There is something powerful about getting together with other people to share experiences, ideas, and values. Consciousness-raising groups are fundamentally about coming together to transform our outlooks, aspirations and desires in a collective way. In them, participants can reconcile how their desires for pleasure, autonomy and security interact and contradict, address the many “double binds” that individuals face when pursuing freedom and autonomy within an exploitative society, and seek to reorient their relationships with these things so that their feelings, values, and social belonging are in harmony with each other. Such groups, then, are not just about transforming our thinking, but also our feelings—together. It is important to do this with other people because our desires are social, and our ability to adopt and pursue certain desires tends to be the result of cues and incentives that other people present to us. We live, as the queer theorist John D’Emilio argues, in “affectational communities,” and these can either be a source of authority and exploitation or, if they can transform their outlooks and remap the ways that they incentivize and reward certain choices and attributes, a source of collective freedom. This is why the consciousness-raising group must, as D’Emilio says, “be as much a part of our political movement[s] as are campaigns for civil rights. In this way we may prefigure the shape of personal relationships in a society grounded in equality and justice rather than exploitation and oppression, a society where autonomy and security do not preclude each other but coexist.” The goal, then, is to unlearn and escape harmful societal programming that makes us rivalrous, exploitative and exploitable, and remake ourselves in ways that empower us to live lives that are more harmonious, pro-social, just, and enjoyable.

An initial core of people can help co-create the group’s focus and objectives. These core members will bring their diverse experiences and perspectives to shape the group's overall vision. This collective effort to define the group’s purpose ensures that its goals resonate with the needs and desires of the participants, and it gives the group a solid foundation to build on. At the same time, it is worth considering that one of the purposes of consciousness-raising groups is to transform the subjectivity and desires of those involved. Instead of designing the group so that it consolidates perspectives that you or the other core members have, try to exercise “coherent extrapolated volition”—in other words, an openness to being guided by the desires and motivations you might have if you were a better, more knowledgable, and more developed version of yourselves. If this can be achieved, then the core group can help to set the tone for the group’s culture and values. When a few committed members come together, they can model the kind of environment the group aspires to create—one of openness, respect, and mutual support. This helps establish a baseline of trust and safety before expanding the group.

The initial core group can take on leadership roles, organizing meetings, facilitating discussions, and ensuring that the group stays focused. Rotating responsibilities within this core can encourage shared leadership and accountability, helping to prevent the group from being too dependent on one or two people for direction. This being said, it is always good to have a chosen and trusted “convener” who makes sure that the meetings get scheduled and actually happen, and that things run smoothly.

The core, founding group should establish important group norms, such as confidentiality, respectful communication, and how disagreements will be handled. These norms help prevent conflict and ensure that the group remains a productive and supportive space for exploration. This being said, it is not necessary to plan for every possible mode of failure ahead of time. The main thing to establish early on is a commitment to a set of norms and aspirations.

The convener is a role (that can rotate if the group wishes) that is fundamentally about making sure that the group meets, and that these meetings go well. It is important to have someone in this role, because it takes a certain amount of initiative and final decision making to run and maintain a consciousness-raising group. Don’t think of this person as a leader, so much as a coordinator, aggregator and initiator. Establish a way to switch out the person playing this role if they become fatigued, demotivated, or cease to perform their role in a way that the group is satisfied with.

Duration: 90 minutes

Welcome

Introduce the consciousness-raising group by reading the preamble.

Introduce the topic

Personal introductions

Discuss the main themes of the reading, and relate to these through personal or intellectual experience

Formulate questions that the reading leaves you with.

Discuss the implications of the reading.

Discuss the problems that the reading does not address

Discuss not only what the reading means, but how its arguments and/or frameworks can be used

Duration: 90 minutes

Welcome

Introduce the consciousness-raising group by reading the preamble.

Introduce the topic

Personal introductions

Sketch out some of the major questions and problems that your topic contains

Ask people if they have additional questions or problems that the see as being central to the topic

Discuss these questions and problems one-at-a-time

Ask people to relate to the questions and problems through personal experience

Ask people to consider what integrating the insights of the discussion might look like

Duration: 90 minutes

Welcome

Introduce the consciousness-raising group by reading the preamble.

