Professor Alex Sharpe

Title: Professor of Law
Phone: +44(0)1782 733528
Email:
Location: Chancellor's Building, room CBC2.024
Role: Director of Postgraduate Research (Law)
Director of the Gender, Sexuality & Law LLM Programme
Contacting me: During office hours or email to make an appointment.

LLB (University of Warwick); LLM (University of Western Australia); PhD (Keele); Barrister.

Professor Sharpe joined Keele in 2004. Prior to her appointment at Keele she taught and researched at Macquarie University, the University of Sydney, the University of Western Australia, the University of East London and the LSE. She has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Sydney, McGill University, Montreal and Lund University, Sweden.

Professor Sharpe’s primary research interests lie in the areas of Social and Legal Theory, Legal History, and Gender, Sexuality and the Law. She is the author of  Foucault’s Monsters and the Challenge of Law (London: Routledge, 2010) and Transgender Jurisprudence: Dysphoric Bodies of Law (London: Cavendish, 2002).

Her study of transgender and the law is the first book-length critical treatment of the subject area. In her most recent book, Foucault’s Monsters, she develops her interest in law’s production of outsiders by providing a theoretical and historical analysis of the legal category monster.

Alex is happy to supervise postgraduate research students in the areas of Social and Legal Theory and Gender, Sexuality and the Law. She would especially like to supervise PhD students keen to explore medico-legal issues surrounding transgender/Intersex. A variety of PhD funding possibilities are available at Keele. 

Alex is currently supervising the following PhD students:

 

Robyn Emmerton, 'Transgender People, Prisons and Human Rights' (Faculty funded scholarship) (2013 -)

Stella Coyle, 'Competing Rights: Sexuality, Religion, Identity and Equality' (GTA School funded scholarship) (2012 -)

 

 

 

Selected Publications

  • Sharpe A. 2014. Criminalising Sexual Intimacy: Transgender Defendants and the Legal Construction of Non-Consent. Criminal Law Review forthcoming. link> link>
  • Sharpe A. 2013. As a Transgender Woman in Prison Chelsea Manning is Commencing the Greatest Struggle of her Life. The Independent. link> link>
  • Sharpe A. 2013. We Must Not Uphold Gender Norms at the Expense of Human Dignity: Sexual Intimacy, Gender Variance and the Criminal Law. New Statesman, vol. 1st May http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/05/we-must-not-uphold-gender-norms-expense-human-dignity. link> link>
  • Sharpe A. 2012. Transgender Marriage and the Legal Obligation to Disclose Gender History. Modern Law Review, vol. 75(1), 33-53. link> doi>
  • Sharpe A. 2010. Foucault's Monsters and the Challenge of Law. London: Routledge pp 184.

Full Publications List show

Books

  • Sharpe A. 2010. Foucault's Monsters and the Challenge of Law. London: Routledge pp 184.
  • Sharpe A. 2002. Transgender Jurisprudence: Dysphoric Bodies of Law. London: Cavendish pp 229.

