The seventh edition of The Philosophy of Sex has quite a few changes. First,
it has nine new essays specifically written for this volume: Talia Mae
Bettcher’s “Trans 101” and Burkay Ozturk’s “The Negotiative Theory of
Gender Identity and the Limits of First-Person Authority” deal with
transgender issues, the former going over some basics and the latter
questioning the view that a person has a non-defeasible epistemic and
ethical decision regarding what their gender is. Raja Halwani’s “Racial

Sexual Desires” tackles the question of whether there is something moral-
ly lacking in someone who sexually prefers (or does not prefer) members

of a particular race or ethnic group (Halwani says “no”); Elizabeth
Brake’s “Is ‘Loving More’ Better? The Values of Polyamory” addresses
some crucial issues surrounding polyamory: what it is, the important
objections to it, and its value and importance; Robin Dembroff’s “What Is
Sexual Orientation?” defends a new conception of sexual orientation that

is disconnected from the person’s own gender; and Kim Q. Hall’s “Think-
ing Queerly about Sex and Sexuality” explains the basics of queer theory

and what it contributes to a discussion of sexuality and other connected

issues, such as disability and zoophilia. Lina Papadaki’s “Sexual Objec-
tification” discusses in depth the concept of “objectification” and offers a

new account of the concept that departs in important ways from existing

ones. Shaun Miller’s “BDSM” goes beyond responding to the main objec-
tions against BDSM to offer ways in which BDSM practitioners can live

good lives because they are practitioners of BDSM. Finally, Alan Soble’s
“Gifts and Duties” provocatively explores the ideas of sexual duties and
sexual supererogation (especially to strangers) and shows us how rich
and complex a proper treatment of them is.