TROUBLE

‘Like every Good Girl or Woman, I had perfected the performance of pleasure with aplomb. I knew how to writhe and moan and move my body to a sexual rhythm; I’d just lost, or perhaps never truly discovered, the ability to enjoy it. And so while my body performed pleasure, my mind wandered off...”

Emma-Louise Boynton, author of Pleasure, thinks and talks about sex every day. The founder of Sex Talks will join us at The Trouble Club to discuss her journey from being unable to orgasm and battling a years-long eating disorder, to rebuilding her relationship with sex, desire and intimacy.

The story begins in the sex therapy room, where Emma first discovered that her struggle with bulimia was deeply entangled with her experience of sexual numbness. From there, she'll expand outward - drawing on expert interviews, cultural analysis and immersive research (including four days on a porn set) - to reveal that this rupture between women and their bodies is not a personal failure, but a systemic one.

From narrow ideals around desirability and sexist narratives about aging, to the policing of women's pleasure, and the emotional alienation of app-based intimacy, Emma will interrogate the forces that teach women to mistrust their bodies and perform rather than feel their pleasure.

Crucially, Emma will also offer a clear and practical roadmap for rebuilding desire, confidence and connection.

Reclaiming pleasure is not indulgent, but essential.