Gloria Glickstein Brame (born August 20, 1955) is an American sexologist, writer, and sex therapist based in Athens, Georgia. She is a member of the American College of Sexologists and a clinical sexologist. Her sex therapy practice specializes in consensual BDSM, sexual fetishism, and sexual dysfunction.[1] Dr. Brame is also an author, educator, and advocate for safe, sane, and consensual relating, especially among the BDSM, fetish, and LGBTQ communities.[2]
Brame was born on August 20, 1955, in New York City to Holocaust survivor parents.[3] She was raised in Brooklyn, New York, where she was an award-winning student from elementary school through college, earning numerous academic prizes and scholarships.[4] She graduated from Sheepshead Bay High School in Brooklyn in 1972.[5] Brame earned her PhD degree in Human Sexuality from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in 2000[6] and an M.A. in English literature from Columbia University in 1978.[7] She also earned a B.A. in English with honors, summa cum laude, from York College, City University of New York in 1977.[5]
Career
Early career
After completing her master's degree, Brame worked as a financial analyst at Morgan Stanley from 1983 to 1986.[5] She then transitioned to academia as an English professor and freelance writer.
Academic positions
From 1987 to 1991, Brame served as an adjunct professor of English at New York University, guest lecturer in creative writing at York College (CUNY), and associate professor of poetry and creative writing at Hofstra University. She later held positions at the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality from 2002 to 2015, serving as professor.[8]
Private practice and advocacy
Brame operates a private practice in Metro Athens, Georgia, providing sex therapy and clinical sexology services. She is a Professional Emerita of AASECT (American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists).[1] Brame testified against then–U.S. Attorney General in Nitke vs. Ashcroft, a major case challenging the Communications Decency Act before the Southern District of New York.[9]
Online initiatives
In 1987, Brame founded what is described as the world's first online BDSM/fetish support group, "Variations II," in the Human Sexuality Forum of CompuServe. She later founded AOL's first BDSM/fetish chat on THRIVE/Time Warner (1996–2000) and established gloriabrame.com as a BDSM community resource in 1996. In 2018, Brame founded BED: Brame's BDSM Educators Directory, a professional directory for leaders in kink/fetish education.
Publications
Books
Different Loving: The World of Sexual Dominance and Submission (Villard/Random House, 1993)
Where the Boys Are: A Step-By-Step Guide to Finding Mr. Right (Hearst Books, 1997)
Come Hither: A Commonsense Guide to Kinky Sex (Fireside, 2000) - selected as the "official guide to kinky sex" by the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality[10]
The Truth About Sex, Vol I: Sex and the Self (CCB Publications, 2011)
The Truth About Sex, Vol II: Sex for Grown-Ups (CCB Publications, 2013)
Naked Memory: Confessions of a Sexual Revolutionary (Moons Grove Press, 2014)
A Fetish for Men: A Memoir (Moons Grove Press, 2015)
Different Loving Too: Real People, Real Lives, Real BDSM (Moons Grove Press, 2015)
Champions of Pleasure
Amazon Hammer
Erotic Awakening: Gloria's Master Sessions
Kink So Real: Mistress Amazon Reinvented and Other Stories
Different Loving, published in 1993, was an evidence-based re-evaluation of SM/fetish/kink as an expression of normal minds and lives, challenging the bias against safe, sane, and consensual behavior as pathological or problematic.
Other publications
Brame contributed to Consensual Sadomasochism: How to Talk About It and How to Do It Safely (2000), Sex Positive Now (2018), Doctors Are Not Murderers (BluOne Ink, 2025), and wrote the biography of the Marquis de Sade for The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality (2015).[11] She was a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan, Working Woman, and other mainstream magazines from 1994 to 2003.
Media appearances and recognition
Brame has given numerous live radio and television interviews with BBC, CBS, NBC, CNBC, FOX, PBS, and foreign media. She has been cited in numerous magazines and newspapers, including a 2004 profile in The Washington Post.[1] She is currently a regular expert commentator for YourTango. Brame has been cited as a fetish sex expert in numerous media articles and has been a regular contributor to major magazines.
Professional service and boards
Chair, Board of Directors, BED (Brame's BDSM Educators Directory), 2018–present
Member, Board of Governors, The BDSM Leather Hall of Fame, 2012–present[12]
Member, Board of Directors, Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance, 2012–2014[13]
Awards and honors
Pauline Reage Literary Award, National Leather Association (2022)
National Leather Association International Cynthia Slater Non-Fiction Article Award (2010) for "Transformation and Transcendence in BDSM"[14]
Named "Hero of the Sexual Revolution," Exodus Trust (2004)
One of the "10 Best Sex and Dating Experts" by DatingAdvice.com
Tennessee Williams Writing Fellowship, Sewanee Writers' Conference (2003)
Personal life
Brame was married to William D. Brame in 1989.[5] She is widowed and currently resides in Metro Athens, Georgia.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
