AJ Renard (she/her) has been involved in the BDSM world her entire adult life, although she was a dark little thing far before that. AJ works in the mental health field and has a deep passion for teaching about BDSM and consent. She finds her happy place when there is rope, electricity, knives, boots, fear, and a lot of crying involved. In her limited free time she makes custom chainmaille for her shop, Foxy Feisty Redhead.

AJ teaches a variety of classes about consent, negotiations, perspectives on D/s, bottoming for intense scenes and edgeplay, mental health and BDSM, and behavioral science in PE dynamics. She also loves demo bottoming for Violet Wand demos, and things that make her shy in front of groups of people.

Thank you for your interest and your support of THRIVE! Because THRIVE is 100% free and not accepting donations, we ask that you pay it forward by donating to our speakers. 

AJ accepts support through PayPal (FoxyFeistyRedhead@gmail.com)
If you enjoyed AJ, you can follow her on Fetlife (https://fetlife.com/users/419271) or (http://FoxyFeistyRedhead.com)

If you would like to support THRIVE’s efforts, consider picking up THRIVE swag at https://www.redbubble.com/people/DevynStone/

Many people find release in pain and can effectively use it as a coping mechanism to manage anxiety, stress, chronic pain, and other challenges. This class focuses on discussing the differences between masochism and detrimental self-injurious behavior, including the physical, emotional, and psychological effects of each. We will talk about interacting and providing support (whether it be intimate relationships, kinky play, or in a mental health setting) with people who need pain in their lives.

The world we live in and move through is extremely hostile to large bodies, and those attitudes can show up in kink spaces as well. Join a moderated open discussion about what anti-fat bias may look like in sex and kink-positive spaces, how we can navigate those spaces and make them more comfortable and affirming, ways that we can find support and understanding, and more. You are invited to share your experiences and stories in a space focused on affirmation and validation. People of all body sizes and shapes welcome, although this is a place to listen to the lived experience of our community members in larger bodies (the moderator will be available after the discussion to provide answers to questions that may be raised by folks who want to work on being better allies).

The discovery or recognition of past trauma can be a challenging thing to navigate as an adult. It can impact our relationships, work, and how we move through the world. It also may have an effect on how we interact with our kink lives and bring up questions like "how might my trauma response influence how I consent" or "does this change how I view what I desire and how I choose to engage in it." This is part class (where we will discuss trauma, the impact on our bodies, some ways we can think about what we want and how to work with our particular trauma response, and rediscovering ways to explore what might feel good) and part open discussion where participants are invited to bring their own stories around how they have navigated learning about their own trauma while they are also involved in kink. We will discuss what may have shifted, if there are best practices people may have changed, and how we might be able to access both community and individual support.