Meet Susan Block

We had the good fortune of connecting with Susan Block and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Susan, how does your business help the community?
Sex is the essence of life – the trick we play on death. It drives us to do great things – or terrible things. Sex stimulates, motivates, frustrates, frightens, enrages, hurts us, heals us and makes us smile. Or cry. Or change the world – for the better or worse. Our sexuality is a central aspect of our personal lives, of every human society that has ever existed, and of all life on Earth.

And yet, there are very few places where we can talk about it. The Dr. Susan Block Institute is one of the few.

I opened the Institute in 1991 with a mission to help individuals, couples and groups to explore, improve and take responsibility for their sexual lives and relationships. In collaboration with my late great husband and partner, Maximillian Lobkowicz di Filangieri, aka “Captain Max” (more about the amazing Max in my Shoutout), as well as many fellow travelers along the way, we built our little institute into a veritable institution of sex education, artistic endeavor, peace advocacy, cultural influence, adventure and love that is recognized around the world.

Our goal has always been to help people – including ourselves – to make the most of this life we share here on Earth. In multiple ways, we’ve made great strides, but there are always new challenges. As Max would say, “The goal is the journey,” and our journey continues.

A major crossroads in our journey was our *discovery* (for ourselves) of bonobos. One night, when Max and I were snuggled up, watching “The Nature of Sex” on PBS, suddenly these “Make Love Not War” chimpanzees who swing through the trees – as well as with each other – swung into our lives. Soon we were visiting them at the San Diego Zoo, fascinated by these remarkable apes, our closest genetic cousins (along with common chimps), who are so much like us, yet have never been seen killing each other in the wild or captivity. That doesn’t mean bonobos never fight. After all, they’re not angels; they’re great apes like us. They just don’t commit murder or make war like us.

How do they do that, and can we do it too? One reason bonobos don’t kill each other is that they have a lot of sex – the good, consensual kind. Bonobos make peace through pleasure as well as female empowerment, male nurturing, sharing and caregiving.

Over the years, I’ve developed a philosophy, a therapeutic approach, a lecture series and a book, “The Bonobo Way: The Evolution of Peace through Pleasure.” At the same time, Max and I began gathering around us an evolving “intentional community” of artists, therapists and technologists that we call Bonoboville.
Not that we try to be just like bonobos – don’t get the wrong idea! We don’t live in trees, nor do we have sex with all our friends – like bonobos do. However, we’re inspired by the Bonobo Paradigm of good consensual erotic relationships and no murder or war. Another key aspect of the Bonobo Way is how effectively bonobo communities share resources, balancing female power and male well-being to keep the peace.

With human civilizations at war and on the brink of social and environmental devastation, with rising levels of
isolation and alienation, with especially punishing restrictions on women being enforced around the world, and with disturbing revelations of heinous sexual practices being perpetrated at every level of our society – especially at the top – something’s got to give. We need new paths based on age-old truths, like the Bonobo Way, to guide us in handling the complexities of human sexual desire. Such challenges aren’t easy to manage in today’s world, but taking them on is essential – for individuals, couples and society as a whole. And the Institute is here to provide guidance and support every step of the way.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Do you ever need to talk something important and very personal, but you’re not sure where to turn? The Dr. Susan Block Institute is here for you. Talking – and, crucially, listening – is our specialty. Whether it’s about sex, love, work, fantasy, reality, politics, dreams, obsessions or almost anything else, our therapists are on call. We also text and webcam, but it usually comes back to the simple, vital act of listening and talking about what’s really on your mind with another real human being.

Seems straightforward, and yet it’s incredibly difficult for many people to talk about intimate matters – in public or private. To meet these needs, we have two wings to the Institute: private therapy and public outreach.
Private Therapy

Even with your dearest friends and lovers – often especially with those closest to you – it’s tough to talk honestly about your sexual feelings. Someone you care about could take something you say the wrong way. Sometimes you need to talk to a professional therapist who isn’t part of your inner circle, who doesn’t really know you, but really listens and understands you.

At the Institute, we provide private counseling and sex therapy for people seeking help with intimacy, relationships, pleasure and personal growth. We utilize a wide variety of techniques – from psychotherapeutic analysis and couple counseling to hypnosis and fantasy roleplay in what we call the “Erotic Theater of the Mind” – where anything is possible. Unlike most certified therapists who are comparatively restricted in terms of what they can talk about with their clients, we can talk with you about whatever is on your mind.

All the Institute’s therapeutic services are conducted in strict confidentiality, featuring highly personalized client support within a discreet “safe space,” focused on improving consenting-adult pleasures, communication, responsibility and fulfillment.

Our underlying philosophy of the Bonobo Way of peace through sharing pleasure has helped thousands of our clients over more than three decades. Could it also be the key to world peace? That brings me to the outreach work of the Institute…

For the Public

Talking about sex in private is tough enough. When it comes to the public sphere, any discussion of sexuality is even more suppressed, distorted, misinterpreted, mocked and shamed.
Of course, sex scandals are always in the news – and boosted for clickbait. But sex education and positive sexual expression are increasingly forbidden, attacked and outright censored in all public spheres, including social media.

