This volume was first published by Inter-Disciplinary Press in 2014. The erotic is a complex and highly problematic phenomenon that scholars have agonised over for centuries. Generally speaking, the erotic refers to sex and sexuality. However, it is a multifaceted term that holds multiple, meanings for different people. The erotic, on the one hand, is personal – a collection of thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and sensations shared with one’s self or other people. On the other hand, it is explicitly public – subject to censorship, scientific study, penalisation, political debate, and reproduction in art. It is also the basis of this volume, which includes chapters from 14 different authors who presented their ideas on eroticism at the 7th Global Conference: The Erotic (Exploring Critical Issues) at Mansfield College, Oxford in September 2012. This volume offers a broad perspective on issues of the erotic with the authors representing not only a wide variety of academic and non-academic disciplines but also a range of countries from across the globe.