Joint Distinguished Bioethics & Wednesday Gender Seminar – Rights vs. Wrong: Debating Sexual Services for People with Disabilities

Event Recap: A Vital and Engaged Dialogue on Disability & Sexual Rights at CUHK

What a profoundly enriching afternoon at the Joint Distinguished Bioethics & Wednesday Gender Seminar! Held on 21 January 2026 at CUHK, the session titled Rights vs. Wrong: Debating Sexual Services for People with Disabilities lived up to its promise, fostering a critical and necessary interdisciplinary conversation.

A huge thank you to our keynote speaker, Professor Don Kulick from Uppsala University, for his examination of the historical "right to sex" framework. Drawing from his seminal work Loneliness and Its Opposite: Sex, Disability, and the Ethics of Engagement (Duke U Press), he advocated for a move beyond abstract rights discourse toward a more nuanced ethics of engagement.

The rich conversation continued in a panel moderated by Professor Roger Chung, featuring vital ground-level perspectives from Ms. Wing Yick, author, and Dr. Clayton Lo, editor of What Disabilities Teach Us About Intimacy. Their discussion expertly bridged theoretical analysis with lived experience, advocacy, and local context.

This event, co-organized by the CUHK Centre for Bioethics, the Department of Anthropology, the Gender Research Centre, and the Gender Studies Programme, stands as a testament to the power of collaborative, cross-disciplinary inquiry. It wasn’t just about conversation; it was about challenging assumptions and confronting the uncomfortable complexities at the intersection of ethics, gender, and disability rights.

Thank you all for joining this important conversation. We look forward to engaging with you at our future events!

Click the icons to explore our impact⬇️

Photo Gallery

We are pleased to announce the first Distinguished Bioethics Seminar of 2026, which will be jointly presented with the Gender Studies Programme as a special Wednesday Gender Seminar.

This seminar, Rights vs. Wrong: Debating Sexual Services for People with Disabilities, is co-organized by the CUHK Centre for Bioethics, the Department of Anthropology, the Gender Research Centre and Gender Studies Programme. It will feature a keynote by renowned anthropologist Professor Don Kulick from Uppsala University.

This seminar invites world-renowned anthropologist Professor Don Kulick to trace how the idea of a “right to sex” has emerged, evolved, and been repeatedly invoked in debates about disability. Moving beyond the familiar narrative, the session explores why people with disabilities are so often positioned as symbols in these arguments — and what gets overlooked when their voices and experiences are treated as rhetorical tools rather than realities. Through this lens, the seminar opens space to rethink how society approaches intimacy, support, and dignity.  Prof Kulick will base his presentation on the findings from his book Loneliness and Its Opposite: Sex, Disability, and the Ethics of Engagement [Duke U Press].  

A panel discussion will follow with Ms. Wing Yick (author) and Dr. Clayton Lo (editor) of What Disabilities Teach Us About Intimacy, moderated by Professor Roger Chung.

Why you should attend:

• Engage with critical perspectives at the intersection of ethics, gender, and disability studies
• Examine real-world implications for care, consent, and social policy
• Join an evidence-based dialogue relevant to healthcare, advocacy, academia, and policy-making