Kleinplatz is a certified clinical psychologist and sex therapist who has taught human sexuality for over 20 years at the University of Ottawa. She is a full professor in the Department of Medicine, a clinical professor of psychology at the University of Ottawa, with cross-appointments in the Faculty of Education and School of Epidemiology and Public Health. Kleinplatz has held the Chair of Ethics and the Chair of Certifications for the
American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counsellors and Therapists (AASECT). Kleinplatz and physician
Charles Allen Moser argue that
paraphilias should be removed from the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Kleinplatz wrote, "[T]he DSM criteria for diagnosis of unusual sexual interests as pathological rests on a series of unproven and more importantly, untested assumptions." Therapists who focus on "functional" versus "dysfunctional" sex, have an approach, she writes that "is, at best, limiting and constraining and, at worst, dehumanising and risks exacerbating rather than alleviating suffering." Kleinplatz criticized sex therapy as being "too performance oriented," and not focusing enough on desire. Her work has been to focus more on ways that partners can please one another by learning to listen to what their partners want. Kleinplatz has shown that "great sex flourishes in relationships that deepen with maturity," according to the
Globe and Mail. She has also criticized the concepts
premenstrual dysphoric disorder and
dyspareunia as medicalizing women's bodies. Her book,
New Directions in Sex Therapy: Innovations and Alternatives (2001)
, was considered by the
Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy to be an important challenge to current models of sex therapy. The book is also a feminist critique of sex therapy and describes modern issues facing the practice. The second edition, updated and expanded, came out in 2012 with a 3rd edition is forthcoming from Routledge in September 2024.
New Directions in Sex Therapy (2nd edition) was a co-winner for an AASECT award in 2013. == Awards and honors ==