What are the ethical implications of telling another’s story? Who gets to speak and why? What are the limits of the citation and can we exist beyond it? If our world is so bound up in questions of the seeable and sayable, then what power is enacted when we foreground the bodies, minds and lives of others in our work? Sophie K. Rosa challenges us to rethink, reimagine, resist and redefine intimacy according to our own standards instead of those force-fed to us via the white supremacist capitalist cisheteropatriarchy. Consider this the next read in your study group.’ Left to its own devices, the world cannot hold us. The colliding global crises of capitalism – in ecological collapse and in the rising tide of fascism – threaten the fabric of communities and the lives that compose them," Rosa writes. "We must hold each other, as we remake a world that can." I didn't find the writing style particularly easy to engage with. Some of the anecdotes were nice and really grounded the ideas in what is otherwise an incredibly theory-heavy read. I especially enjoyed the passage where Sophie and her friend dressed up as rich people to spy on Ballymore housing developers, but mostly I felt myself pushing towards the end of the book because it was fairly short and I couldn't justify giving up when I was already halfway done. The Argonauts is a beautiful meditation on queer love, kinship, mothering and the shifting nature of identities which is certain to move audiences. Using fragments, memories and quotes from friends, lovers, philosophers and mentors, Maggie Nelson captures the complexities of care, desire and devotion with fullness and depth of emotion.

Learning the art of building true intimacy gives you the opportunity to grow deeper, more enriching bonds with others, and even yourself. By turning your attention inward to gain clarity on your divine needs and how to fulfill them, you can transform all of your relationships. With the right expert guidance, anyone can increase their capacity for love in a way that nourishes their heart and soul. The standout stuff for me was the criticism of psychiatry, the pathologization of trauma, and the way that mental illness is so racialised in the UK. I'd probably recommend these sections to others even though I didn't vibe with most of the rest of the book because it was really cohesive and the conclusions that were drawn were presented so well. The combination of citation and speech from others intermingled within the prose makes it difficult to know where the author ends and another takes her place.

I cannot say that I read the book without some discomfort (which is often the case when I read reflections on trans lives from cis perspectives), particularly the discussion about Dodge’s medical transition. Within the discussions of hormones, surgery and recovery, Nelson does not decentralise herself from the discussion. Though she is writing “personally”, I think there are limits to how deep one can delve into such private matters. Love may be deeply embodied, but even the (dis)embodied voice(s) of this memoir cannot speak from everywhere, or from everyone – and neither can we as social researchers. The connection between capitalism and intimacy is blatant in some ways and far harder to identify in others. But the ideology of capitalism has long infiltrated what love and relationships look like, as examined in Rosa's debut work. And this has come with a set of consequences.

Want more sex and dating stories in your inbox? Sign up for Mashable's new weekly After Dark newsletter .Made me reconsider so many of the cultural scripts I've been fed my whole life. Unsparing, important and hopeful’ A punchy and impassioned account of inspiring ideas about alternative ways to live … Radical Intimacy is the compassionate antidote to a callous society’ Proposes radical answers for people longing for real intimacy, just as she proposes the need to centre all forms of intimacy as radical praxis. We are invited to look for the possibilities of abundant post-capitalist relating, and how they might nurture us in overcoming the systems which trap us in scarcity. It’s great. Please read it!’ Though Nelson mostly focuses on her own perspectives of her relationship with Dodge, her text is deeply reflexive throughout. The Argonauts is a work that highlights our need to be open to critique and to be accountable for ourselves, both through communication with others and through self-reflection. For sociologists, reflexivity is a key part of doing social research.