When she passed her Ph.D. viva, literature researcher Ally Louks posted a picture of herself and her thesis on X (formerly Twitter) in November 2024. The photo shared her thesis title: “Olfactory Ethics: The politics of smell in modern and contemporary prose.” The post garnered over 11,000 responses, some deeply negative. Louks received rape and death threats.
Death threats, phone tapping and stalking: The consequences academics can face from sharing their research
