About

Home » About

Meet

Sophie Hindes

(they/them) Researcher, Writer and Advocate: Sex and Consent, Gender, Sexuality and Pleasure

I am an early-career researcher, teacher, writer, and advocate. I work at the intersections of gender, sexuality, and gender-based violence, with expertise in LGBTQ+ people and sexual consent.

I am based in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia, and currently work as a Teaching Asssociate and PhD Candidate at the University of Melbourne and a Researcher Assistant at RMIT.  I live and work on the lands of the Wurundjeri people, and I recognise them as the traditional owners of the land. 

This website is a space for me to make my academic writing and research accessible. It is also a space for me to write on issues as an advocate and queer person. I am always open to speaking engagements, consultations, and research collaborations, so please do not hesitate to get in touch!

Twitter Linkedin

Sophie Hindes Resume

Education

2019 - Current

Doctor of Philosophy (Criminology)

University of Melbourne.

Thesis title: Queering Consent.

Research Expertise: sexual violence, sexual consent, queer criminology, gender and sexualities.

2019 - Current

2015 - 2018

Bachelor Criminology and Criminal Justice (with honours – 1st Class)

University of New South Wales.

Thesis title: Reporting in the ‘grey area’: Australian news media constructions of sexual consent, gender and sexuality in cases from the #MeToo movement.

Research Expertise: sexual violence, sexual consent, media analysis, social movements.

2015 - 2018

2010 - 2012

Adv Diploma Live Production, Theatre and Events

Enmore Design Centre.

Skills: Graphic design, event production, event management, set and costume design.

2010 - 2012

2009

Adv Diploma Events Management

TAFE NSW – Northern Beaches Campus.

2009

Teaching/Course Development Experience

2023

Teaching Associate

University of Melbourne – Faculty of Arts.

Course: Gender and Crime.

Key responsibilities: Subject coordination which includes: setting up course material, setting reading list, leading flipped classroom style 2-hour seminars, student consultations, management of tutors & marking moderation. 

2023

2022

University Tutor

University of Melbourne – Faculty of Arts.

Course: Gender and Crime.

Key responsibilities: Preparation of class materials, facilitation of class both in person and over Zoom, facilitation of group discussion, student consultations and marking assessments.

2022

2020

University Tutor

University of Melbourne – Faculty of Arts.

Course: Law, Justice and Social Change.

Key responsibilities: Preparation of class materials, facilitation of class both in person and over Zoom, facilitation of group discussion, student consultations and marking assessments.

2020

Research Positions

2021 - Current

Alternative Reporting Options for Sexual Assault Project

RMIT

Research Assistant/Project Manager on the following projects, led by Professor Georgina Heydon, Professor Nicola Henry & Dr Rachel Loney-Howes.

  • 2023 – CURRENT: National Scoping Study into Alternative Reporting Mechanisms for Victims and Survivors of Sexual Violence. Research Grant from the Attorney General’s Department.
  • 2022 – CURRENT: Victorian Government consultation to provide expert advice on design considerations for an online reporting pathway for sexual violence
  • 2021 – 2022: Alternative reporting options for sexual assault: Investigating their use, purpose and potential. Research grant from the Australian Institute of Criminology.

Key Skills: building and maintaining relationships with key local and national stakeholders including government departments, police, sexual assault and community services, and peak bodies; research design; qualitative and quantitative data analysis; literature review; research synthesis into reports and policy recommendations.

2021 - Current

2022-2023

Achieving Justice for Street Harassment

University of Melbourne

Worked as a Research Assistant on Dr Bianca Fileborn’s DECRA project looking at victim-centered justice responses to street harassment. In this role I have assisted with analysis of qualitative interviews, writing of journal articles, and presenting findings at conferences. 

