Centre for Love, Sex, and Relationships

We’re excited about our speakers and pleased to see so many PhDs and early career scholars exploring intimacy and relationships.

If you’re at MANCEPT for another workshop feel free to drop by for a talk or two.

The goal of the event was to bring together people considering the future of intimacy, from the ethical status of new intimate technology, like griefbots, through to new ways of thinking about established ideas, like consent.

One month to go until our MANCEPT workshop Intimate Utopias starts.

Where Are All The Eligible Men? Fresh out of a 13-year relationship, Zing Tsjeng scours the scene in search of answers...

@nmckeever3.bsky.social and @lukebrunning.bsky.social feature in this Vogue piece on modern dating.

www.vogue.co.uk/article/sing...

Two photographs of Ruby, one of her introducing out Philosophy Valentines event, the other of her holding Sappho, the cutest dog anyone has ever seen.

Huge thanks to Ruby Hornsby, whose time as our research assistant ends today. She’s been amazing!

Two photographs of Ruby, one of her introducing out Philosophy Valentines event, the other of her holding Sappho, the cutest dog anyone has ever seen.

Huge thanks to Ruby Hornsby, whose time as our research assistant ends today. She’s been amazing!

Also let us know what formats you find most helpful, and whether there is anything you’d like to know more about.

Screenshot of CLSR’s Instagram page

A screenshot of indicative content on CLSR’s Instagram page.

Just a reminder that we are on Instagram with some different content. Find us: @leeds_clsr

Submit your sexualisation and objectification abstracts by the 4th of August 👇🏻

Submit your sexualisation and objectification abstracts by the 4th of August 👇🏻

Great to see the Turkish edition of Romantic Agency in the flesh!

‘Brunning and McKeever bring clear and insightful philosophical analysis to emerging topics such as asexuality and relationship anarchy as well as to classic topics such as (morally) good sex and the nature of romantic love. Engaging, timely, and philosophically rich!’ Elizabeth Brake, Professor of Philosophy  at University of Wisconsin-Madison

‘A really helpful book! Brunning and McKeever cover a lot of ground, with a keen eye for how these crucial conversations have been changing in recent years. Their writing is clear and accessible. This will be a great resource for anyone looking to get up to speed in this area of philosophy.’ Carrie Jenkins, Professor of Philosophy at University of British Columbia, and author of Sad Love: Romance and the Search for Meaning

‘Luke Brunning and Natasha McKeever have written a book on intimacy, love, and sex that feels contemporary and relevant to students' lives while also being deeply anchored in current scholarship and debates. Avoiding clichés and antiquated assumptions about what relationships and intimacy look like in today's world, the authors offer rich philosophical tools for the rigorous exploration of some of the most personal and difficult-to-discuss topics we encounter in daily life.’ Quill Rebecca Kukla, Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University, and author of Sex Beyond “Yes”: Pleasure and Agency for Everyone

What lovely blurbs on my forthcoming textbook with @nmckeever3.bsky.social!

Feel free to suggest new people to add.

A reminder that @lukebrunning.bsky.social made a starter pack for people working on the philosophy of intimacy and relationships: go.bsky.app/AjUr2VS

Vogue magazine cover.

Natasha McKeever talking about attitudes towards marriage.

Luke Brunning on how wider social norms shape dating.

Lovely to see us get a mention in the current edition of Vogue! @nmckeever3.bsky.social and @lukebrunning.bsky.social gave comment on modern dating.

Objectification and sexualisation - submission deadline: 4th of August

Objectification is a core concept in feminist thought, often used for articulating what is going wrong in phenomena like catcalling, sexist advertising, and unwelcome sexual attention. At the same time, treating one another as sexual agents, even sexual objects, has been defended as an often important and joyful part of life. Both concepts have seen a recent resurgence in discussions of newer forms online content-creation, from TikTok to OnlyFans.

We are interested in hearing about any new work on sexualisation and objectification. We welcome contributions on questions such as (but not limited to): What is the difference between sexualisation and objectification? How do we sexualise and objectify others - is it a kind of paying attention? How does this work? What is the relationship, if any, between dehumanisation and objectification? When is objectification benign or good? Is it ever wrong to not sexualise someone? What is the relationship between sexual and non-sexual objectification? Is it possible for a person to objectify themselves? What is the impact of social media on objectification and/or sexualisation?

This event is organised by philosophers, but we welcome applications from those working in other disciplines too. Talks will be 30 minutes, with 15 minutes for questions. This will be an in-person event, but we aim to provide provision for speakers who cannot travel to join us online.

Are you working on sexualisation or objectification? Come share your research at our December workshop!

'Bodies': Our 2025 Philosophy Essay Prize topic - Royal Institute of Philosophy The topic for this year’s Royal Institute of Philosophy essay prize competition is ‘Bodies’.

This year's Royal Institute of Philosophy essay prize is on the theme of 'bodies' - royalinstitutephilosophy.org/news/bodies-...