Journal Articles

  • Sharpe A. 2014. Criminalising Sexual Intimacy: Transgender Defendants and the Legal Construction of Non-Consent. Criminal Law Review forthcoming. link> link>
  • Sharpe A. 2013. As a Transgender Woman in Prison Chelsea Manning is Commencing the Greatest Struggle of her Life. The Independent. link> link>
  • Sharpe A. 2013. We Must Not Uphold Gender Norms at the Expense of Human Dignity: Sexual Intimacy, Gender Variance and the Criminal Law. New Statesman, vol. 1st May http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/05/we-must-not-uphold-gender-norms-expense-human-dignity. link> link>
  • Sharpe A, Wegerstad L, Selberg N. 2012. 'Law's Outsiders: An Interview with Alex Sharpe'. Retfaerd (Nordic Law Journal), vol. 35(3). link> link>
  • Sharpe A. 2012. Transgender Marriage and the Legal Obligation to Disclose Gender History. Modern Law Review, vol. 75(1), 33-53. link> doi>
  • Sharpe A. 2009. Gender Recognition in the UK: A Return to the 'Truth' of the Past. SOC LEGAL STUD, vol. 18(2), 259-263. doi>
  • Sharpe A. 2009. Gender Recognition in the UK: A Great Leap Forward. SOC LEGAL STUD, vol. 18(2), 241-245. doi>
  • Sharpe A. 2009. England's Legal Monsters. Law, Culture and the Humanities, vol. 5(1), 100-130. doi>
  • Sharpe A. 2007. Structured Like A Monster: Understanding Human Difference Through A Legal Category. Law and Critique, vol. 18(2), 207-228. doi>
  • Sharpe A. 2007. Endless Sex: The Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the Persistence of a Legal Category. Feminist Legal Studies, vol. 15(1), 57-84. doi>
  • Sharpe A. 2007. A Critique of the Gender Recognition Act 2004. J BIOETHIC INQ, vol. 4(1), 33-42. doi>
  • Sharpe A. 2007. Foucault's Monsters, the Abnormal Individual and the Challenge of English Law. Journal of Historical Sociology, vol. 20(3), 384-403.
  • Sharpe A and Moran LJ. 2004. Violence, Identity and Policing: the Case of Violence against Transgender People. Criminal Justice, vol. 4(4), 395-417.
  • Sharpe A. 2003. Talking Point: Kevin and Jennifer Revisited. Polare, 33-34. link>
  • Sharpe A. 2002. Thinking Critically in Moments of Transgender Law Reform: Re Kevin and Jennifer v Attorney-General for the Commonwealth. Griffith Law Review, vol. 11(2), 309-331.
  • Sharpe A. 2002. English Transgender Law Reform and the Spectre of Corbett. Feminist Legal Studies, vol. 10(1), 65-89.
  • Sharpe A. 2002. Intersex, Transgender and English Law Reform. Transgender Tapestry, 39-41. link>
  • Moran LJ and Sharpe A. 2002. Policing the Transgender/Violence Relation. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, vol. 13(3), 269-285.
  • Sharpe A. 2002. Sex, Marriage and the F2M. Torque, vol. 2, 11-13. link>
  • Sharpe A. 2001. One Step Beyond: the New Zealand Judiciary and Transgender Law Reform. Alternative Law Journal, vol. 26(3), 130-135.
  • Sharpe A. 2001. From Functionality to Aesthetics: the Architecture of Transgender Jurisprudence. Murdoch University Electronic Law Journal, vol. 8(1). link>
  • Sharpe A. 2001. In the Shadow of Homosexual Anxiety: Transgender Law Reform in Western Australia. Gay and Lesbian Law Journal, vol. 10, 1-26.
  • Sharpe A. 2000. (Trans)Sexual Dissidents: Beyond Law's Desire. ALSA Law Reporter, vol. 9, 30-34. link>
  • Sharpe A. 2000. Reporting Transgender Violence: Encounters with the Police. Polare. link>
  • Sharpe A. 2000. Transgender Jurisprudence and the Spectre of Homosexuality. Australian Feminist Law Journal, vol. 14(1), 23-37.
  • Sharpe A. 1999. Imagining the Sexual: Transgendered Desire and Law's Limit. Flinders Journal of Law Reform, vol. 3(2), 273-282. link>
  • Sharpe A. 1999. Transgender Performance and the Discriminating Gaze: A Critique of Anti-Discrimination Regulatory Regimes. Social and Legal Studies: An International Journal, vol. 8(1), 5-24. link>
  • Sharpe A. 1997. Anglo-Australian Judicial Approaches to Transsexuality: Discontinuities, Continuities and Wider Issues at Stake. Social and Legal Studies: An International Journal, vol. 6(1), 23-50.
  • Sharpe A. 1997. Attempting the 'Impossible': The Case of Transsexual Rape. Criminal Law Journal, vol. 21(1), 23-31. link>
  • Sharpe A. 1997. Naturalising Sex Difference through Sport: An Examination of the New South Wales Transgender Legislation. Alternative Law Journal, vol. 22(1), 40-41. link>
  • Sharpe A. 1997. The Transsexual and Marriage: Law's Contradictory Desires. Australasian Gay and Lesbian Law Journal, vol. 7, 1-14. link>
  • Sharpe A. 1997. Theoretical Note: Coercion and the Status of Non-compliant Action. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, vol. 30(1), 95-96. link>
  • Sharpe A. 1996. Judicial Uses of Transsexuality: A Site for Political Contestation. Alternative Law Journal, vol. 21(4), 153-156. link>
  • Sharpe A. 1995. Corporate Performance Crime as Structurally Coerced Action. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, vol. 28(1), 73-92. link>
  • Sharpe A. 1995. Police performance Crime as Structurally Coerced Action. Policing and Society: An International Journal of Research and Policy, vol. 5(3), 201-220.
  • Sharpe A. 1995. The Failure to Degenderise the Law of Rape: The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act and the Transsexual Rape Victim. The Criminal Lawyer, 7-8. link>
  • Sharpe A. 1994. The Precarious Position of the Transsexual Rape Victim. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, vol. 6(2), 303-307. link>

