Doctoral thesis: sexual philosophy is the foundation for sexual ethics based on mutual care and pleasure

Rita Niineste's doctoral thesis explored how societal norms influence the representation of the sexual body and the role of scientific discourse in shaping and interacting with sexual meanings.  The research contributes to an understanding of the role of pleasure in the structure of sexual experiences and explores why outdated or misleading sexual theories continue to have a significant negative impact on women's sexual self-perception. The broader aim of the research was to fill a gap in the philosophical study of sexuality and to increase mutual understanding between sexual partners. It also contributes to establishing theoretical foundations of sexual ethics based on mutual care and a pleasure-based understanding of sexuality
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According to Niineste, issues surrounding sexual pleasure have received little attention as philosophical discourse has historically been centred on male perspectives. Pleasure in sex has therefore been considered a given, rather than as a research problem in its own right. This is in sharp contrast to theoretical and empirical research on women's sexuality, which still focuses on questions of whether, how and when women experience sexual pleasure. Extensive research also shows that one of the main problems regarding women's sexual health in modern Western societies is a lack of sexual desire or interest in sex. This asymmetry, both in theoretical attitudes to pleasure and in its lived experience, has made the philosophical study of sexuality difficult.

Niineste's doctoral thesis was based on the premise that sexual experiences are bodily motivated and thus their study must begin with embodiment as the fundamental basis for meaning-making. This approach enabled her to explore what distinguishes sexual behaviour from other forms of experiences, and to examine when and why cultural representations of sexuality influence the experience of pleasure. On a more theoretical level, the thesis discussed how feminist theory and philosophy can offer new perspectives on sexuality and pleasure that better align with women's lived experiences.

The thesis found that while bodily pleasure has often been considered a given and the meaning of sex has been associated more with reproduction, empathy or intimacy, pleasure itself is the main meaning-making aspect of sex. This holds true regardless of the subject's gender, orientation or whether the experience in question involves only the subject or others as well. The research also revealed a close link between gendered aspects of embodiment, imagination and social norms. For example, the cultural and theoretical overemphasis on reproduction has not had a significant impact on the enjoyment of sex for men, because in the male body the functions of reproduction and pleasure largely overlap. In contrast, reducing pleasure to a mere byproduct is considerably more problematic for women, as the centre of erotic sensitivity of the female body is not directly linked to fertilisation. 

Since the study and interpretations of sex have historically been framed from the perspective of the male body, this independent capacity for pleasure, separate from reproductive function, has been largely excluded from cultural frameworks of sexual meaning-making. According to Niineste, pleasure plays the greatest role in a person's ability to understand their needs and preferences as a sexual subject and to understand what is happening to them during the sexual act. This, in turn, enables them to give informed consent and participate in intimate relationships as active subjects rather than just objects. 

Rita Niineste, a PhD candidate at Tallinn University's School of Humanities, defends her doctoral thesis A Pleasure of One's Own: On the Intersubjectivity of Sexual Experiences on 28 January. The thesis was supervised by Tõnu Viik and the opponents are Professor Sara Heinämaa from the University of Jyväskylä and Professor Dermot Moran from Boston College.