Sex Beyond “Yes”: Quill Kukla in Conversation with Jens Pier

Quill R Kukla (Georgetown University, Hunter College (CUNY), Universität Hannover), Jens Pier (Royal Holloway University of London)

Philosopher Quill R. Kukla reimagines fulfilling sex through an exploration of sexual agency, communication and pleasure

In Sex Beyond “Yes”, Quill R. Kukla explores what sexual agency is and how it can be enabled or hindered. Kukla reimagines pleasurable, ethical sex beyond the constraints of commodification, patriarchal and heterocentric social scripts, ableism, and puritanical and stigmatising attitudes toward sex.

This book addresses the complexities of desire and the importance of creating an environment that prioritises respect, communication and joy. Centring pleasure and agency, it encourages conversations and social changes that can make good sex accessible to all.

• Challenges traditional notions of consent: Kukla critiques the modern discourse around sex, which idealizes a bureaucratic notion of consent that does not make room for the messier contexts in which good sex can still be had.
• Addresses complicated topics within consent: Kukla's willingness to dive into challenging contexts in which the role of consent is not clear cut-after drinking alcohol, in the case of dementia, in sex work, in BDSM scenes-allows for a more complicated and nuanced understanding of sexual agency and support.
• Examines the equally important role of men in the cultural context of sex: Kukla demonstrates how the disdain for male bodies and the representation of male desire as predatorial is symbiotic with the more commonly discussed issue of the objectification and sexualization of female bodies.

On the 9th of October, from 7 PM at The Common Press, join us for a conversation about the book and everything around it.