Introduce the format

Personal introductions (and indicate if you want to spend time talking about something you are going through)

Deeper dives on the things that people want to talk about/process

Discuss how the things that people are going through are related and/or resolvable within the social dynamics of the group

Relate personal struggles to structural forces and struggles

Consider collective solutions to personal struggles

Welcome to the [location or community] Critical Hedonism(s) reading group. This is a space for exploring the politics of pleasure by reading and discussing texts that center pleasure in their analysis or evocation.

Critical Hedonism(s) is an approach to exploring and engaging in the politics of pleasure. It names and codifies something that many people are already feeling and exploring in their work, politics and lives. The starting point of Critical Hedonism(s) is the realization that an essential part of changing the world is changing what we want, aspire for, and take pleasure in. The purpose of Critical Hedonism(s) is to help people find ways of collectively transforming their desires in ways that make the world more kind, bountiful, sustainable, and just. The end goal of Critical Hedonism(s) is to transform how society distributes pleasure and care by remaking the institutions that shape desires and aspirations so that people pursue good lives and pleasures in ways that are less anti-social, competitive and zero sum, and more prosocial, collaborative and mutually-beneficial.

We recognize that pleasure is not trivial, but essential. We insist that joy is political, that our pursuit of pleasure affects others, and that many of us have been misguided and manipulated in the things we want. The pleasures many of us have been encouraged to pursue—by our cultures, families, education, and the economy—tend to be bad for us and bad for the world. This meeting is intended as a space to deconstruct and deprogram our desires for burdensome, anti-social, destructive, unsustainable and exclusionary pleasures, and to cultivate instead pleasures that honor our values, our bodies, the biosphere and the communities that we are part of.

Each meeting, we focus on a single text, a portion of a text, or several texts, and draw out their themes, concepts, and relevance for our lives, communities and political institutions, and explore whether they offer any actionable insights. Our readings explore a variety of themes and topics, from sexuality, queerness, socially-constructed norms and aspirations, social and sexual hierarchy, consumer culture, aesthetics, abundance and scarcity, approaches to hedonism, utopian politics, commons-based social movements, and many more.

Welcome to the [location or community] Critical Hedonism(s) discussion group. This is a space for exploring and interrogating topics, prompts, and questions pertaining to the politics of pleasure.

Critical Hedonism(s) is an approach to exploring and engaging in the politics of pleasure. It names and codifies something that many people are already feeling and exploring in their work, politics and lives. The starting point of Critical Hedonism(s) is the realization that an essential part of changing the world is changing what we want, aspire for, and take pleasure in. The purpose of Critical Hedonism(s) is to help people find ways of collectively transforming their desires in ways that make the world more kind, bountiful, sustainable, and just. The end goal of Critical Hedonism(s) is to transform how society distributes pleasure and care by remaking the institutions that shape desires and aspirations so that people pursue good lives and pleasures in ways that are less anti-social, competitive and zero sum, and more prosocial, collaborative and mutually-beneficial.

These discussions offer a crucial method for understanding how pleasure is organized in our culture, and how it might be organized differently. We explore the injustices of pleasure, the ways in which it is used to manipulate, motivate and stratify, and how it is shaped by institutions. We also explore the inherent challenges of hedonism, and consider what kinds of frameworks could be used to mediate our relationship with it.

Each meeting, we focus on a single topic. Past topics include [past topics], and future topics will include [future topics]. This week, we will be exploring the topic of [current topic].

Welcome to the [location or community] Critical Hedonism(s) support circle. This is a space of mutual support and mutual transformation, centered around remaking and harmonizing the sources of pleasure in our lives, and finding transpersonal solutions to personal and political problems.

