Ïã¸ÛÍõÖÐÍõ

I am a Professor of Law with particular expertise in the legal regulation of pornography, sexual violence and online abuse, particularly cyberflashing and image-based sexual abuse (taking, creating and sharing intimate images without consent). I qualified as a solicitor with City firm Herbert Smith Freehills and took up a Lectureship at Newcastle University before moving to a Readership at Ïã¸ÛÍõÖÐÍõ in 1999. I was appointed Professor of Law in 2004.

Academic roles: I have served as Deputy Head of Durham Law School, and Deputy Head of Ïã¸ÛÍõÖÐÍõ’s Faculty of Social Sciences and Health (Research) from 2012-2015 when I had specific responsibility for diversity & equality, research strategy and the Research Excellence Framework (REF2014). I was a founding member of the University’s Taskforce on Sexual Violence and Misconduct, and I am currently a member of the University’s Senate Discipline Committee. I was a trustee of the University and member of the University’s governing body, University Council, from 2014-2018. In 2015, I took up the position as the first Director of the University's  which provides funding and support for research impact across the social sciences. Over the years, I have been a member of the University’s Ethics Committee, Promotions Committee, Research Committee, Finance Committee and the Diversity and Equality Advisory Group.

Awards and Appointments: My expertise and leadership have been recognised nationally and internationally. In 2020, I was appointed an (Kings Counsel) in recognition of my work championing equality for women in the legal profession and shaping new criminal laws on extreme pornography and image-based sexual abuse. I am a member of the UK Parliament’s  hearing appeals in cases of sexual misconduct, bullying and harassment against MPs. I am also a member of the Judicial Appointments Commission, responsible for the selection of judges across England & Wales.  was a member of the REF2021 appointed to assess the quality of UK academic research. In 2018, I was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Law from , Sweden, in recognition of the international impact of her research on violence against women and girls. From 2018-2021, I held the Visiting Professorship at Lund University. I am also a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. The impact of my research was recognised as world-leading (4*) in the 2014 and 2021 Research Excellence Frameworks assessments (REFs) (read the full case studies  and ).

Online and image-based sexual abuse: My current work focuses on sexual violence, pornography and online abuse against women and girls. I am the co-author of the books (2021) (2021). It was my (with ) that first developed the concept of , a term and concept that better explains the nature and extent of forms of abuse often labelled as upskirting, ‘revenge porn’, deepfake porn, downblousing and so on. I have worked closely with politicians, victims and civil society to improve laws nationally and across the world to better tackle online abuse. I gave oral evidence to numerous parliamentary inquiries and select committees including on regulation, the Online Safety Bill, , on in public and law reform proposals on . My to the Northern Ireland Justice Committee the introduction of a new cyberflashing offence in Northern Ireland. I have contributed my expertise to , media discussions such as many appearances on , BBC Radio 4 Today and ITV news.

Regulating pornography and extreme pornography: My pornography with and others has revealed the extent of on mainstream websites, drawing on the largest dataset of online porn collected to date. This landmark study has been extensively reported nationally and internationally including in the Ìý²¹²Ô»å , as well as providing the evidence base for many campaigns across the world for greater regulation of pornography. My extreme pornography with colleagues provided the for law reforms criminalising rape pornography introduced in 2015, justifying reform on the basis of rape pornography’s and regulation being . Following introduction of the new law, my with Hannah Bows using revealed significant prosecutions for bestiality, rather than rape, images.

Sexual violence and justice for sexual violence victims: I am currently part of the pioneering Home Office funded seeking to transform rape investigations. This role draws on my research investigating what sexual violence survivors understand as ‘justice’, developing the idea of to reflect the fluidity and variety of victims’ justice perspectives. This work with Nicole Westmarland has also examined the possibilities of using , as well as for domestic abuse. This research is part of my broader work on sexual violence, including foundational work on (briefing here) and my co-edited book Ìý(2010).

Cyberflashing: My research and policy work raises awareness of the harms of  – also known as sending unsolicited dick pics – and makes recommendations for new laws criminalising this commonplace and pernicious form of abuse. This work has played a central role in the recent public campaigns to introduce a new cyberflashing criminal offence in England & Wales, and Northern Ireland, providing justifications for action and draft legislative proposals. It draws on my book , written with , and more recent on a consent-based criminal law is required: with a two-page summary .

My expertise also lies in the broad fields of human rights law and European Union law. In 2022, I co-authored the preparatory work for the first adopted by UN, Council of Europe and other violence against women human rights monitoring bodies. I am also co-author of a 2022 of the EU’s proposed directive on violence against women and co-wrote an for German organisation Hate Aid on the EU’s Digital Services Act. This work builds on my previous EU research including the landmark book (Cambridge University Press, 2006) and research on under the European Convention of Human Rights.

My earlier work focused on equality in the legal profession and feminist perspectives on judging. My pioneering book (1998) was the first book-length study into the status of women in law, from universities to the judiciary. In 2010, I co-founded the Feminist Judgments Project where a group of scholars put theory into practice in judgment form, by writing the ‘missing’ feminist judgments in key cases, publishing the book (2010). This work has since inspired across the world, with groups of scholars re-writing judgments across India, Australia, Scotland, North/Ireland and the US, and in specific areas of , including children’s rights, international law and indigenous law.

• Rape law and policy
• Restorative Justice and Sexual Violence
• image-based sexual abuse ('revenge porn')
• Feminist Judgments and women in the legal profession
• Legal Regulation of Pornography

Authored book

Chapter in book

Edited book

Journal Article

Newspaper/Magazine Article

Other (Print)

Report