Sex Beyond "Yes": Pleasure and Agency for Everyone

Summary

Every discussion of sexual ethics revolves around consent, but is this notion enough to help us understand good sex? How does the dominance of consent help or prevent us from negotiating the complexities of intimacy and pleasure?

Georgetown professor Quill R Kukla argues that the idea that consent is the gatekeeper between the realms of good and bad sex does not give us the tools we need to navigate pleasure and intimacy. They claim that traditional discussions of consent make no room for the reality that we can have good sex even though we may get drunk or high, or become forgetful with age, or be limited by social pressures and power relationships.

Kukla explores the ambiguous realms in which sexual agency requires much more than the ability to just say "yes" or "no" to sex. They confront moments of discomfort: How does consent work for people with dementia? Or in sex work, where sexual contracts challenge our traditional conceptions of ethical sex? How can we express our agency when exploring new kinks, where our hesitations and ambivalence are part of the thrill? Challenging listeners to think beyond reductive concepts of consent, gender, and freedom, Sex Beyond "Yes" reframes the communication and social support we need to establish sexual relationships founded on genuine respect, open discourse, and unhindered joy.