Many people give up their plush animals well before they go into puberty. However, there are also quite a few who never give them up, and courageously carry them into adulthood. For me, they are not toys, but living creatures, with unique personalities, likes and dislikes, and even sexualities. Beyond giving emotional comfort and reassurance, they create magical worlds of intimacy that it is possible to share with others.

This workshop is a unique opportunity to “out” yourself as a plush animal lover, or otherwise open yourself to an experience that is warm, funny and intimate, and which is for some more confronting than the most bizarre SM practices. I will talk about the role they play in my life, and in my relationships with others. Then they will introduce themselves. Circumstances permitting, we will let them take over, and lead us.

They are very anxious to meet new play partners. Choose your favorite one, or bring along all of them!

Peter Banki, Ph.D founded Erotic Living (previously known as the School of Really Good Sex) in 2015. Prior to that he curated Xplore - Festival of the Art of Lust in Sydney from 2011-2013. He says: “When you are intimate with someone, you witness them at their most open and vulnerable, whatever their role. Much more than skills or competence, it’s who you are that is truly exciting.”

Peter has an extensive background in Iyengar yoga, dance and the martial arts (Capoeira Angola). His somatic and movement practice forms the basis of his work in the sphere of eroticism.

Peter has also been a scholar and teacher of European philosophy and literature for much of his adult life. Philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche and Georges Bataille, Anne Dufourmantelle, Avital Ronell and Jean-Luc Nancy have most inspired him in his thinking about sexuality and eroticism. He holds a Ph.D in German studies from New York University (September, 2009). His book The Forgiveness To Come: the Holocaust and the Hyper-Ethical came out recently with Fordham University Press. Articles about Peter's work on The Festival of Really Good Sex have been featured in many news outlets, including The Guardian, Archer Magazine, ABC Radio National and news.com. He has also been interviewed about the Festival of Death and Dying, which he also founded and directs, on ABC Radio and the Sydney Morning Herald. His work on apology and forgiveness has been featured on 2SER and on the philosophers’ zone on ABC Radio National.