by Dr. Susan Block.

Bonoboville is a unique intentional community that practices and promotes peaceful, therapeutic, pleasure-based, free speech-oriented, care-centered alternatives to war, violence, alienation, injustice and loneliness. Like many other intentional communities, we value social cohesion, environmental consciousness, spiritual growth, teamwork, transparency and cooperation.

The Bonobo Connection

Inspired by humanity’s closest genetic cousins, the bonobos (pan paniscus), aka the “Make Love Not War” great apes who have never been seen killing each other in the wild or captivity, Bonoboville supports nonviolent conflict resolution, female empowerment, male well-being, sharing and caretaking. In association with the Dr. Susan Block Institute and DrSuzy-Tv, Bonoboville has been providing consenting-adult sex education, therapy and counseling via multimedia communication for over 30 years. We call our philosophy of life, love, art, therapy, politics and relationships “The Bonobo Way.”

Founded in 1991 by internationally renowned sexologist, therapist, best-selling author, HBO personality, Yale grad and bonobo conservationist, Susan Marilyn Block, aka “Dr. Suzy,” and her late husband, veteran publisher, producer and free speech activist, Maximilian Lobkowicz di Filangieri, Bonoboville is crewed by an ever-evolving group of like-minded artists, technologists, therapists and archivists. All share some beliefs in the values and principles of “The Bonobo Way” that is the foundation of the Institute’s work.

Dr. Block is the author of several books and hundreds of published articles, audio and videos on sexuality, health and culture, some of which are on her websites, while others are featured in a variety of publications from Counterpunch to The Ecologist.  Block is also the author of five entries for the Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality, used in academic institutions and libraries all over the world.

Since 1985, The Dr. Susan Block Show has featured many interviews with prominent psychologists and primatologists about bonobo and human behavior, including distinguished Harvard Anthropology professor Dr. Richard Wrangham, author of Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence, Duke University zoologist Dr. Brian Hare and bonobo researcher Vanessa Woods, co-authors of Survival of the Friendliest: Understanding Our Origins and Rediscovering Our Common Humanity, as eminent couples expert Esther Perel, trauma therapist Melinda Vyvyan and artist Anthony Lee Winn. Block co-founded Sex Week at Yale at her alma mater, Yale University in 2002, led a Yale Roundtable on “Peace, Love, Bonobos” in 2022, and has given similar talks at other academic institutions, including UCLA, USC, UC Berkeley, Cal Tech, the University of Puerto Rico’s Ecosexuality Symposium (at which she delivered the keynote), and at AASECT (American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors & Therapists).  The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates, by esteemed Emory University primatology professor Dr. Frans de Waal, includes a passage on page 67 that explains and supports the cogency of the “The Bonobo Way” philosophy.

Historic Precedents & Current Parallels

Block and Lobkowicz were inspired to create and develop Bonoboville, in part, by studying other intentional communities throughout history, including the 5^th century BC couples’ gatherings of Socrates’ disciple Aristippus of Cyrene; the Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld Institute in 1920s Weimar Berlin; and Thomas Morton’s early 17^th century “Merry Mount Colony.”

Block first learned about Morton, who sailed with the Puritans to Massachusetts in 1622, in her American Colonial History class at Yale, but only appreciated Morton’s vision for a free, fair and loving American Community when she and Lobkowicz started Bonoboville.

While his Puritan colleagues only wanted to conquer the land and annihilate its natives, Morton honored the organic nature of the New World and the indigenous tribes that were already there. Morton’s book, The New English Canaan, described by Michael P. Branch as “an important work of early American environmental writing,” also was the first book banned in America. Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlett Letter, wrote a short story in 1836, “The May-Pole of Merry Mount,” about Morton’s very special community and the Puritans’ violent, fetishistic (punishment by whipping) and often hypocritical suppression of freedom, individuality, sexuality and the natural environment in America.

More current intentional American communities, albeit different in style and focus, are “Yogaville” and the “Twin Oaks” Ecovillage in Virginia, “Dancing Rabbit” in Missouri, “The Farm” in Tennessee, “Burning Man” in Nevada, “Sadhana” in New York, 12 Tribes in various states around the U.S., the Zorthian Ranch (founded by Block’s fellow Yalie and good friend, the late Jirayr H. Zorthian) and the Amish and Mennonite Communities in Pennsylvania, with whom Block lived and worked for a summer.

