Roses for Hedone: On Queer Hedonism and World-Making Through Pleasure

A bold exploration of queer hedonism as a radical, life-affirming force. Drawing on history, philosophy and lived experience, Roses for Hedone reclaims pleasure as a means of survival, connection and collective transformation in an unequal world. What does it mean to seek pleasure in a world that denies your humanity? Long misunderstood and often condemned, hedonism has been central to how queer communities have gathered, survived, and imagined new ways of living together. Through a queer lens, pleasure is not excess or escape, but a vital, sustaining force — what Audre Lorde called a “power for change.” Across the world today, queer people continue to face rising hostility, inequality, and exclusion, shaped by intersecting social, political and environmental crises. In this context, the pursuit of joy, connection and desire remains both urgent and radical. Drawing on histories of love and its many forms — from ancient philosophies to contemporary experience — Roses for Hedone invites us to rethink hedonism as a shared, transformative practice: a way to honour the past, build community in the present, and imagine more hopeful futures, together.