Rebecca Simmons
Research Associate

Profile

Biography

I am currently working as a research associate with Professor Sue Westwood and am working on a number of research projects in the areas of ageing, gender, (in)equalities and the law.

I held a lecturing position in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds from 2025-2026 and taught a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate modules during this time as well as supervising dissertations.

I completed my PhD in Sociology at the University of Leeds, my thesis is titled “Disrupting Menopause: a Queer Feminist Analysis of LGBTQ+ Experiences”. Before joining the University of Leeds I completed a BSc in Criminology and Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London, and an MA in Gender, Violence and Conflict at the University of Sussex.

I hold an associate fellowship of HEA and am a member of the European Network for Ageing Studies, the British Sociological Association and the Feminist Studies Association.

Research

Overview

I am deeply interested in the areas of gender studies and queer theory, with a particular interest in embodied experiences and how phenomena such as menopause can evoke lived experiences which challenge assumptions about sexed and gendered bodies. More broadly I engage with contemporary issues around LGBTQ+ identities and trans inclusivity while working from an intersectional trans-inclusive feminist position. My work challenges gender norms and destabilises embedded hierarchical dualisms such as male/ female, natural/ artificial, cisgender/ transgender.

Publications

Selected publications

• Simmons RA (Forthcoming) Queer Menopause: Expertise, ways of (not) knowing and
  resisting biomedicalisation. The Sociological Review.
• Simmons RA (2023) Abortion to Abolition: Reproductive Health and Justice in Canada by Martha Paynter. International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, 16, (2), pp. 209-213.