This book was hatched in May 2022 at Keele University by Beverley Clough and Laura Pritchard- Jones. Characterised by a willingness to think across disciplines and time, the Keele event focused on the delicate and at times controversial terrain of sex, sexuality, intimacy and their legal footholds. It took for granted the necessity of conversations across disciplinary boundaries and involved clinicians, social workers, lawyers, student researchers and the relatives of people with compromised mental capacity. We were pleased to be invited to contribute to this volume, since it returned us to work we first undertook over 20 years ago. Back then, we had wanted to understand the healthcare decisions of adults with intellectual disabilities. Our findings confirmed the limited control people had over their bodies and over decisions about their lives. This has found subsequent reference points in our reviewing work, research and self- advocacy.

This volume describes a shifting legal landscape and what it means for the health and social care professionals who are supporting people with cognitive impairments in relation to intimate relationships. Readers are alerted to questions such as:

• • What is a good intimate relationship versus a bad one, and to what extent is it appropriate for these to be interrogated by the law?

• • Ought the concept of mental capacity to be the determinant for the lawful exercise of sexual agency?

• • What sexual and emotional practices constitute the decision- making ‘matter’ in mental capacity law, and how does this impact on how capacity is assessed?

• • Is it appropriate to consider lifelong celibacy as the correct legal response to a person who is considered to lack capacity in relation to sexual intimacy?

• • Must consent to having sex always accept that the potential partner must also be consenting?

Readers seeking simple answers will be disappointed. Contexts matter, and variations and hazards in the lives and opportunities of men and women with mental disabilities are multiple, as are the social structures within which identities are negotiated and produced. These contexts alert us to some pressing questions about how sexual identity and intimacy is understood and supported.