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TEDxSalem

Ideas worth spreading

Evelin Dacker

Evelin Dacker: Let’s talk about sex, bay-bee!

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Dr. Evelin Dack­er wants to talk about sex, and she’s not afraid of your hang-ups because she is in it for your health.

“I feel like if peo­ple are going to black­list me because I’m talk­ing about sex, that’s OK,” says Evelin, “because some­body has to do it.”

Evelin, pro­nounced “Ev-uh-LEEN,” is a doc­tor of fam­i­ly med­i­cine and the own­er of VIDA Inte­gra­tive Med­i­cine and Behav­ioral Health. Born in Cal­i­for­nia and raised in New York, Dack­er attend­ed school at Case West­ern Reserve Uni­ver­si­ty in Cleve­land, Ohio. She moved to Salem 21 years ago, when she came to work for NW Human Ser­vices at the West Salem Clin­ic doing com­mu­ni­ty med­i­cine (Fam­i­ly Med­i­cine and Obstet­rics).

Sex is a large part of holis­tic human health, says the 52-year-old, but very few are will­ing to even acknowl­edge it. Dack­er is though, and she’s ready to get your atten­tion.

“I’m a loud­mouth,” she says. “I’m not scared to have a con­ver­sa­tion with peo­ple about it.”

The sta­tus quo is not get­ting it done, she says. With­out frank and open dia­logue, the risk of dis­ease and abuse only increase. That’s why talk­ing about sex with her patients is part of her inte­gra­tive care.

This isn’t the first time she’s been out­spo­ken, either. It’s part of her per­son­al­i­ty. Dack­er was a mem­ber of the Cher­ry City Der­by Girls (now Cher­ry City Roller Der­by) from 2009–2011, where she was apt­ly called “Dr. Smack’r.”

And now, cre­at­ing a “sex-pos­i­tive cul­ture” is her mis­sion.

“Even if I just stop one or two peo­ple” from suf­fer­ing, she says, “then I’ve done my job.”

Speak­er: Evelin Dack­er

Name Pro­nounced: “Ev-uh-LEEN”

Favorite Movie: Heat, and also The Shel­ter­ing Sky; dra­mas that pro­voke thought. “I like to go deep with things.”

Favorite Book: The Unbear­able Light­ness of Being, by Milan Kun­dera

Favorite Music: 1980s new wave, alter­na­tive and jazz; also EDM, Bol­ly­wood and Latin danc­ing music.

Get your tickets for TEDxSalem V

TEDxSalem V is an all-day event fea­tur­ing talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag that takes place Sat­ur­day, Jan. 6, 2018, at the Salem Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. Pur­chase tick­ets here. Fol­low us on Face­book for the most up-to-date news from our com­mu­ni­ty, and check our web­site reg­u­lar­ly for new infor­ma­tion. You can also reach us at info@tedxsalem.com.