Lucy Neville

I joined Leicester in 2017 and currently lecture in Criminology. I am primarily interested in understanding women's engagement with sex, sex work, and pornography. My PhD thesis in Forensic Psychology involved investigating violence perpetuated against sex workers by both clients and intimate partners across seven metropolitan areas from 1980-2006, and since then I have worked on a number of projects focused around women involved in sex work.

Prior to (re)entering academia I worked for several years at BBC Media Action, the BBC's international development charity. There I worked on projects as diverse as HIV/AIDs awareness in Cambodia, learning English as a second language in Bangladesh, gender-based violence in refugee camps in South Sudan, and a large-scale piece of research investigating the public perception of climate change across Africa. I remain interested in how social issues impact on people cross-culturally, and the role of media in shaping public perceptions.

Before joining the team at Leicester, I was based at Middlesex University where I worked on a number of projects, including: an evaluation of the roll-out of a domestic violence programme across London, a project looking at best practice in outreach with street-based sex workers and young people, a piece of research in collaboration with Alcohol Concern and Mentor looking at the connection between drinking in young people and offending, and a review of domestic homicides for the West Midlands Police Force Area.

I also carry out research into women's production and consumption of pornography, particularly gay pornography. A published writer of erotica myself (under a pen name!) I am interested in the changing landscape of pornography, particularly how women interact with pornography and erotica on both a personal and societal level.

I am one of the founding members of the FemGenSex network of feminist scholars interested in investigating areas around women, gender, and sexuality.