Matter and Desire

An Erotic Ecology

'love island' and the mirror of red pill ideology in modern dating

red pill masculinity, the objectification of women through entertainment ecosystems—and how it helps script modern heterosexual dating culture

Notes on Camp: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (Jane Schoenbrun, 2026)

Before we begin, fair warning: This is a post about sex. Before we continue, an even fairer, more specific warning: This is a post where I talk about how I have sex. I talk about my body, and how I feel about it, and how sex complicates my feelings about

A Nonideal Theory of Sexual Consent

Our autonomy can be compromised by limitations in our capacities, or by the power relationships within which we are embedded. If we insist that real consent requires full autonomy, then virtually no sex will turn out to be consensual. I argue that under conditions of compromised autonomy, consent must be socially and interpersonally scaffolded. To understand consent as an ethically crucial but nonideal concept, we need to think about how it is related to other requirements for ethical sex, such as the ability to exit a situation, trust, safety, broader social support, epistemic standing in the community, and more.

A Nonideal Theory of Sexual Consent

Our autonomy can be compromised by limitations in our capacities, or by the power relationships within which we are embedded. If we insist that real consent requires full autonomy, then virtually no sex will turn out to be consensual. I argue that under conditions of compromised autonomy, consent must be socially and interpersonally scaffolded. To understand consent as an ethically crucial but nonideal concept, we need to think about how it is related to other requirements for ethical sex, such as the ability to exit a situation, trust, safety, broader social support, epistemic standing in the community, and more.

Opinion | Is It Time for a New Sexual Revolution?

One that actually brings men and women together.

Anatomy of a Sex Scene: Heated Rivalry Edition - Reading the End

Stop saying there's no plot! A romance critic explains the craft of the sex scenes in Crave's Heated Rivalry (2025).

Fearing the Black Body

Winner, 2020 Body and Embodiment Best Publication Award, given by the American Sociological AssociationHonorable Mention, 2020 Sociology of Sex and Gender Di...

Stigma, subscriptions and stamina: a male sex worker tells all

A male sex worker tells all about working on OnlyFans and the pros and cons that come with working in the sex work industry.

What the Internet Is Teaching Young Men About Desire

When pornography becomes the default sex education, it reshapes how a generation learns about power, intimacy, and attention

Everyone Is Beautiful and No One Is Horny - Blood Knife

The human body has become a strange contradiction at the heart of the modern blockbuster. Sexy, yes. But sexual? No.

Deep Care by Angela Hume | East Bay Booksellers

The story of the radical feminist networks who worked outside the law to defend abortion. Starting in the 1970s, small groups of feminist activists met regularly to study anatomy, practice pelvic exams on each other, and learn how to safely perform a procedure known as menstrual extraction, which can end a pregnancy, using equipment easily bought and assembled at home.

Sex Workers Describe the Instability—and Necessity—of OnlyFans

Creators of sexually explicit content talk about what it's like to rely on a platform that can just... change its policies, then change them back.

A Feminist's Guide to Accelerationism

An introductory reading guide for the lost & curious.