Dr Sarah Ailwood Dr

Sarah’s research draws on literary studies, gender theory and legal theory to investigate relationships between gender and subjectivity in both law and literature. Her primary research interest lies in how women negotiate conceptions of selfhood, subjectivity and agency through textual genres, particularly through a legal lens.

Sarah’s current research explores women’s testimony of legal experience both within and beyond the courtroom, from the eighteenth century to the present, with a particular focus on the #metoo movement. She is investigating the eighteenth-century origins of the #metoo movement, as well as Australian responses to #metoo, including through defamation law and through sexual harassment law reform processes. Sarah is undertaking a new research project investigating the critical role that listening plays in feminist law reform, both historically and in the present.

Sarah also has ongoing research interests in women’s writing, specifically on the eighteenth century and Romantic era. Her book Jane Austen’s Men: Rewriting Masculinity in the Romantic Era (Routledge, 2020) explores the creation of a new model of masculine identity attuned to feminine agency by Austen in concert with other women writers of the Romantic era. She has also published articles and essays on Austen’s men and regularly reviews for journals and academic publishers on eighteenth-century and Romantic women’s writing.