Staff profile

I completed my PhD in 2018, which explored police response to same-sex partner abuse in England and Wales.

I am currently employed as a Research Associate within the Department of Sociology alongside Professor Catherine Donovan, supporting research activities into violence and abuse within LGBTQ+ people's lives and with Professor Geetanjali Gangoli, exploring police recording of honour-based abuse, forced marriage and female genital mutilation. I am also working on a project alongside researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University and University of Birmingham, which involves exploring and addressing sexual violence on university campuses.

I have also recently been involved in a Home Office funded project exploring family violence perpetration within racially minoritised communities and/or on the basis of gender identity and sexuality.

Prior to my current roles, I worked alongside Professor Simon Hackett to support his research activities in the field of child abuse and neglect; exploring the experiences of children and young people who have been subject to child sexual abuse, and those who display harmful sexual behaviours (HDB). I worked alongside Prof Hackett and Durham Police to carry out a process and impact evaluation of the Child Advocacy Project (2016-2018) which aimed to improve services for children who experience child sexual abuse and/or exploitation. I was also employed as a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Associate based within Durham Police. This two year project aimed to improve police response to coercive control using innovative arts-based methods. We worked alongside Open Clasp Theatre company who produced arts-based training for the police base upon Durham University research exploring experiences of survivors. 

Other projects I have worked on at Durham University within the broad field of violence and abuse have explored: sexual violence in mainstream pornography, domestic violence perpetrator programmes, the remit of LGBTQ+ specialist domestic violence and abuse services, how practitioner-educators teach about child sexual abuse and exploitation.

My research interests include gender and sexuality, domestic abuse, policing of domestic abuse, sexual violence, child abuse and neglect and the experiences of self-harm of people who identify as LGBTQ+.

Chapter in book

• Donovan, C., Butterby, K., & Barnes, R. (2023). ‘I wasn’t aware at the time, I could actually say “no”’: Intimacy, Expectations, and Consent in Queer Relationships. In S. Franklin, H. Piercy, A. Thampuran, & R. White (Eds.), Consent: Legacies, Representations, and Frameworks for the Future (154-169). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003365082-14

Doctoral Thesis

• Butterby, K. (2018). Breaking barriers and building bridges: Police responses to same-sex partner abuse in England and Wales. (Thesis). Durham University. Retrieved from https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1642042

Journal Article

• Butterby, K., & Donovan, C. (2023). The Impact of Police ‘Process-Driven Responses’ on Supporting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and/or Transgender + Victim-Survivors of Domestic Abuse in England. Journal of Family Violence, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-023-00608-5
• Butterby, K., & Hackett, S. (2022). ‘It’s like we’re locked in a box’: Girls’ and mothers’ experiences of the police and legal system following child sexual abuse. Children & Society, 36(1), 149-165. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12490
• Vera-Gray, F., McGlynn, C., Kureshi, I., & Butterby, K. (2021). Sexual violence as a sexual script in mainstream online pornography. The British Journal of Criminology: An International Review of Crime and Society, 61(5), 1243-1260. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azab035

Other (Print)

• Butterby, K., & Westmarland, N. (in press). Victims' views on policing partner violence

Report

• Donovan, C., & Butterby, K. (2020). An eight day working week: LGBT+ Domestic Abuse Sector Snapshot. [No known commissioning body]
• Donovan, C., Butterworth, K., Durey, M., & Hugman, C. (2015). Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland: Tyneside Rape Crisis (covering Gateshead, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, North Tyneside and South Tyneside). [No known commissioning body]
• Northumberland: Grace (covering Northumberland). [No known commissioning body]
• Donovan, C., Durey, M., Butterworth, K., & Hugman, C. (2015). Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland : Tyneside Rape Crisis (covering Gateshead, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, North Tyneside and South Tyneside) : service evaluation. [No known commissioning body]
• Donovan, C., Durey, M., Butterworth, K., & Hugman, C. (2015). Rape crisis Tyneside and Northumberland : Grace (covering Northumberland) : Rape Crisis service evaluation. [No known commissioning body]