On Wednesday, December 4, the Columbia Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender hosted Dr. Avgi Saketopoulou, psychoanalyst and author of “Sexuality Beyond Consent.”

A small but intellectually curious crowd gathered at the Deutsches Haus on Wednesday evening to listen to Dr.Avgi Saketopoulou, a psychoanalyst and author, in conversation with the director of the Institute for Research on Women, Gender and Sexuality, Jack Halberstam. Halberstam introduced Saketopoulou by calling her one of the most groundbreaking thinkers in gender and sexuality studies today, citing how her work involves brave and controversial positions that have the power to open our consciousness beyond our current understandings. Saketopoulou’s risqué book title “Sexuality Beyond Consent” does evoke some discomfort to those who may just be encountering her work. However, her nuanced and innovative thinking gives way to new radical thought in the psycho-analytic-political sphere.

Saketopoulou gave a compelling recitation of her work in “Sexuality Beyond Consent,” which explores a psychoanalytic approach to political theory by critically examining the concept of reparation. Reparation has been widely embraced outside psychoanalysis as a method of restoring damaged relationships. Saketopoulou challenged this notion, arguing that reparation, when stripped of its libidinal dimensions, becomes limited and potentially harmful. In its more conventional forms, reparation often encourages individuals to remain bound to the personal, social, or institutional relationships that perpetuate harm. This process can entrench individuals in passive, repetitive dialogues that fail to disrupt or transform the very structures that cause suffering.

This is when Saketopoulou brought up her concept of “exigent sadism,” which extends her argument as a theoretical tool for breaking free from these limiting dynamics. Sadism, Saketopoulou clarified, is not a singular or unitary concept. Saketopoulou does not mean sadism as a destructive force, nor does she mean it as it is used in consensual sexual simulation such as BDSM. Instead, Saketopoulou proposed that “exigent sadism” emphasizes how institutions reproduce and enforce structures of dominance through unrelenting demands for compliance and conformity.

In contrast to reparation which seeks reconciliation, exigent sadism advocates for a radical severance that resists the illusion that institutions or individuals can ever truly “save” us. This form of sadism is not about inflicting harm but about confronting power and rejecting the compulsion to negotiate with oppressive systems.

In her talk, Saketopoulou used these concepts to evaluate our current political circumstances, specifically the crackdown on student protests by institutions all over the United States, including here at Columbia. Saketopoulou used student protests, which demand divestment from Israel due to their actions in Palestine, as a concrete example of how reparation can fail in the face of institutional violence. In this case, calls for dialogue and reconciliation with power systems (such as the state or university administrations) function as mechanisms for containing resistance rather than enabling transformative change. Saketopoulou’s argument suggests that ethical (or exigent) sadism could be a tool for transforming these power structures, which often resist any real form of change. 

Saketopoulou’s insightful and nuanced work in the fields of psychoanalysis and sexuality studies reveals much about how our current power systems intricately align with sexual dynamics, showing that the way we engage with desire, repair, and resistance has the power to disrupt or reinforce systems of domination.

I highly recommend exploring Saketopoulou’s groundbreaking book which is available for Columbia students here. She will also be at The Graduate Center CUNY in January as a part of the “Power of Leather” dialogue series. The last event that the Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender will host this year is a writing retreat on December 13 from 1 to 5 pm in the Schermerhorn Extension. Registration is not required. Go drop by to learn or get support on your writing! 

Image via ISSB