Critical Hedonism(s) is an approach to exploring and engaging in the politics of pleasure. It names and codifies something that many people are already feeling and exploring in their work, politics and lives. The starting point of Critical Hedonism(s) is the realization that an essential part of changing the world is changing what we want, aspire for, and take pleasure in. The purpose of Critical Hedonism(s) is to help people find ways of collectively transforming their desires in ways that make the world more kind, bountiful, sustainable, and just. The end goal of Critical Hedonism(s) is to transform how society distributes pleasure and care by remaking the institutions that shape desires and aspirations so that people pursue good lives and pleasures in ways that are less anti-social, competitive and zero sum, and more prosocial, collaborative and mutually-beneficial. These groups make a start at this by helping communities aligned with this mission to develop their understanding, remake their aspirations, and live better and more harmonious lives.

We recognize that pleasure is not trivial, but essential. We insist that joy is political, that our pursuit of pleasure affects others, and that many of us have been misguided and manipulated in the things we want. The pleasures many of us have been encouraged to pursue—by our cultures, families, education, and the economy—tend to be bad for us and bad for the world. This meeting is intended as a space to deconstruct and deprogram our desires for burdensome, anti-social, destructive, unsustainable and exclusionary pleasures, and to cultivate instead pleasures that honor our values, our bodies, the biosphere and the communities that we are part of.

A method for doing this is making space for diverse experiences—simultaneously acknowledging that our paths toward joy and fulfillment may look different, yet that they should not, in any case, come at the expense of other people’s joy. We commit to listening deeply and supporting one another with empathy and respect. This is a space that seeks to be free from judgment, but which also makes space for cultivating discernment. We encourage openness and vulnerability, and also a commitment to transforming and improving ourselves and our collectively-held aspirations.

Together, we aim to explore what it means to live more fully, to cultivate generous and plentiful pleasures, and to critically examine the constraints and liberties that define our experiences of well-being. Let us support each other in discovering paths toward joy that nurture not just ourselves but the communities we care about.

If you meet weekly, it is useful to plan one month ahead of time, and to announce that month’s meetings at the beginning of the month. If you meet monthly, we recommend planning and announcing 3 months ahead of time.

“The Critical Hedonist Manifesto” (2024): link

Lisa Duggan, “The Fun and the Fury: New Dialectics of Pleasure and Pain In the Post-American Century” link

Lauren Berlant, Cruel Optimism (introduction): link

Jeffrey Weeks, “The Remaking of Erotic and Intimate Life” link

Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity (introduction), by José Esteban Muñoz link

“Collective Turn-Off,” by Sophie Lewis (2020) link

“Your Sex is Not Radical,” by Yasmin Nair (2015) link

“I Dream of Canteens,” by Rebecca May Johnson (2019) link

“On Heteropessimism,” by Asa Seresin (2019) link

“Does Anyone Have the Right to Sex?” Amia Srinivasan (2018) link

“What if Friendship, Not Marriage, Was at the Center of Life?” by Rhaina Cohen (2020) link

BOOKS:

Eva Illouz, Consuming the Romantic Utopia: Love and the Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism (1997)

Mari Ruti, The Ethics of Opting Out: Queer Theory’s Defiant Subjects (2017)

Adrienne Maree Brown, Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good (2019)

Consent and beyond

Have we asked too much of consent as a framework? Can consent repair or reverse social injustices or inequalities? What if the things we consent to are bad for ourselves and/or society? Can a culture oriented around “enthusiastic consent” make space for experimentation and exploration? Is consent even possible in a world where power differentials proliferate? Should consent apply to all forms of physical touch? How about social engagement in general? Can we imagine a “deep consent” culture that encourages people to be invested in the actual experiences of other people, rather than obtaining permission to do what they want with them?

On desiring the plentiful

Is it necessarily the case that we most desire what we can’t have? Do we only value things and experiences that are rare? If we attain something do we necessarily stop appreciating it? Is the subjective experience of abundance even possible? In this discussion, we will explore how consumer culture has skewed how people think about value and enjoyment, and explore whether it is possible—against dominant conventions of luxury and cults of commodified rarity—to cultivate pleasures that are abundant.

