Recording of our Rethinking Consent webinar, which took place on Sunday 25 February 2024.
Transcripts
Speakers
Esther: Esther has a longstanding interest in research on legal and public policy approaches to sexualised violence and domestic abuse. She uses her own experience of porn and prostitution to reflect on these issues.
Emily Husain: Emily is a civil barrister and feminist who has volunteered with women’s organisations and groups addressing violence against women for several years. Emily has a particular interest in the domestic and international legislative framework surrounding prostitution and she joined NMN in 2023. Emily will chair the webinar.
Wendy Murphy: Wendy has served as adjunct professor of Sexual Violence and Law Reform at New England Law | Boston for more than twenty years where she also co-directs the Women’s and Children’s Advocacy Project (WCAP) under the Center for Law and Social Responsibility. Wendy founded the Judicial Language Project, which uses sociolinguistic research to critique the language used in law and society to describe violence against women and children. She writes amicus briefs and engages in public interest litigation to advance the rights of women and children. In addition, Wendy runs the JD/PhD project which brings together a JD student and PhD student to work across disciplines in the development of a written critique of the methodological reliability of scientific research to either enhance or prevent its admissibility in legal proceedings, and impact on human behavior. In 2020 Wendy filed a landmark federal lawsuit to validate the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and establish women’s equality under the United States Constitution.
Wendy served as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School from 2002-03 and was the Mary Joe Frug Assistant Professor of Law at New England Law | Boston from 2001-2002. She is a former child abuse and sex crimes prosecutor. In 1992, Wendy founded the first legal organization in the nation to provide pro bono legal services to victims of sexual and other forms of violence involved in the criminal justice system. She is an impact litigator who practices in state and federal court and specializes in the advancement of constitutional and civil rights for women and children.
Wendy is the author of numerous scholarly articles including a landmark piece explaining the legal relationship between sexual assault on campus and Title IX. Dubbed the “Goddaughter of Title IX” by the “Godmother of Title IX,” Dr. Bernice Sandler, Wendy filed many lawsuits involving Title IX and campus sexual assault, beginning in the early 1990s, resulting in groundbreaking victories against Harvard College in 2002, and Harvard Law School and Princeton University in 2010. These cases led to widespread awareness and reforms, including the well-known April 2011, Dear Colleague Letter.
Wendy is fiercely non-partisan and has worked as a legal analyst for several national network and cable television channels. Described by Emmy Award-winning journalist Emily Rooney as the “best talker” on television with a “finger on the pulse of victims’ and women’s rights” Wendy has worked for NBC, CBS, CNN, and Fox News. She is the author of “And Justice For Some,” published by Penguin/Sentinel in 2007 and has a new book coming out in April 2023 entitled, “Oh No He Didn’t, Brilliant Women and the Men Who Took Credit for Their Work”.