The study of sex and sexuality

The MIT Press has a long history of publishing peer-reviewed and rigorous scholarship at the intersections of biology, cognitive and social sciences, and philosophy, so it’s no surprise we are a leading publisher and distributor of titles on sex and sexuality.

Every month, thousands of people find their way to our website by searching “robot sex.” In 2023 alone, 102,693 eager readers saw the MIT Press at the top of their search results, and 4,280 of them clicked on our site to browse and buy our books. We really hope the other 98,413 found the academic writings they were seeking...

To make the research a bit easier for everyone, we've gathered our favorite titles that ask critical questions about the nature of sex, science, technology, and society. Thanks for joining the thousands of diligent readers who keep “robot sex” at the top our top search results—we agree that there’s nothing hotter than interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed research.

We are especially excited about the paperback release of the award-winning NSFW by Susanna Paasonen, Kylie Jarrett, and Ben Light. Check out their exploration of the social media system of tagging content “not safe for work” and careful argument against conflating sexual content with risk. Speaking of awards, Sex Dolls at Sea by Bo Ruberg won the Anne Friedberg Innovative Scholarship Award in 2023 for investigating and reimagining the origin story of the sex doll through the tale of the sailor's dames de voyage (available as an open access ebook). And of course, you’ll want to read Robot Sex edited by John Danaher and Neil McArthur for perspectives on the possible future of robot-human sexual relationships that span philosophy, psychology religious studies, economics, and law.