Erotic Engineering

For the wild worldbuilders, queer radicals and black feminists who want to use the erotic as power to create a life rooted in their desire through writing.

What Is Erotic Engineering?

What Is Erotic Engineering?

^{A NEW SCHOOL OF THOUGHT AND PRACTICE INSIDE SEEDA SCHOOL}

Erotic Engineering is a wild field of study and practice that uses the erotic as power² to build a life rooted in desire. Inside this practice the desire we center is both personal and collective. Erotic Engineering pulls from the work of black feminist poetry, literature and worldbuilding which provides the material we use to create new belief systems that scaffold lives in deeper alignment with our values. It is a method for actualizing desire through putting language to the longings of our interior worlds in order to transform our material world.

Register for The Erotic Engineering Workshop to learn more.

The Erotic Engineering Workshop

“The erotic is a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings. It is an internal sense of satisfaction to which, once we have experienced it, we know we can aspire. For having experienced the fullness of this depth of feeling and recognizing its power, in honor and self-respect we can require no less of ourselves.”

_{— Audre Lorde, "Uses of the Erotic, The Erotic As Power" (1978)}

Register for the Erotic Engineering Workshop

Discover The Daily Habits Aligned With Your Zone of Desire

^{AUGUST 19, 2025 @ 12PM EST}

Inside this Erotic Engineering Workshop we’re going to use the Element X Quadrant to locate your Zone of Desire and determine the 3-5 daily habits you’re hungry for inside the work of actualizing your desire.

For folks historically excluded from the project of white supremacy (thank god), the best time management tool is selfishness. The Google calendar tetris stops as soon as we’re ready to piss some folks off, make some people mad³, and possibly disappoint some loved ones. This doesn’t mean we stop showing up for our responsibilities but it does mean we allow ourselves to be disliked when we stop showing up for things that aren’t our responsibility.

Inside this Erotic Engineering workshop we will reflect on the following three questions:

What time do you want the audacity and clarity to reclaim?
What habits would you engage in during that time in order to expand your Zone of Desire?
What can black feminist poetry, literature and worldbuilding teach us about using the erotic as power to create a life rooted in desire?

The Laboratory of Erotic Engineering

^{SEED, DEEPEN OR RETURN TO YOUR WRITING PRACTICE}

Join us inside this workshop if you want to learn more about The Laboratory of Erotic Engineering⁵, a community of practice with monthly workshops and open studios supporting you with your writing practice.

The Erotic Engineering Compass

^{THE EROTIC ENGINEERING FRAMEWORK}

A compass is both a wayfinding device and an architectural tool. We use it to draw a map and also leave the map behind, allowing ourselves to be pulled by the magnetic force of our north star, our desire. The Erotic Engineer’s Compass guides you through the 4 seasons of Erotic Engineering through 12 action steps that help you design a life rooted in desire using the erotic as power.

Memory

^{SEASON 001}

Remember your desire with the guidance of the erotic engineer, Audre Lorde. Dedicate your practice with the guidance of the erotic engineer, Sojourner Truth. Honor your body with the guidance of the erotic engineer, Lucille Clifton.

Surrender

^{SEASON 002}

Reclaim your time with the guidance of the erotic engineer, Alexis Pauline Gumbs. Queer your education with the guidance of erotic engineer, Ntozake Shange. Clarify your values with the guidance of erotic engineer, June Jordan.

Sacrifice

^{SEASON 003}

Find your form with the guidance of erotic engineer, Akwaeke Emezi. Learn to receive with the guidance of erotic engineer, Toni Cade Bambara. Name your needs with the guidance of erotic engineer, Saidiya Hartman.

Erotic Expression

^{SEASON 004}

Re-imagine your labor with the guidance of erotic engineer, Toni Morrison. Find belonging inside the ecosystems we call home with the guidance of erotic engineer, Zora Neale Hurston. Create your own cosmology and belief system with the guidance of erotic engineer Octavia Butler.

Why Erotic Engineering?

^{MECHANICAL ENGINEERING}

Focuses on the design, analysis, and manufacturing of mechanical systems and devices.

^{ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING}

Deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism.

^{CIVIL ENGINEERING}

Concerned with the design, construction, and maintenance of infrastructure like roads, bridges, and buildings.

^{CHEMICAL ENGINEERING}

Combines chemistry, physics, and biology to design processes for manufacturing chemicals, fuels, and pharmaceuticals.

^{COMPUTER ENGINEERING}

Integrates electrical engineering and computer science to develop computer hardware and software.

^{INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING}

Optimizes complex processes and systems to improve efficiency, productivity, and quality in production or operations.

^{AEROSPACE ENGINEERING}

Designs and tests aircraft, spacecraft, satellites, and missiles.

^{ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING}

Applies engineering principles to improve and protect the environment through pollution control, waste management, and sustainable design.

^{BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING}

Develops medical devices, prosthetics, and technologies that improve healthcare and human health.

^{EROTIC ENGINEERING}

Uses the erotic as power and black feminist stories as worldbuilding material to create a life rooted in desire.

Just like there is Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, etc. Seeda School brings you Erotic Engineering. Someone looked at the world and said, “this is a mechanical engineering problem”, we are looking at the world and saying, “this is an erotic engineering problem”. For Electrical Engineering the material in question is electricity. For Erotic Engineering the material in question is the creative spirit.

Register For The Erotic Engineering Workshop

Footnotes

^{IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE}

Image of The Sisterhood Members, 1977. (front row from left) Nana Maynard, Ntozake Shange, Louise Meriwether (back row from left) Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor, Alice Walker, Audrey Edwards, Toni Morrison and June Jordan. Alice Walker papers (Source: “She Puts Things In: Toni Morrison and the Legacy of Black Women Writers”)
Audre Lorde, "Uses of the Erotic, The Erotic As Power" (1978)
why some people be mad at me sometimes

they ask me to remember
but they want me to remember
their memories
and i keep on remembering
mine.

— Lucille Clifton
Image of The Sisterhood publishing wheel, 1977. Alice Walker papers (Source: “She Puts Things In: Toni Morrison and the Legacy of Black Women Writers”)
"A laboratory is simply a place where we tear things to pieces." is an offering given to us by George Washington Carver in an interview with Glenn Clark in 1939. (Source: "George Washington Carver on ego and self")