The debate around sexual harassment in the wake of the #MeToo movement already seems to be saturated in terms of meaningful dialogue. While on the one hand, these conversations have led to a social and political awakening about systemic issues facing women in patriarchal societies, on the other hand, it has resulted in the flattening of nuances involved in negotiating a sexual relationship. The purpose of this one-day round table is to reopen this dialogue and move beyond cautionary tales about perpetrators and narratives of victimhood in order to see how we can provide a radical challenge to the ways in which we sexually relate to and work with one another.

These conversations, spread across three panels, will look at the many dimensions involved in sexual desire, attraction, boundary setting, agency and transgression. Can we universally codify what it means to be in a consensual relationship? Do we understand the cultural undercurrents and the formal structures that inform our agency to give consent, as well as the power differentials that underpin it?

These questions are not entirely new, but by looking at them through the lenses of psychological formations, cultural practices, and legal frameworks, we intend to throw open the complexities of desire, the difficulties of defining “due process” and the limits of harassment, the centrality of the law and within that, our approaches to crime and punishment in the context of sexual violence.