Online Research Seminar Series - November

Join us for our November research seminar

At this online research seminar we will hear from Sophie Hindes and Brooklyn Donnelly

Friday 28 November

12:00pm AEST

Sophie Hindes, From Deficit to Queer and Strengths-Based Approaches to Sexual Violence Research and Prevention

This presentation advances a queer, strengths-based approach to sexual violence research and prevention, challenging the field’s heteronormative, risk-focused frameworks and narrow preoccupation with victimisation. I argue for a conceptual and methodological shift toward understanding the conditions that enable sexual agency and affirming experiences, grounded in a queer politic that both critiques normative gender and sexual scripts and makes space for more positive sexual encounters.

Sophie Hindes (they/them) is a Research Fellow at the Australian Research Centre for Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University and a criminologist specialising in LGBTQ+ communities and strengths-based approaches to sexual and gender-based violence. Their research examines both the ways LGBTQ+ people experience violence and how queer people, relationships, and communities thrive despite structural marginalisation. Their forthcoming monograph, Queer Insights on Negotiating Sex: New Perspectives Beyond Consent, will be published by Bristol University Press in 2027.

Brooklyn Donnelly, Abortion Access in Rural Australia: A Feminist Exploration

In Australia, it has been estimated that up to one third of women live in regions where abortion is inaccessible, with rural Australians among those most impacted. Equitable access to abortion is essential for achieving reproductive agency and subsequently, gender equality. In this seminar, Brooklyn will discuss the socio-cultural barriers to abortion access and the unique implications for rural Australians. In theorising abortion access, Brooklyn draws on a feminist adaptation of the work of Pierre Bourdieu to make sense of gaps and barriers to access.

Brooklyn Donnelly (she/her) is a PhD candidate and feminist sociologist at the University of Tasmania. Her PhD research explores abortion access for rural Australians using a lens of feminist sociology. In addition to her academic work, Brooklyn is currently engaged in a project with Women's Health Tasmania exploring the implications of conscientious objection to abortion in Tasmania.