Twenty years ago, many of us believed the Internet would set us free, but it has often done quite the opposite. We can’t even be sure that those engaging with us are human, with AI so pervasive. This troubling and rather dangerous reality leaves humanity vulnerable to loneliness, confusion, violence and despair. Thus, the Dr. Susan Block Institute continually seeks new ways to get vital sexual knowledge to our “Greater Bonoboville” audiences – with a pinch of fun. After all, what’s life without fun?

I’ve been having fun broadcasting live on the radio since I was a sophomore at Yale on WYBC-FM. From there, I’ve hosted thousands of radio, TV and Internet programs – most co-produced by Max – including “The Dr. Susan Block Show,” “Bedside Chats,” “Travels with Max,” “Radio Sex TV with Dr. Susan Block” on HBO (that made me a little bit famous), “FDR Radio,” “Sex Calls” and “Real Calls.” Sometimes, I call my show (now podcast), a “Speakeasy,” because we “speak easy” about subjects that aren’t so easy to speak about – with openness, authenticity, responsibility – and hopefully, that sense of fun. Our filmmaking wing, Block Films, makes documentaries, such as one we’re making now about Captain Max.

The Institute’s publishing wing, Gardner & Daughters, publishes books and journals, including The Bonobo Way: The Evolution of Peace through Pleasure, The 10 Commandments of Pleasure: Erotic Keys to a Healthy, Sexual Life and Advertising for Love: How to Play the Personals, as well as Speakeasy Magazine editions of Splosh ‘n’ Art, Spank ‘n’ Art and more – online and in print.

Sometimes we take the show on the road, giving talks, podcasting on-location and leading panels at academic institutions, conferences and cultural venues worldwide, from DomCon, MipCom and the Laemmle Theater to University of Puerto Rico, UC Berkeley and at Yale. I also write about sexology and current events for my own site/s and others, including Counterpunch.

Sharing the Bonobo Way and other insights with a global audience through our public programs complements our strictly private and individualized therapeutic work. In both realms, we strive to do our part to make the world more peaceful, playful, compassionate and fun.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love LA’s diversity, but there’s no place like home, and my favorite spot is Bonoboville – the therapeutic sanctuary, creative studio and bonobo-inspired intentional community which Max and I started up over thirty years ago, and which I continue to nurture with the help of my fellow Bonobovillagers. Bonoboville exists in virtual reality as well as real reality – shared by a “crew” of friends, supporters, consultants, mentors, interns, volunteers and freelancers, some of whom have been with us for over 30 years and a few who are brand new.

Of course, the Make-Love-Not-War bonobos are our primary inspiration, but Max and I also developed Bonoboville by studying other intentional communities through history – the good ones that didn’t turn into weird cults – such as the 5th century BC couples’ gatherings of Aristippus of Cyrene and the Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld Institute in 1920s Weimar Berlin. Then there was Thomas Morton’s early 17th century “Merry Mount Colony,” which I first encountered in my American Colonial History class at Yale, reading Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “May-Pole of Merry Mount” tale of Morton’s free-spirited community under attack by the repressed and rather hypocritical Puritans. Sound familiar? History does repeat itself. Fortunately, Bonoboville has already endured far longer than Merry Mount, and we continue.

Bonoboville is not regularly open to the public. We do hold events – both in-person and online – and if you want to get on our email list for those, email bonoboville@gmail.com or call 626-461-5950.

Inspired by the bonobos’ peaceful, pleasure-loving ways, Bonoboville is a rare space where artists, therapists, and free thinkers support one another’s growth while helping spread the Bonobo Way: more peace, pleasure, connection, and joy in a world that desperately needs it.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Shoutout to the one and only Captain Max of Bonoboville, aka Prince Maximillian Lobkowicz di Filangieri, aka Max Art Core (November 8, 1943 – May 13, 2025), my beloved husband, creative partner and, as we called each other, my “witness” in the courtrooms of life.

Max inspired and collaborated with me throughout our 33-year marriage and 40-year friendship, as an extraordinary artist, publisher, producer, therapist, bonobo conservationist and Free Speech activist, not to mention the best lover I’ve ever had (and I’ve had more than a few).

Max taught me the meaning of love. Max taught millions the value of Free Speech. He also pioneered “reader-written” media – including Love, Hate, Finger and God Magazines, The LA Star, The Brentwood Bla Bla and Beverly Hills the Magazine – which evolved into what we now call “social media.”

In honor of Captain Max’s inspirational activism, I have proclaimed his birthday, November 8th, to be “Free Speech Day” in Bonoboville and beyond.

Though I grieve the loss of my Great Love every day – and especially at night – I try to carry his remarkable spirit within me, guiding me like the stars above.

Website: https://drsusanblockinstitute.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bonoboville/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dr-susan-block-institute/

Twitter: https://x.com/DrSuzy

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dr-susan-block

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/villabonoboville

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/dr-susan-block-institute-beverly-hills

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SexCalls

Other: Personal website: https://drsusanblock.com
The Bonobo Way on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Bonobo-Way-Evolution-through-Pleasure-ebook/dp/B00ODR23WE/
Substack: https://substack.com/@susanmblock
Bonoboville YouTube: https://youtube.com/@Bonoboville
IMDB: https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm0088652

Image Credits
Main photo by Jux Lii Photo, 2 by Clarence Alford, Photo 10 by Michael Blum