Northumbria prof sexes up law

Has your lecturer been to a porn studio?

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Professor Chris Ashford isn’t your ordinary (dull) law lecturer.

He specialises in the rather more controversial area of law and sexuality, writing on topics ranging from BDSM (do not google this on your Uni PC) to online sex workers:

“When I was an undergrad student I was interested and passionate about my sexuality, so it seemed a natural area of focus.”

He can pose with the best of us

Chris has established himself as a leading contributor to work on law and sexuality and is currently writing a book about public sex.

Many would still view Chris’ area of expertise as controversial but he shrugged and said: “It’s quite a common area now.”

In his research Chris has come into contact with groups that are controversial, to say the least.

Although he hasn’t spent his career researching in cruising zones and cottaging hotspots, he’s travelled to California to see the ins and outs of a porn studio.

He revealed to that his trip uncovered “the dull reality” behind porn films.

We can all relate to this

But it’s not all fun and games. Chris emphasised building trust with groups who are “demonised by society and often misunderstood or condemned” as an important part of his research in that very often the minority groups feel like they’re going to be tricked or undermined.

Chris has had great feedback on his subject from the students he’s lectured. Students are often surprised that studying law and sexuality is sufficiently academic enough – which Chris said he found “bizarre as it effects real people”.

“People have a real appetite for talking about issues that affect people in real life. Most people have sex so most people have views on it”.

Law students can often be heard to complain about how boring a subject it can be, but Chris has passed on some sage advice:

“For those who think law is a boring subject, they’ve not studied the right kind of law.”

You can follow Chris on twitter @lawandsexuality