2022-2023

2020 - 2022

Technology-Facilitated Abuse Project

Monash University

Worked as a Research Assistant on the ANROWS funded research project ‘Technology-facilitated Abuse: Extent, nature and responses in the Australian community’ led by Associate Professors Asher Flynn (Monash) and Anastasia Powell (RMIT). In this role I assisted with: interviews, survey and interview recruitment, designing research flyers, managing social media pages, writing literature reviews, writing ethics applications, analysis of qualitative data, writing of reports and journal articles, and attending stakeholder meetings. 
2020 - 2022

Other Experience

Sept 2018 – Feb 2019

Educational Development Assistant

University of New South Wales.

I assisted the Educational Design and Development department of the university in developing the digital uplift of criminology courses. Duties include researching criminological themes/issues/theories and finding appropriate imagery and videos to sit within digital courses.

Sept 2018 – Feb 2019

Feb 2017 – Feb 2019

Assistant Events Manager and Bookseller

Gleebooks.

Facilitated the logistical planning and execution of 4-5 literary events per week, with patronage of up to 150 people per event. As well as emceeing the events, I managed the casual events staff and liaised with key event stakeholders such as authors, publishers and interlocutors to ensure that events runs smoothly and to time. Additionally, I ran Gleebooks social media and marketing including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and have been able to increase event ticket sales by up to 200% through social media and marketing schemes. I also worked as a casual book seller within the retail store.

Feb 2017 – Feb 2019

Key Skills

  • Project management and administration.
  • Stakeholder liaison and relationship development.
  • Qualitative data analysis.
  • Comprehensive literature review.
  • Qualitative research methods, including focus groups + interviews.
  • Media analysis.
  • Multi-tasking and time management.
  • Report writing and knowledge translation.
  • Ethics applications.
  • High IT proficiency – Microsoft office, NVIVO, Photoshop, InDesign + more.
  • Management of and working within teams.
  • Transcription.
  • Social media management.

Publications

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles & Academic Publications:

Hindes, S. (2023) Beyond Consent Towards Sexual Agency. Writing From Below. 

Flynn, A., Powell, A., Hindes, S. (2023) An Intersectional Analysis of Technology-Facilitated Abuse: Prevalence, Experiences and Impacts of Victimization. The British Journal of Criminology. (online first) 

Flynn, A., Powell, A., Hindes, S. (2023) Policing Technology-Facilitated Abuse. Policing and Society (online first). 

Hindes, S. (2022) Beyond Consent. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Sexuality Education. Palgrave Macmillian.  1-9. 

Hindes, S. & Urry, K. (2022) How COVID-19 is (and is not) changing the way we talk about sex and dating: A critical analysis of sex advice during the pandemic. Sexualities. (online first) 

Hindes, S. & Fileborn. B. (2022) ‘Why did he do it? Because he’s a fucking bloke’: victim insights into the perpetration of street harassment. The British Journal of Criminology. (online first)

Hindes, S. & Fileborn, B., 2020. Reporting on sexual violence ‘inside the closet’: Masculinity, homosexuality and #MeToo. Crime, Media, Culture. 17(2): 163-184. 

Hindes, S. & Fileborn, B., 2019. “Girl power gone wrong”: #MeToo, Aziz Ansari, and media reporting of (grey area) sexual violence. Feminist Media Studies. 20(5): 639-656

Research Reports

Flynn, A., Hindes, S., Powell, A. (2022) Technology-Facilitated Abuse: Interviews with Victims and Survivors and Perpetrators. ANROWS. 

Powell, A., Flynn, A., Hindes, S. (2022) Technology-Facilitated Abuse: National Survey of Australian Adults Experiences. ANROWS. 

Flynn, A., Powell, A., Hindes, S. (2021) Technology-Facilitated Abuse: A Survey of Support Services Stakeholders. ANROWS. 

Journalistic and Popular Writing:

Flynn, A., Powell, A., Hindes, S. (2022) Half of Australians will experience technology-facilitated abuse in their lifetimes: New research. The Conversation.

Hindes, S. (2022) Affirmative consent laws are being introduced in NSW, ACT, and VIC and there’s some major issues with them. Umbrella News. 