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Inspired and informed by such examples, as well as fellow members of the Foundation for Intentional Community, Bonoboville, the Dr. Susan Block Institute and DrSuzy-Tv together comprise a hybrid socialist/capitalist group in which all revenue supports the community’s “Bonobo Way” philosophy and practice, as well as the community itself.

The community generates revenue through selling books, magazines, art and Dr. Susan Block Show memorabilia online, as well as through providing private therapy, counseling and intentional conversation over the phone (80%) and via webcam (20%). None of our therapists meet with any therapy clients in person at the Institute, Bonoboville or anywhere else (though we have in the past, and we may again in the future). At present, this is a purely virtual service.

Clients call into the Institute call center – open for dispatch 24/7 – from over 20 different time zones around the world. After they tell the receptionist/dispatcher what they wish to talk about, they are put through to a therapist. Most therapists are located outside of Bonoboville, in over 15 different time zones around the world. Inspired by “Doctors Without Borders, we are “Therapists Without Borders.”

In keeping with The Bonobo Way and our eclectic approach to life and therapy, our therapists specialize in a wide variety of topics and issues. From sexologists with Ph.D.’s to nurses, artists, actors, tantra experts, teachers, veterans, kink-aware specialists and hypnotherapists, along with mentors and interns.

Clients speak with therapists about very personal matters, including intimacy, sexuality, relationships, religion, life-and-death, kinks, illnesses, loneliness, alienation, communication, war, career choices, politics, philosophy, lust, trust, culture, media, dating, dreams, desires, addictions, lifestyles, the bonobos, and many other matters. Many of our clients say that the intentional conversations they have with us were the most important they’ve ever had in their life. For many, therapy with the Block Institute is a life saver, and for even more, it is a marriage saver. Whether it’s fantasy, reality, sex, love, work, health, religion, spirituality, powerful memories, repressed feelings, enduring trauma or life-and-death issues, our clients talk to us things they can’t talk about with anyone else.

When Dr. Block’s show is live on Saturday nights, calls are free; these calls may be therapeutic for the caller and/or listeners but they are public, and not considered “therapy calls.” Private therapy calls are paid for by the client, and prices vary, depending on the therapist. 100% of all revenue pays for offices – both individual studios and communal spaces – food, utilities and operating expenses of the community. We also donate small amounts to Friends of Bonobos, the Bonobo Conservation Initiative and Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo. There is no profit per se, and Block and Lobkowicz have sometimes donated their Social Security checks to make sure bills are paid.

We pay our therapists for the time they talk to our clients ($35/hour for phone and $60/hour for webcam). Therapists submit invoices for their time and are paid 1-2 times per month, or as needed. We keep meticulous call ledgers and compare them with therapists’ invoices to make sure we are always on the same page.

Most administrative Bonoboville crew tasks are volunteer/barter. Everyone within the Bonoboville community volunteers to do part-time shifts answering our round the clock phone system, doing light office work and archiving (we are currently digitizing 35 years’ worth of weekly shows on tapes), in exchange for use of a private studio/office, utilities, food, use of the facility for personal projects, use of company equipment and vehicles and/or benefiting from advice, guidance and referrals given by mentors at Bonoboville. No one lives at the facility, and it is not open to the public. However, since we do operate all day every day, crew members often work on their personal or “freelance” projects, study and take naps in their offices.

There is no written contract (at least there hasn’t been for over 30 years) Work schedules, naptimes and meal breaks are flexible. As an open and trusting community, we use the tried and true “honor system.” Anyone can quit or leave Bonoboville at any time. The crew is made up of supporters, consultants, mentors, interns, volunteers and freelancers, some of whom have been with us for over 20 years and others less than six months. We stay in touch and continue working with many Bonoboville “alumni” around the world. Through our websites and other systems, we also work with artists, technologists, therapists, environmentalists, teachers, peace advocates, nonviolent conflict resolution instructors, community activists and bonobo lovers all over the world.

Ultimately, Bonoboville offers a rare and vital intentional community – a sanctuary, a service and a philosophy wherein the people on our crew have the resources, time, Support and collaborative opportunities to explore their own creative, personal and professional goals, while also helping us to cultivate and share the Bonobo Way in the hopes of inspiring a better world for all.

For more information, call us at 626.461.5950 or contact DrSusanBlock @ gmail.com.