Date: Friday 28 November 2025
Time: 12:00pm AEST
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.
AWGSA Seminar Series
AWGSA Seminar EOI
At AWGSA we want to be able to platform you and your work, and one of the key ways we do this is through our blogs and seminar series, where members can share all things women and gender studies.
Do you have works in progress, research findings or methods, creative work, or other feminist projects you’re working on or involved in that you would like to share in an online seminar? Presenters will speak for 10-15 minutes, and there will be time for Q and A.
We’ll have an optional tie-in between seminars and our blog, so you’ll have the opportunity to write up a short piece to continue the conversation, promote your work or develop ideas based on feedback.
Seminars are from 12pm (AEST) to 1pm.
Seminar Dates 2025
Fri 30 May
Fri 25 July
Fri 26 September
Friday 28 November
Send
– a short pitch (approx 100 words)
– and state your preferred date
to Rosie Shorter rosie.shorter@unimelb.edu.au
PhD students and ECRs are encouraged to pitch.
Previous Seminars
Date: Friday 30 May 2025
Time: 16:30pm AEST
Event Title: Online Research Seminar
Cost: Free – $25
Summary: Join us with speakers Dr Naomi Smith and Chelsea Wallis.
Date: Wednesday 24th April 2024
Time: 16:30pm AEST
Event Title: Online Research Seminar: Men. Milk. Media.
Register: Humantix
Cost: Free – $25
Summary: Join us with speakers Dr Josephine Browne, Amanda Fiedler, and Ali Hickling as these AWGSA exec members discuss their current and emerging research in feminism and gender studies.
More information to come.