Chapters

  • Sharpe A. 2010. Marriage and Civil Partnerships: Equality and Difference. In Multikulturalismus Queer Gelesen: Zwangsheirat und Gleichgeschlechtliche ehe in Pluralen Gesellschaften. Strasser S and Holzleithner E (Eds.). Frankfurt: Campus Verlag.
  • SHARPE A. 2010. Structured Like a Monster: Understanding Human Difference through a Legal Category'. In Foucault and the Law. Golder B and Fitzpatrick P (Eds.). Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate.
  • SHARPE A. 2008. Endless sex: The Gender Recognition Act and the Persistence of a Legal Category. In The Family, Law and Society: Cases and Materials. Hale B, Monk D, Cooke E, Pearl D (Eds.). (6th revised edition ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • SHARPE A. 2006. From Functionality to Aesthetics: The Architecture of Transgender Jurisprudence. In The Transgender Studies Reader. Stryker S and Whittle S (Eds.). New York: Routledge.
  • SHARPE A. 2006. Transgender Jurisprudence and the Spectre of Homosexuality. In Sexuality and Identity: Volume of the International Library of Essays in Law and Society. Moran L (Ed.). Aldershot: Ashgate.
  • Sharpe A, Witten T, Pirelli-Benestad EE, Berger I, Ekins RJM, Ettner R, Harima K, Nodin N, P'yatokha V, King D, Landen M. 2003. 'Entry for Transgender/Transsexual'. In The Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender: Men and Women in the World's Cultures. Ember CR and Ember M (Eds.). New York: Kluwer/Plenum.
  • Sharpe A. 1998. Institutionalising Heterosexuality: The Legal Exclusion of 'Impossible' (Trans)sexualities'. In Legal Queeries: Lesbian, Gay and Transgender Legal Studies. Moran L, Monk D, Beresford, S (Eds.). London: Cassell. link>

Other

  • Sharpe A. 2013. Book review of Intersexuality and the Law: Why Sex Matters (2012) Julie A. Greenberg, New York University Press.
  • Sharpe A. 2009. Book Review of Transgender Voices: Beyond Women and Men (2008) Lori B. Girshick, University Press of New England, Lebanon.
  • Sharpe A. 1998. Book Review of Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism (1997) P. Califia, Cleis Press, San Francisco.
  • Sharpe A. 1997. Book Review of Corporate Crime: Contemporary Debates (1995) (eds) F.Pearce & L. Snider, University of Toronto Press, Toronto. Australia.
  • Sharpe A. 1997. Book Review of Homophobic Violence (1997) (eds) G. Mason & S. Tomsen, Hawkins Press, Sydney. Australia.
  • Sharpe A. 1996. Book Review of Crime and Criminology: An Introduction (1996) (eds) R. White & F. Haines, Oxford University Press.

Undergraduate:

Crime 1 (Compulsory Module)
Crime 2 (Compulsory Module)
Crime 3 (Elective Module - Module Leader)
Gender, Sexuality & Law (Elective Module - Module Leader)

Postgraduate:

LLM Gender, Sexuality and Law
MA Human Rights, Globalisation and Justice
MA Medical Ethics and Law
MRes Social Science Research Methods in Law
MA Safeguarding Adults: Law, Policy & Practice
MA Child Care Law and Practice
LLM Law and Society

Academic referee for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Member of the International Legal Committee of WPATH (World Professional Association of Transgender Health).

Editorial Board Member of the International Journal of Transgenderism.

Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Sexualities, Gender and Justice.

Member of the Centre for Law, Gender & Sexuality.

Associate Member of the Research Centre for Somatechnics. 

Member of the Socio-Legal Studies Association.

Consultant to government bodies, NGOs and law firms concerning transgender legal issues.