Society for the Philosophy of Sex and Love Virtual Seminar

IDEA Centre's Dr Luke Brunning will discuss asexuality, based on research done with Dr Natasha McKeever

This talk presents and builds on research conducted alongside Dr Natasha McKeever.

Dr Brunning and Dr McKeever were concerned that asexuality was overlooked by philosophers and wider society in a way which reinforced inaccurate accounts of romantic life and caused harm. Their aim was to develop an account of asexuality which captures its internal diversity.

They also wanted to see if existing accounts of sexual desire could accommodate asexuality. Many seem to struggle to do so, which counts against them. They then built on asexual testimony about the diversity of non-sexual attractions to answer two common objections levelled at asexual romance: that romantic relationships require sexual attraction or that sex in the absence of sexual attraction is insufficiently focused on someone as an individual.

Finally, they described some of the ways asexuality has been erased or denigrated in society, and the specific injustices and harms that result. After outlining their approach to asexuality, Dr Brunning will discuss some unanswered questions and directions for future research.

For more information on the talk Dr Brunning will be giving, please visit the Society for the Philosophy of Sex and Love.