Saarrah Ray

DPhil Law

Other affiliations

Faculty of Law Medical Law Discussion Group The Queen's College Bonavero Institute of Human Rights Worcester College

Biography

Saarrah Ray is a DPhil in Law candidate. Her thesis explores Radical Feminism on Reconceptualising the ‘Designer Vagina’ as Violence Against Women: An Argument Supporting the Criminalisation of Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery. Her thesis is supervised by Professor Imogen Goold and Professor Jonathan Herring.

She is also a Graduate Research Resident at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights (January 2024 - December 2024). And she has held Lectureships in Law at The Queen's College (Oxford) and Worcester College (Oxford), teaching Tort Law and Criminal Law.

Saarrah's Visiting Research Residency at the Brocher Foundation will commence in March 2025.

Saarrah holds an LLB (Hons) (first-class) and an MA in Bioethics and Medical Law (distinction) from St Mary’s University Twickenham, London. Her general research interests include violence against women and girls, body modifications, sexual politics and feminist legal theory. She also volunteers for The Vavengers, a UK-based charity working to eradicate female genital mutilation.

Featured Publications

Ray S, ‘Sister, Is this Mutilation?’ [2024] Feminist Legal Studies

Ray S, ‘The ’Virginity’ Myth’ (FACULTY OF LAW BLOGS / UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, 15 January 2024)

Ray S, ‘Chapter Six: The British Campaign to Ban Virginity Testing and Hymenoplasty’ in M Jaschok and others (eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of Harmful Cultural Practices (Routledge 2023)

Ray S, ‘The Husband-Stitch: Could it be Female Genital Mutilation?’ (14 April 2021)