On heteropessimism

Why are so many heterosexual men and women so frustrated with each other? Why, as Asa Seresin asks in his 2019 New Inquiry piece “On Heteropessimism,” do so many straight women in particular disavow their heterosexuality? Why are some straight men “going their own way,” and seeking to opt out of sexual and romantic relationships with women? This discussion will explore the cultural, economic, and political reasons for these phenomena, and ask the difficult question of whether heterosexuality may be redeemed/remade in the 21st century.

Why transgender liberation matters for everyone

What are the stakes of transgender liberation? What makes transgender liberation so difficult for people to understand/empathize with? This discussion will seek to explore how the struggle against assigned and compulsory gender roles and identities has the potential to benefit everyone—whether they identify as transgender or not.

Sick with pleasure: hedonistic overwhelm, overindulgence and the perpetual pursuit of pleasure

This discussion will explore the interrelated topics of abundance and excess—particularly in the uneasily-overlapping worlds of consumer capitalism and urban sex-positive culture. Post-industrial cities have become places of consumption oriented toward pleasure—so much so that many people report experiencing feeling overwhelmed—not only by work and responsibilities, but also by pleasures. This discussion will probe some of the consequences of this—from diminished appreciation, desensitisation, the health risks of overindulgence, the emotional dependencies of neurotic compulsions, the neglect of other experiences, and the hollowness that can result from the perpetual pursuit of novelty. Finally, it will pose the question: can hedonistic cultures enjoy abundance without suffering the consequences of excess?

On the Politics of Queer Spaces

During the pandemic, many of us realised how important physical spaces are for our communities. From gay bars to community centres to cruising spots to queer parties and bookshops, we will be discussing what makes queer spaces in particular so important. We will also discuss why so many of these spaces are so precarious and strategise how to support existing queer spaces and think about how to create new ones.

The Woes of Incels: A Discussion on Sexual Redistribution and the Right to Sex

Does anyone have a right to sex? While some in online “incel” fora have advocated for the “redistribution of sex,” most rigorous thinkers would say not. But, as Amia Srinivasan argues, this does not mean that sexual preferences and choices are not political—and therefore unaddressable through some form of politics. In this discussion, we will discuss what (perhaps obviously) makes sex different from other “goods,” and debate whether public policy or cultural intervention can do anything to address sex as a matter of “distributive justice.”

The pleasures and perils of categorization

What role can categorization play in the exploration of pleasures? How can categorizing the things we’re into help us to understand our desires? How can it help us to communicate our desires to others? On the flip side, are there perils to categorizing our pleasures? How might categorization serve hierarchal and exclusionary pleasure regimes? How might categorization calcify and pigeonhole our pursuit of pleasure by making us narrowly chase specific things? Are there better and worse ways of categorizing? Can technology and design help us to do this better? In relation to kinks, how can we improve upon existing kink compatibility tests? Can well-designed platforms encourage people to explore new kinks, and to find compatible partners to do them with?

The ethics of chemsex: an exploration of the ethics and politics of inebriated sex

Is it ethical to engage in sex while you’re really high or drunk? Is it wise? This discussion will explore these and other questions, probing the possibilities and perils of chemsex, from the standpoints of consent, self-preservation, community coherence, intentionality and authenticity.

Hedonistic degrowth? Pleasure in a post-consumerist society

This discussion will probe the potential pleasures of environmentally-conscious, post-consumerist societies. We will explore greener, alternative visions of the good life, from Kate Soper’s call for a slower, less consumptive “alternative hedonism” to Hanzi Freinacht’s advocacy for a cultural embrace of immaterial goods and experiences over material ones. The central question will be: does a decrease in material consumption necessarily require a compromise in pleasure, happiness, or wellbeing?

Fear / Pain / Pleasure: the connection between trauma, pain, fear and pleasure

This discussion will explore why for so many people, pain and/or fear can be a source of pleasure—within BDSM dynamics, in various kink scenes, and even unexpectedly in their day-to-day lives. We will explore the role of trauma and the concept of “reenactment,” discuss how the brain’s structure may contribute to the phenomenon, and speculate about what the implications of this are for the politics of pleasure.