CFP: MANCEPT Workshop on Intimate (In)Justices

Convenors: Kristin Käuper, Isobel Logan, Charlotte Curran (University of Leeds)
Contact: [email protected]

This workshop will explore the relationship between intimacy and justice. We encourage speakers to ask: When and how should considerations of justice extend into our intimate lives and influence our actions? How are intimate relationships shaped by, reproduce, and resistant to broader structures of injustice and oppression? Should we worry about the distribution of opportunities for intimacy? How do we balance the responsibilities of the individual, communities, and the state in promoting just forms of relating?

We hope to better understand the ways in which hegemonic norms, institutions, and intersecting forms of oppression structure intimate life, governing who is able to form certain relationships, which relationships are socially valued, and how power operates within them. We seek to explore the potential of intimate practices and communities of care as sites of resistance, solidarity, and social transformation.

By intimacy, we mean forms of closeness and connection upon which special relationships are based. This encompasses a wide range of relationships, including but not limited to sexual, romantic, platonic, collegial, familial, and parental relationships, whether in-person or technologically mediated.

We are particularly interested in submissions which explore non-normative ways of relating (e.g. asexuality/aromanticism, polyamory, relationship anarchy) and matters of intersecting identities that are underrepresented in philosophy (e.g. sexuality, disability, race, age, socio-economic status).

We invite abstracts of no more than 500 words for a presentation of approximately 30 minutes to engage with the theme of intimate (in)justices. Here is a non-exclusive list of some indicative questions:

• Should intimate relationships be subject to considerations of justice?
• How do structural injustices inform intimate power dynamics?
• How do social norms work to ex/include certain forms of intimacy?
• Should barriers to intimate participation be treated as an injustice?
• Should intimate relationships be considered legitimate grounds for partiality?
• Do the demands of justice require us to prioritise some forms of relationships (e.g. friendships) over others?
• How do alternative forms of relating work to dismantle unjust social structures?
• Does the state have a duty to promote just ways of relating?
• How should intimacy be taught in a just society?
• Should the state do more to safeguard the right to exit from relationships?
• How do dating apps perpetuate existing injustices (or create new ones)?
• Do the demands of justice differ for digital vs offline intimacies?
• Is the commodification of the search for connection unjust?
• Should intimate violence be understood and addressed differently to other forms of violence?
• Are we obligated to end friendships with people who hold morally objectionable views?
• Do identity labels promote or undermine group solidarity?
• How can communities of care be a site of resistance?

We actively welcome in-progress work and seek to foster a friendly and collaborative environment. Postgraduate and early career researchers are especially welcome. We are also receptive to interdisciplinary explorations of these ideas, provided they are accessible to non-specialists.

Please send your abstract to [email protected] by end of day on the 4th of May, 2026. Selected speakers will be notified by the 18th of May, in time for eligible participants to apply for a bursary.