SEXtember 2023: The Sex, Health and Society Conference
Event description
Challenge assumptions, forge connections, and reimagine intimacy at the 2023 Sex, Health, and Society Conference, held during SEXtember at UNSW Sydney! Through discussions, presentations, and interactive sessions, we'll explore international perspectives on relationships, health and justice.
Please use this link to access the Conference Program.
Monday 25 September
12:15pm - 2pm: Contemplating power, pleasure and (im)possibility
| 1. | Lena Chen (University of California at Berkeley; USA) | Yellow power play: Performing Asian American resistance through BDSM |
| 2. | Miranda Millen (Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University; Australia) | Navigating pleasure: Reflections on consent through narratives about women as ‘sluts’ or ‘victims’ |
| 3 | Alamgir (RMIT University; Australia) | Intersectional criminology and trans identity: An analysis of Khwaja Sara and Hijra identity and the criminal justice system in Pakistan |
| 4 | Chantell Martin (Sex Workers Outreach Project; Australia) | Breaking barriers: Advancing sex workers' rights and social understanding |
2:15pm - 4pm: Space, place, and relationality
| 1 | Elise Frost (Macquarie University; Australia) | "I forgot how hot the sun is": Outdoor exercise as relational placemaking among LGBTQIA+ people living in Sydney |
| 2 | MacKenzie McCowan (University of Sydney; Australia) **Withdrawn** | Rewards and recognition: Grappling with queerness and normativity on Facebook |
| 3 | Zirui Ying (University of Sydney; Australia) | Beyond screens: Fusing technological advancements with authentic intimacy in the digital age |
| 4 | Wilfred Roach (Queer Writing Group; Australia) | Reflecting on the risks and benefits for LGBTIQA+ identifying people when working in predominantly heteronormative spaces |
Tuesday 26 September
10am - 11am (Keynote): Sextech – a critical introduction (Professor Kath Albury, Swinburne University of Technology)
| Keynote presenter | Keynote description |
 Professor Kath Albury is Professor of Media and Communication at the Swinburne University of Technology. She is an ARC Future Fellow, leading the ‘Digital and data literacies for sexual health policy and practice’ research project (2022-2026), and is Chief Investigator on the Swedish/Australian collaboration Digital sexual health: Designing for safety, pleasure and wellbeing in LGBTQ+ communities (2022-2025), and an Associate Investigator at the Swinburne University of Technology node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making & Society (ADM+S), where she focuses on the development data capability and capacity in not-for-profit organisations, and data ethics and speculative design justice in the field of sextech. | A recent article in The Economist suggested that the rapidly-growing global market for sexual pleasure and wellbeing-focused devices and technologies (also known as sextech) was likely to reach US$40 billion in 2023. This keynote offers a brief overview of recent research and popular commentary on sextech, exploring the ways cultural assumptions around gender, sexuality, health, and pleasure both guide and inform emerging markets. I focus ethical questions associated with data-driven technologies such as menstrual-tracking apps, sex education chatbots and Bluetooth-enabled vibrators. As digital technologies for sex and pleasure are increasingly networked, both bodies and digital devices are opened up to privacy breeches and data leaks. I conclude by highlighting the need for both health researchers and tech developers to place both sexual rights and data justice at the centre of sextech futures. |
12:15pm - 2pm: Healthcare journeys
| 1 | Kimberly Tao and Simon Chung (Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Hong Kong) | Transgender healthcare journeys in Hong Kong: Examining medical transitioning trajectories |
| 2 | Harsh Agarwal, Tulani Francis L Matenga, Oluwamuyiwa P. Adeniran, Melissa Lam-McCarthy, Enioluwaduroti Abigail Johnson, Margaret Kasaro, Suzanne Maman, Benjamin Chi and Stephanie Martin (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; USA) | “I will get the child, put him on my back and take a walk, so that the mother can eat and then I eat afterwards”: Engaging male partners to support mothers living with HIV in Lusaka, Zambia |
| 3 | Lee Pei Hua (National Centre for Infectious Diseases and Tan Tock Seng Hospital; Singapore) | Exploring migrant sex workers' experiences with access and care for HIV and sexual health in Singapore: A qualitative study |
| 4 | Marcus Phillip Paul (University of Sydney; Australia) | The lived experiences of Myanmar women migrants in Malaysia |
2:15pm - 4pm: Communities, collaborations, and capacities in health promotion
| 1 | Sammy (Swarup) Thite (ACON Health; Australia) | Peer-led HIV testing for gay men: A successful sexual health initiative |
| 2 | P. Arun Kumar (National Centre for Infectious Diseases; Singapore) | Combating Stigma in HIV and Key Populations Programme (SHAKE UP): A pilot key population-led HIV sensitivity training programme for healthcare professionals in Singapore |
| 3 | Maddison Stratten and Eliza Basheer (Ilawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, STI Programs Unit, New South Wales Ministry of Health; Australia) | Meeting sexual and reproductive health needs for international students through a whole of program consultative approach |
| 4 | Professor Kath Albury (Swinburne University of Technology; Australia) | Building digital and data capabilities for sexual health |
Wednesday 27 September
5pm - 6:45pm: Hope, violation and (in)justice
| 1 | Nathanael Wells, Mohamed Hammoud, Garrett Prestage, Allisson Carter, Benjamin Bavinton, Bernard Saliba, Jack Freestone, Daniel Storer and Bridget Haire (Kirby Institute for Infection and Immunity in Society, UNSW Sydney; Australia) | Exploring unwanted sexual encounters among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) in Australia: Prevalence, context, and associations with mental health |
| 2 | Rodrigo Perez Toledo (Macquarie University, Australia) | “That’s why I came here: to have sex with men”: Migration and sexuality among Mainland Chinese gay men in Sydney |
| 3 | Wee Yang Soh (University of Chicago, USA) | Finding “god” in the age of poststructuralism: How activist language has alienated its own people |
| 4 | Saakshi Saxena (Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex; UK) | Exploring how young Indian women victim-survivors of intimate partner sexual violence may practice sexual well-being and pleasure in the aftermath |
7pm - 8:30pm: Featured interactive workshop: Making research more inclusive of gender and sexuality diversity (Community of Practice for Inclusive Research with Queer, Trans & Intersex people). Please register for this featured workshop here.
For the full conference schedule and list of abstracts, please see here. Each panel presentation lasts 20 minutes.
This event is brought to you as part of SEXtember, UNSW's annual festival of celebrating, questioning and exploring every aspect of sex. To learn more, check our website out here.
Content Warning: Conversations about consent, relationships, sex and sexuality can sometimes be difficult but you don’t need to face it alone. Find the support you need with someone who is trained to help, through free and confidential support services and 1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732.