Thank you for sharing!

You do not need to be a philosopher to apply or attend.

If you’d like to be considered to present a paper, email: R.Vince@leeds.ac.uk or R.Morgan1@leeds.ac.uk

Rosa and Robbie are organising an event to explore recent work on sexualisation or objectification, and are looking for contributions for short talks by the 4th of August.

Objectification and sexualisation - submission deadline: 4th of August

Objectification is a core concept in feminist thought, often used for articulating what is going wrong in phenomena like catcalling, sexist advertising, and unwelcome sexual attention. At the same time, treating one another as sexual agents, even sexual objects, has been defended as an often important and joyful part of life. Both concepts have seen a recent resurgence in discussions of newer forms online content-creation, from TikTok to OnlyFans.

We are interested in hearing about any new work on sexualisation and objectification. We welcome contributions on questions such as (but not limited to): What is the difference between sexualisation and objectification? How do we sexualise and objectify others - is it a kind of paying attention? How does this work? What is the relationship, if any, between dehumanisation and objectification? When is objectification benign or good? Is it ever wrong to not sexualise someone? What is the relationship between sexual and non-sexual objectification? Is it possible for a person to objectify themselves? What is the impact of social media on objectification and/or sexualisation?

This event is organised by philosophers, but we welcome applications from those working in other disciplines too. Talks will be 30 minutes, with 15 minutes for questions. This will be an in-person event, but we aim to provide provision for speakers who cannot travel to join us online.

Are you working on sexualisation or objectification? Come share your research at our December workshop!

Lucy Shanahan - ‘Ideal Consensual Non-Consensual Sex’ Laurin Tirpitz - ‘(Sexual) Consent – Finally a liberation for all?’ Sanat Sogani - ‘Why Personal Relationships Cannot And Should Not Bear The Weight Of Supporting People’s Self-Esteem’ Jasmine Gunkel - ‘AI, Pseudointimacy, and Why Intimacy Matters’   Max Lewis - ‘AI, Intimacy, and Narrative Agency’

Alex Fisher - ‘The Ethics of Self-Disclosure in Online Dating’ Nathan Barrett - ‘Till Death (Don't) Us Part: Sex, Robots, and the Ethics of Posthumous Intimacy’ Helena Ward - ‘Conversations with Grief-Bots’ Erinne Paisley - ‘“Send Me a Screenshot!” Collective Feminist Sense-Making in Dating App Cultures’ Sam Mace - ‘Swiping left on internet dating- A case for deliberative in-person dating’ George Surtees - ‘On Valuing Aesthetic Features of Your Friend’

We’re excited about the confirmed speakers to our Intimate Utopias workshop at MANCEPT in September.

We had many more fantastic submissions which we couldn’t accept and would like to thank everyone who sent us an abstract!

Lucy Shanahan - ‘Ideal Consensual Non-Consensual Sex’ Laurin Tirpitz - ‘(Sexual) Consent – Finally a liberation for all?’ Sanat Sogani - ‘Why Personal Relationships Cannot And Should Not Bear The Weight Of Supporting People’s Self-Esteem’ Jasmine Gunkel - ‘AI, Pseudointimacy, and Why Intimacy Matters’   Max Lewis - ‘AI, Intimacy, and Narrative Agency’

Alex Fisher - ‘The Ethics of Self-Disclosure in Online Dating’ Nathan Barrett - ‘Till Death (Don't) Us Part: Sex, Robots, and the Ethics of Posthumous Intimacy’ Helena Ward - ‘Conversations with Grief-Bots’ Erinne Paisley - ‘“Send Me a Screenshot!” Collective Feminist Sense-Making in Dating App Cultures’ Sam Mace - ‘Swiping left on internet dating- A case for deliberative in-person dating’ George Surtees - ‘On Valuing Aesthetic Features of Your Friend’

We’re excited about the confirmed speakers to our Intimate Utopias workshop at MANCEPT in September.

Sophie Goddard in action speaking about vulnerability and love.

Sophie Goddard speaking about love, vulnerability and anti-attachment drugs at @epsse.bsky.social conference in Paris!

A new book forthcoming by @nmckeever3.bsky.social and @lukebrunning.bsky.social! 👇🏻

A new book forthcoming by @nmckeever3.bsky.social and @lukebrunning.bsky.social! 👇🏻

A collage of speakers from yesterday’s workshop featuring Sophie Goddard, Lucy Shanahan, Camil Golub, Paloma Morales, and Brian Heaphy. Also speaking was Gerald Lang.

The future of intimacy poster.

Our workshop yesterday was such a fantastic event, with a range of talks (and one bonus canine presenter). Thank you to everyone who made it a success!

This is happening today!

2025's political climate is wreaking havoc on online dating More women are refusing to date men with opposing political beliefs.

Natasha McKeever is quoted in this @mashable piece on dating apps, men, and political views. mashable.com/article/2025...