About

SEKSO is a network of over 200 sexuality researchers from The Netherlands and Flanders. Sexuality researchers investigate all kinds of subjects under the broad umbrella of sexuality, such as sexual health, sexual pleasure, sexual violence, romantic relationships, reproductive choices, and sexual and gender diversity. SEKSO wants to be a place where sexuality researchers can meet, support each other, and where we can talk about dilemmas that we as sexuality researchers come across.

SEKSO was founded in October 2022 by Dr. Jenneke van Ditzhuijzen (Utrecht University) and Dr. Marianne Cense (Rutgers). In 2023, Dr. Mirthe Verbeek (EUR), Dr. Hester Pastoor (Erasmus MC), Dr. Linda Dekker (EUR) en Pascalle Heijligenberg (Universiteit Maastricht) joined. In 2025 heeft Javier Koole (Rutgers) and Dr. Misha Dekker joined as well.

Together, they represent SEKSO’s steering committee. The first two gatherings had been organized with the help of Rutgers and Utrecht University, as well as the Fund for Scientific Research on Sexuality (FWOS). The first gathering exceeded our expectations with the enthusiasm of the participants. There appeared to be a lot of enthusiasm for meeting up, supporting each other and brainstorming together about common dilemmas. Currently, there are around 200 names on our SEKSO-list. In the coming years, SEKSO will become more independent, and members will start paying a small fee.

The network is intended for people who professionally research sexuality, so-called ‘sexuality researchers’, in the most broad sense of the word. This includes sex and sexuality, but also gender and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Sexuality researchers investigate, for instance, sexual pleasure, sexuality education, LGBTQIA+-diversity, unwanted pregnancies, abortion and contraception, clinical sexology, SOA/HIV-prevention, and more. Although the name might suggest otherwise, our research themes often reach further than sexual behavior alone (‘sex’), but they are always closely related to it. SEKSO-members work at a variety of institutes in The Netherlands and Flanders, such as higher education, knowledge institutes, research institutes, university medical centers, public (e.g., GGD) and mental health care services (e.g., GGZ), NGO’s, the government or as freelancers.

We already have enough conferences and symposia that allow sexuality researchers to present their work to each other or to other sexuality-professional (like sexologists). Therefore, SEKSO is not primarily meant to share the contents of our work, but rather to share with each other which issues we run into when doing our job. So you know you’re not alone, as a sexuality researcher. SEKSO is in not meant for people who do not professionally conduct research on sexuality. As much as we applaud sexual self-exploration, that’s not the kind of ‘sex research’ we are talking about.