Contemporary Sexualities: New Research

A free online conference featuring a range of social scientists at different stages of their careers, whose work showcases the dynamism of sexuality identities, the nuances of sexual inequalities, and the challenges studying these issues can present.
- From: Friday 30 June 2023, 1 pm
- To: Friday 30 June 2023, 5 pm
- Booking deadline: Thursday 29 June 2023, 11.59 pm
- Download this event to your calendar
Event details
A free, online conference hosted by the Gender Research Group at Nottingham Trent University
Social science sits at the core of critical examinations of how shifts in people’s sexual identities and intimate erotic relationships are experienced in everyday life and understood at a societal level. In doing so, social science contributes to global, national and local level debates about sexualities and social justice in contemporary societies. This free online conference features a range of social scientists at different stages of their careers, whose work showcases the dynamism of sexuality identities, the nuances of sexual inequalities, and the challenges studying these issues can present. Presenters will engage with a range of themes, for example, consent, pleasure, safety and exploitation, sexual health, sexualities and digital media, minoritized sexualities, and sex work.
Keynote speaker: Professor Teela Sanders with Dr Rachel Keighley, University of Leicester
Title: Sexualities online: liberation, exploitation and responses to perpetrators
Abstract: The online space offers huge potential for identity exploration, social interaction and support as well as body/sexual labour and work. Both in terms of the economy of online spaces and the freedoms and liberations associated with online communities there is a darker side to internet use, such that the online space can facilitate a wide array of legal and illegal harms. Prime examples are the ways a person’s sexuality is the subject of discrimination and marginalisation.
This paper draws on two empirical studies. One surveyed 175 13-25-year-old LGBTQ+ young people about their experiences of online hate targeting their sexuality. The other, engaging in critical Modern Slavery studies, explored the ways Adult Service Websites play a role in the facilitation and prevention of sexual exploitation of women.
Consequently, we hope to illustrate the ways the online world both shapes our understanding of, and responses to sexualities and sexual behaviour. We contextualise these experiences within the broader conversations around online safety, and the policing of sexualities versus targeting perpetrators of hate and exploitation. Thus, we respond to the deeper societal attitudes relating to gender norms, sexual behaviour, and their dialectical relationship. This paper underlines the importance of challenging online hate and exploitation within a cohesive regulatory framework that recognises the needs of survivors of online harm.
For more information, please contact: Dr Jane Pilcher, Associate Professor of Sociology
Programme
Conference Programme
13.00 –13.05 | Welcome | Jane Pilcher | |
13.05 – 13.25 | Paper Session 1 | Daisy Matthews | Can sex workers be religious and spiritual? An exploration of how sex workers who identify as religious or spiritual manage their identities within their everyday lives |
13.25 – 13.45 | Paper Session 2 | Anthony Gifford with Rusi Jaspal, Beth Jones & Daragh McDermott | ‘Oh, why are PrEP Gays always like this…’: Psychosocial influences on UK-based MSM’s relationship with, and use of, PrEP |
13.45 – 14.05 | Paper Session 3 | Andrew Dunn with Ian Stephen, Treshi-Marie Perera, Gemma Bell & James Kennaway | Misperceptions in partner body size preferences in heterosexual and homosexual men and women |
14.05 – 14.15 | 10 min Q & A | Chair: TBC | 10 min Q & A |
14.15 - 14.25 | 10 mins break | 10 mins break | 10 mins break |
14.25 - 14.45 | Paper Session 4 | Alex Toft | ‘These made-up things mean nothing to me’: Understanding the intersection of autism and bisexuality in the lives of young people |
14.45 - 15.05 | Paper Session 5 | Sarah Seymour-Smith | A critical discursive psychology analysis of parents’ online posts about adolescent sexting |
15.05 – 15.15 | 10 min Q & A | Chair: TBC | 10 min Q & A |
15.15 - 15.25 | 10 mins break | 10 mins break | 10 mins break |
15.25 – 16.10 | Keynote Introduced by TBC | Professor Teela Sanders with Dr Rachel Keighley | Sexualities online: liberation, exploitation and responses to perpetrators |
16.10 – 16.30 | 20 min Q & A | Chair: TBC | |
16.30 - 16.55 | Open Discussion | Chair: TBC | |
16.55 – 17.00 | Closing remarks | Jane Pilcher |
Booking information
You can reserve a spot for this event by clicking the link below:
Past event