Public Engagement

The SHaME Project generated a number of significant research and public engagement outputs throughout the course of the project, which ran from 2018-2024. In this Project Round-Up you'll find links to our most notable outputs and achievements.

Dr Rhea Sookdeosingh, SHaME's Public Engagement Lead, has written an end of grant report, highlighting SHaME's groundbreaking work across research, engagement and activism from 2018-2024.

SHaME: Stories of Survival is a survivor-led documentary film co-produced by SHaME and filmmaker Sophie MacCorquodale exploring the stories of four survivors of sexual violence sharing their reflections on the aftercare they received.

On Wednesday 06 March 2024, The SHaME Project and Birkbeck's Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Mental Health hosted an online seminar on public engagement with lived experience research with Zara Asif and Dr Rhea Sookdeosingh, chaired by Dr Sarah Marks.

On 05 March 2024 SHaME is held its final online event, a book launch for Challenging Conceptions: Children Born of Wartime Rape and Sexual Exploitation in collaboration with Tufts University.

Writer and historian Julie Wheelwright reflects on the Writing Narratively on Difficult Subjects workshop series she led for The SHaME Project, which brought together academics and practitioners researching and writing about sexual violence.

SHaME Public Engagement Lead, Dr Rhea Sookdeosingh, was a contributor at the NCCPE's annual Engage Conference, facilitating a conversation on ethics and public engagement and showcasing the Shameless! Festival of Activism Against Sexual Violence.

In this edition of Spotlight On, SHaME Director Dr Ruth Beecher interviews Fiona Ellis from Survivors In Transition.

How can historians meaningfully and ethically research past experiences of sexual violence? History Workshop Online's Dr Marybeth Hamilton and SHaME's Dr Ruth Beecher and Dr Rhian Keyse discuss the often surprising dynamics of the histories they’ve uncovered – and the strategies and supports they’ve developed for navigating their own emotions in conducting such emotionally challenging research.

What is the history of activism against sexual violence? History Workshop Online's Marybeth Hamilton and SHaME's Dr Rhea Sookdeosingh, Dr George Severs, and Allison McKibban complicate the dominant histories, strategies, narratives, and stigmas associated with sexual violence.

Child marriage is often conceived of as embedded in the past, but there is little attention to its historical context. Rhian Keyse explores how this obscures the shifting dynamics and social meanings of such practices.

When does the call for ‘speaking out’ against sexual violence begin to silence? Reflecting on the #MeToo moment, Allison McKibban argues mainstream Western movements against sexual violence are often insidiously laced with colonial violence. She calls on activists and researchers to embrace a self-reflective and decolonial listening to create a truly transformative movement against sexual violence.

Is the family a place of safety or a trap? SHaME Director Dr Ruth Beecher explores the institution of the family and the (lack of) recognition of child sexual abuse within it.

Dr George Severs argues that the history of male victims of rape and sexual violence should make us all alert to the ways in which gender norms silence male experiences of abuse, and prompt us to hear hear male survivors who are so often both silent and silenced.

Can medical institutions participate in colonial violence? SHaME's Allison McKibban argues the involuntary sterilization of tens of thousands of Native American women in the 1970s must be rehistoricised as part of the U.S. government’s broader campaign of genocide.

SHaME Associate Fellow Dr Stephanie Wright explores how society approaches the sexual desires of those with disabilities. She establishes how the historical lack of acknowledgement of vulnerable people's sexual autonomy can result in an increased possibility of harm. 

SHaME Public Engagement Coordinators Dr Rhea Sookdeosingh and Allison McKibban introduce (Un)Silenced, a series in collaboration with History Workshop Online, which explores how sexual violence relates to various societal institutions.

How has sexual violence been produced through different institutional cultures of harm? And what strategies have survivors used to counter silence, shame, and stigma? The SHaME team explores various forms of institutional sexual violence in a series originally published with History Workshop Online in 2022.