Alex's research focuses on criminal law and criminal justice, sexuality, drugs, feminist and queer theory
I joined Goldsmiths from Royal Holloway, University of London, where I was a Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Law. My work explores the regulation of sexuality, criminal law and criminal justice, technologies and biopolitics, feminist and queer theory.
My current research examines gender, sexuality and cultures of drug use. This is the focus of a project funded by British Academy/Leverhulme Trust (https://sexandpsychedelics.squarespace.com) looking at how and why people use psychedelics to manage trauma related to sex in the context of a 'renaissance' of research into the benefits of legalising psychedelics as therapeutic medicines. I am also currently working collaboratively on an upcoming exhibition on sex and psychedelics. Previously, I led a wide-ranging project on the past, present and future of sex on drugs, funded by the Wellcome Trust.
I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I currently serve as Director of Research and Postgraduate Research Convenor for Law.
Teaching and supervision
I would be delighted to hear from potential MPhil/PhD candidates interested in pursuing doctoral study in the following areas:
Any area of criminal law or criminal justice (UK focus)
Sexuality and gender, and feminist and queer theory
Drug use and drug policy
I have previously supervised PhDs in a range of areas, including the criminalisation of young people who 'sext'; HIV medicine use in Nigeria; sexual, drugs and consent.
I currently co-supervise two PhD students:
Adam Morby (Politics), Adam Christianson (Sociology)
My current principal interests are sexual cultures and cultures of drug use, and the intersections between the two. I am particularly interested in the meanings we attach to sex-related drug use now and historically, and the relationship between the effects of enhancement and repair.
I am currently working on the following:
Sexuality and Psychedelics (2021 - present): This British Academy/Leverhulme Trust-funded project examines how and why people use psychedelic drugs to manage sexual trauma (subjectively defined). Although psychedelics remain criminalised, they continue to be hailed as effective mental health technologies. I am interested in how people understand their experiences with these substances in relation to sexual problems specifically. This research builds on a previous Wellcome Trust-funded project on pharmacosexuality (https://pharmacosexuality.wordpress.com/) (2018-2020), which examined the meanings attached historically and contemporarily to sex-related drug use, and the role illicit drugs have played in shaping contemporary sexual cultures and sexual identities.
Gender and Online Drug Purchasing (2022 - present): Working collaboratively with Dr Jennifer Fleetwood (Sociology, Goldsmiths) and Release UK, this project and the resulting report explores changing patterns of women's drug purchasing during and 'after' the Covid pandemic. We have received an Impact Grant from the Socio-Legal Studies Association to promote and publicise the results of this research.
I also maintain my longer term interests in new criminal-legal developments and processes of criminalisation in the area of sexuality and sexual representations, and have published widely on e.g. 'revenge pornography', 'extreme pornography', and 'chemsex'.
Grants and awards
2021:
The Sexual Politics of the Psychedelic Renaissance
British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Small Research Grant
Kneale, Dylan; French, Robert; Spandler, Helen; Young, Ingrid; Purcell, Carrie; Boden, Zoë; Brown, Steven D.; Callwood, Dan; Carr, Sarah; Dymock, Alex; Eastham, Rachael; Gabb, Jacqui; Henley, Josie; Jones, Charlotte; McDermott, Elizabeth; Mkhwanazi, Nolwazi; Ravenhill, James; Reavey, Paula; Scott, Rachel; Smith, Clarissa; Smith, Matthew; Thomas, James and Tingay, Karen. 2019. Conducting sexualities research: an outline of emergent issues and case studies from ten Wellcome-funded projects. Discussion Paper. Wellcome Open Research.
Professional projects
I am currently working with the Museum of Sex in New York to co-curate an upcoming exhibition on sex and psychedelics, drawing on my current and previous research.
