Towards a critical realist approach to the cultural psychology of sexuality

The cultural psychology of sexuality is increasingly concerned with complex and rapidly evolving phenomena that are examined across diverse populations, cultural contexts, theoretical perspectives, and methodological approaches. Alongside the growing volume of empirical research, this diversity has generated increasingly rich insights into sexuality while revealing the complexity of the field, particularly from a cultural psychology perspective. Critical realism, Roy Bhaskar’s philosophical approach, has been introduced into sexuality and gender research as a meta-theoretical framework for addressing this complexity. It pairs a layered, mind-independent reality with the recognition that all knowledge of it is partial and situated, which allows lived experience and structural pattern to count as complementary evidence about the same phenomenon. However, it is explicitly utilised in only one of the contributions to this special issue. Therefore, this commentary calls attention to the potential of critical realism to support dialogue across diverse strands of research, support cumulative knowledge development, and provide a coherent basis for understanding the complexity of sexuality within cultural psychology. The commentary also outlines initial steps for implementing a critical realist approach in research, inviting further engagement with its potential contribution to the field.