ABOUT ME
I am a researcher and author whose work connects developmental psychology, relationships and sex education (RSE), women's reproductive experiences, gender inequality, and death studies. My research examines how social attitudes and institutions shape women's experiences of misogyny, sexuality, shame, pregnancy and perinatal loss (including abortion).
A distinctive feature of my work is its attention to the social context of personal experience. Rather than treating misogyny, shame, grief or distress solely as individual psychological experiences, my research considers how cultural expectations, stigma, gendered assumptions, and institutional responses can shape what people experience and how they are treated.
This brings three closely connected themes together:
Shame and sexual stigma - How labels, sexualised insults and social judgement can shape girls' experiences of pregnancy, sexuality, and loss.
Misogyny and gendered double standards - How expectations about female sexual behaviour can influence the way girls are treated by peers and adults, including within educational settings.
Education, consent, and institutional responses - How relationships and sex education, teacher attitudes, pastoral support, and school policies can either reinforce stigma or help challenge it.
You can read my latest journal articles by clicking on the buttons below.
Research Specialisms:
Developmental Psychology
Death Studies
Relationship and Sexual Health and Education
Trauma-informed Practice
The Book
A definitive guide to grief and grieving...This book will help those who are grieving as well as the people who are supporting them understand how to navigate and communicate through grief and how to reach out to others
Tracey Bleakley, CEO, Hospice UK
For all grief workers - practitioners, volunteers, friends and family - Caroline's narrative is a light to guide us through what can be the dark and confusing landscape of grief
Dr Jennifer Dayes, Counselling Psychologist and Academic
