowledge that oppressions and cultural traumas that I may not experience or fully understand still impact sexuality. I offer free sessions to BIPOC clients. If you prefer working with a practitioner who is a person of color, I can refer you to a BIPOC colleague. Black Lives Matter.
I am also supportive of colleagues who work in the sex industry and offer free sessions to sex workers.