EVENTS

THE BONOBO EXPERIENCE EVENTS

In order to help each participant to connect with their inner bonobo we have developed an organic process of ritual and play which allows us to dive into the spirit of the bonobo and learn from their culture.  Leaving the cares and constraints of our everyday human-ness behind we start to bond and engage with the bonobos around us and to experience life through their eyes in a really powerful way.

There is always ample time to engage and learn from each other in this new yet ancient way. We will expand our ideas around sexuality and work through themes like belonging and connection, using games and role-play, pleasuring and sexual playfulness. By using playful connection we’ll explore new modes of communication.

All activities are optional

• Consent is a guiding principle in the bonobo experience, everything we do is an invitation.
• We strongly encourage all participants to tune into their individual needs in every moment.
• We welcome your YES and your NO.

Monkey Business

• Experience, connection in a safe playful space.
• Understand how we can communicate though touch.
• Cook and share food to create trust and eroticism.
• Take pleasure in bonding and grooming in nature.
• Cultivate a sense of belonging.
• Understand how bonobos use sexuality.
• Use art to communicate.
• Indulge yourself in the playful spirit of the bonobo.
• Raise awareness of bonobos.

What to expect

Immersive

The Bonobo Experience is at times immersive in to a non-verbal, more intuitively primal space. The invitation here is to access your Bonobo spirit for as long or as short as you like, although we encourage participation to get the most from the experience.

Inspired by Bonobos

Although a lot of what we draw upon comes directly from Bonobo behaviour as studied by researchers, we are not engaging in a Bonobo role-play, rather calling in those parts of ourselves that shares the peace-loving nature of the Bonobos and using their culture to inspire activities that draw out the best in us. A percentage of any profit made on events will be donated to Lola Ya Bonobo to adopt an orphan bonobo. Find out more here.

Sex Positive

We can’t talk about Bonobos without talking about their relationship to sex. Bonobos have evolved a culture that uses sex as a form of communication and social glue that maintains relatively peaceful group cohesion and social bonds. We expand our understanding of this sexual culture to include all shared pleasurable activities across a spectrum. Whilst there is no expectation or requirement for any participant to engage in the human understanding of sex, we do have a sex positive attitude and wish to make you aware there may be moments of this happening around you. We are serious about consent and seek to be inclusive so that people of all levels of comfort are able to engage in shared experiences of pleasure.

Feminist & Queer Affirming

The other exciting well-known truth about Bonobos is that they are led by females who have rich social bonds tying them together. This is because Bonobo culture has evolved to priorities female to female interactions, and it seems females derive more pleasure from sexual activities with other females. For Bonobos, we do not know their genders or much about their inner personal lives at all, so our language will refer to females and males, however our workshops allow you to explore multiple roles and interactions. There are no taboos about same-sex relations in Bonobos and the same is true for our events. Who does have the last word though is the elder females and we will explore this on our journey.

Connection & Community

You may come as an individual, but our hope is that you leave having rediscovered what it feels to belong in a community. Bonobos also do not pair bond as many humans can do. The opportunity to leave behind the tricky parts of identity and verbal communication opens up new possibilities for connection rooted in shared experiences, tactile contact and playfulness with your fellow participants.