Key Takeaways
- Dr. Justin Lehmiller will present the findings of DatingNews and the Kinsey Institute’s national study on modern love and dating at the SHA Sexological Conference.
- Experts from diverse fields, such as sexology, psychology, medicine, and the dating industry, will come together to share their knowledge and learn from each other.
- Dating apps and sexological research depend on each other to evolve and to learn more about the average single, according to Dr. Lehmiller.
Sexologists, researchers, educators, and physicians will converge in Denver on Oct. 9-11 for the Sexual Health Alliance’s 10th annual Sexological Conference, where they will discuss topics like AI, ethical non-monogamy, masculinity, and consent.
And DatingNews is getting in on the action: Keynote speaker Dr. Justin Lehmiller will share the findings of a study by DatingNews and the Kinsey Institute called “The State of Us: National Study on Modern Love & Dating in 2025.”
Dr. Lehmiller’s presentation on the study’s findings are expected to cover multiple topics from the wide-ranging study, including LGBTQ+ dating trends and how politics currently affect dating decisions.
The findings shed light on how today’s daters think and feel about sex and intimacy. It takes often-overlooked voices into account — the LGBTQ+ community, for one — and addresses hot-button issues, such as politics and the economy, that one wouldn’t typically associate with sex and dating.
DatingNews spoke to Dr. Lehmiller ahead of the conference to hear his thoughts about how sexology converges with the dating industry — and how one directly benefits from the other.
Seemingly Unrelated Fields Are All Connected
As a research fellow at the Kinsey Institute, a former Harvard professor, an academic scholar, and an expert speaker, Dr. Lehmiller is uniquely qualified to present the study’s findings to an audience of his peers. Of course, it helps that he also co-led the study of 2,000 U.S. singles.
Dr. Lehmiller is one of seven keynote speakers, all of whom carry prestige in the world of sexology and sexology education.
There’s relationship expert Dr. Tara Suwinyattichaiporn; the Director of Clinical Education at the Sexual Health Alliance, Dr. Chris Donaghue; CEO of Bespoke Surgical, Dr. Evan Goldstein; clinical sexologist Dr. Joe Kort; clinical psychologist Dr. David Ley; and leading BDSM and sexuality educator, Midori.
Each expert comes from a different specialty — or as Dr. Lehmiller calls it, a “different vantage point” — that helps clients achieve different goals. In fact, there’s more of an overlap between sexology and the seemingly unrelated dating industry than one might think.
“Sexologists seek to understand intimacy, attraction, and relationships, and dating apps aim to facilitate those things,” Dr. Lehmiller told DatingNews. Each industry “helps to inform one another.”
Yes, sexology delves into the emotional and psychological aspects of sexuality, while dating professionals facilitate actual matches. But The State of Us study proves that each industry needs the other to understand the motivations of the modern dater.
Dating Professionals and Sexologists Help Each Other Learn
It’s one big ecosystem: The research conducted by sexologists translates into the tools and products provided by dating app developers.
The success or failure of certain app features can shed light on which trends daters are engaging with, and which they aren’t — information that matters to the therapists and sexologists these daters turn to for guidance.
“Apps are sitting on mountains of their own data that sexologists and other researchers often use to validate or challenge their own theories about intimacy and relationships,” Dr. Lehmiller explained.
For a scientist or researcher, dating apps are a convenient way to put theories to the test. “Apps provide a real-world testing ground for a lot of our scientific beliefs around love and relationships,” Dr. Lehmiller told us.
And then there’s swipe fatigue, the harbinger of death for online dating. It has already started to transform the dating and relationship landscape. Both sexologists and dating industry professionals are hungry for data that can explain why this is happening — and what might happen next.
“The data that we as sexologists collect can help to inform us about current dating trends, desires, experiences, and needs — and apps often use this information to design, revise, and update how their platforms operate,” he said.
On its website, the conference urges people to “Dare to dream beyond what’s known in this evolving landscape.” The message is clear: Intimacy is always evolving, and diverse voices — from Dr. Lehmiller to those from the dating industry — can help professional sexologists understand how intimacy will evolve going forward.