Fileborn, B. & Hindes, S. (2022) Catcalls, homophobia and racism: we studied why people (and especially men) engage in street harassment.  The Conversation. 

Hindes, S. (2022) It’s time to re-think the politicisation of violence against women. Umbrella News.

Fileborn, B, & Hindes, S. (2021) How to get consent for sex (and no, it doesn’t have to spoil the mood). The Conversation. 

Hindes, S., Ison, J. & Fileborn, B. (2021). LGBTQ+ people are being ignored in the national conversation on family and sexual violence. The Conversation. 

Fileborn, B. & Hindes, S. (2021) Consent apps are a bad idea – here’s why. Pursuit. 

Fileborn, B., Loney-Howes, R. & Hindes, S. (2019) #MeToo has changed the media landscape, but in Australia there is still much to be done. The Conversation.

 Parlimentary Submissions:

Fileborn, B., Loney-Howes, R., O’Neill, T., & Hindes, S. (2020) Submission to the VLRC – Improving the Response of the Justice System to Sexual Offences

 

Presentations

Hindes, S. (2022) Panel on fieldwork, friendship, and failure.  Invited guest speaker for Ethnoforum at the University of Melbourne. 

Hindes, S. (2022) Rethinking sexual consent as a preventative mechanism for sexual violence. Invited video content creation for the University of Melbourne subject Gender and Crime. 

Hindes, S. (2022) Beyond consent: how queer people negotiate sex and identity. Invited presentation at Sexology in Practice Symposium. Australian Society of Sexologists (online). 

Hindes, S. (2022) Beyond consent towards comfort: A phenomenological understanding of sexual communication. Queer Questions and Directions Conference. Macquarie University. 

Hindes, S. & Fileborn, B. (2022) LGBTQ+ people’s experiences of street harassment. Queer Questions and Directions Conference. Macquarie University. 

Hindes, S. (2022) Yes means yes? Consent and sex education. Invited panelist for the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology ‘Gender, Sex and Sexualities’ thematic group event. 

Hindes, S. (2021) Beyond consent: how queer people navigate sex and relationships.  As part of the panel: Beyond law reform: (re)imagining responses to gendered violence. Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology Conference. Griffith Criminology Institute. 

Hindes, S. (2021) From Consent to Sexual Agency: Queer Insights on Negotiating Sex. Invited guest lecture presented at the Barry Symposium: Criminology and it’s Discontents at The University of Melbourne. 

Hindes, S. (2021). From Consent to Sexual Agency: Queer Insights on Negotiating Sex. Conference Paper presented at New Futures in Gender and Sexualities at Deakin University.

Hindes, S. (2021). Positive Criminology. Invited guest workshop presented at the University of Melbourne – Critical Paradigms Series. 

Hindes, S. and Mitchell, M. (2020). All Tied Up: Playing with Queer Tensions. Invited guest Lecture/Workshop presented at the University of Melbourne – ‘Criminology Conversations’ series. 

Hindes, S. (2020). Social Change with and Outside the Law: Sexual Violence, Rape Law Reform and Consent. Invited guest lecture presented at the University of Melbourne for the undergraduate course Law, Justice and Social Change.

Hindes, S. (2020). Sex and the Body. Guest workshop presented at the University of Melbourne – Critical Paradigms Series.

Hindes, S. (2019). Queering Consent. Paper presented at the Victorian Postgraduate Criminology Conference, Monash University, Melbourne.

Hindes, S. (2019). Queering Consent. Paper presented at the Bodies of Work Conference, Sydney University, Sydney 

Media

Podcast guest:

2020 – Triple-bi-pass on JoyFM: Queering Consent with Sophie Hindes!

2020 – Out of the Pan on 3CR with Sally Goldner:  Queering Consent and Mardi Gras Review

2020 – PhD Pandemic Episode 1: Sexual Consent in Queer Relationships

 

References

Contact me for my professional references.

Share on Facebook
Share on LinkedIn
Share on Reddit
Share on WhatsApp
Email a Friend
Scroll to Top