While studying at IDS, students have the opportunity to attend additional seminars and events at IDS, which supplements their learning and provides networking opportunities. Some students also choose to attend external events relevant to their interests. In this blog post, Mayte Rivera Aliaga (MA Gender & Development, class of 2025-26) shares her reflections from recent events she attended on the topic of sexuality.
For many years, initiatives relating to sexuality in the development and humanitarian sectors have been approached from a negative, risk-based perspective. They have focused on preventing unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, as well as on population control, disease, and violence, whilst neglecting a very important aspect of sexuality: pleasure.
This is particularly true for populations who have not been viewed favourably for freely exploring their sexuality. This perspective has perpetuated gender norms and stereotypes that limit a full and equitable experience of sexuality.
During the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity to attend two very different but complementary events. One was Sex! A Feminist Conference at Kings College London, a vibrant gathering of researchers, activists and artists exploring sexuality through feminist perspectives. The other was Susie Jolly’s lecture, ‘Is Development work still so straight?’, delivered at IDS.
Although these events had different formats, I left both thinking about the same question: why do conversations about sexuality still struggle to find a central place within development debates?
My experience at Sex! A Feminist Perspective Conference
The ‘Sex! A Feminist Conference’, organised by King’s College London, provided an interdisciplinary space where academics, activists, and artists came together to discuss how sexual politics today is shaped by forces that overlap and pull against one another.
The conference addressed diverse aspects of sex and was organised into eight panels, covering topics ranging from sexual violence and sexuality education to sex work, sexual pleasure, and sex robots. What stood out to me, beyond the interdisciplinary nature of the conference, was the holistic approach to sexuality, which fostered critical conversations on sexuality, pleasure, violence, desire, and justice. Too often , these topics remain outside mainstream academic and policy debates. At a time when gender equality and sexual rights are facing renewed backlash in many parts of the world, the openness and solidarity fostered by the event felt not only inspiring, but deeply necessary.
I presented on the panel ‘Pushing the Boundaries of Desire’, where speakers discussed how sexual desire is a key aspect of a fulfilling sexual life, yet is often overlooked or undervalued. My presentation examined the sexuality of older women through the lens of social representations and Gayle Rubin’s framework of sexual politics, with particular attention to the concept of the sex hierarchy and moral panic. Drawing on my previous research with older women in Lima, Peru, I reflected on how sexuality in later life is often centred on intimacy, companionship, and emotional connection, yet remains constrained by persistent gender norms and social stigma.
These findings resonated with Gayle Rubin’s argument that society places different forms of sexuality in a hierarchy, valuing some while marginalising others. Older women’s sexuality often falls outside what is considered “normal” or desirable, reinforcing stereotypes that ageing bodies are asexual. This reminded me that sexuality is not only about individual experiences but also about the social norms that determine whose desires and relationships are recognised and respected.
Whose pleasure? By highlighting the intersection between ageism, sexism and sexual stigma, this presentation aimed to offer a sex-positive perspective on older women’s sexual pleasure. It emphasises the need to rethink the conception of older women as active sexual beings, challenging the moral hierarchies that limit their life experiences.
Key takeaways from Susie Jolly’s lecture: Is Development work still so straight?
A couple of weeks later, I attended Susie Jolly’s lecture at IDS, which explored how sexuality has increasingly become recognised as a fundamental development issue, rather than a private or external topic.
Reflecting on more than two decades of research and advocacy work at the intersection of sexuality and international development, Susie’s presentation traced IDS’s crucial role in bringing the question of sexuality to the discourse around development. At IDS, Susie had founded and convened the Sexuality and Development Programme, which premised that sexuality should not be treated as a peripheral concern in development, but rather as a lens through which we can better understand inequality, wellbeing, and social justice.
The key points I took away from her lecture included:
- Sexuality is a central dimension of development, shaping access to livelihoods, education, healthcare, and social participation, rather than existing at the margins of policy debates.
- Heteronormative assumptions remain embedded in development practice, often excluding diverse sexual orientations and gender identities while reinforcing economic and social inequalities.
- Positive and pleasure-affirming approaches to sexuality matter. Moving beyond narratives of risk, disease, and victimhood opens space for autonomy, dignity, and more effective sexual and reproductive health initiatives.
- Contemporary norms surrounding gender and sexuality are deeply entangled with colonial histories, making decolonial and context-specific approaches essential for inclusive development.
- The past decade has witnessed both significant progress and a growing backlash. Advances in LGBTIQ+ inclusion and sexual and reproductive rights coexist with increasingly organised anti-gender movements that challenge democratic values and development gains.
- Building solidarities across movements and disciplines is crucial if sexuality is to be fully recognised as an integral component of social justice and sustainable development.
Bringing both experiences together
Although these events took place independently and had different formats, I found them to be deeply complementary. The conference foregrounded lived experiences, activism, and feminist dialogue, while Susie Jolly’s lecture situated many of those same concerns within broader debates on development policy and practice.
Together, they challenged me to reconsider what development entails. It is not only about economic growth or service provision, but also about the conditions that enable people to exercise autonomy, experience pleasure, and live with dignity. Both events underscored that sexuality is linked to questions of power, inequality, and social justice, and served as a timely reminder that the progress made in advancing gender equality and sexual rights cannot be taken for granted. At a moment when anti-gender movements are gaining traction globally, creating spaces for critical dialogue, whether through conferences, lectures, or everyday conversations, feels more important than ever.
The challenge (and the responsibility) before us is to keep advocating for a positive approach to sexuality within development work, one that places pleasure at the centre as a right, essential to living sexuality fully and freely. This also means recognising that sexual pleasure can, and should, be a space for strengthening bodily agency and autonomy. Promoting sexual pleasure isn’t a peripheral concern, it is a direct challenge to patriarchy itself and an entry point to advancing gender justice.
