Academic trolled for PhD 'unfazed by the vitriol'

An academic who received death and rape threats after posting a picture of herself on X with her completed PhD has said she feels "quite unfazed by the vitriol".

Dr Ally Louks' post has been viewed 100 million times since she first posted it on 27 November, and has attracted more than 11,000 responses.

The University of Cambridge supervisor, whose thesis is in English Literature, stressed the majority of comments have been "incredibly nice, kind and generous", but after her post "was retweeted by a couple of very right wing accounts" it began to attract negative attention.

X has been approached for comment, while Cambridgeshire Police confirmed an investigation into a report of a hate incident has begun.

Dr Louks reported the rape threat to the police.

"It's definitely been overwhelming and an unusual week for someone who is typically a bookish introvert who doesn't really like attention but I feel quite unfazed by the vitriol," she said about the events, which were first reported by the Daily Mail.

"I was receiving a lot of rape threats, even death threats, but also there were just a lot of people forcing their views about what a woman ought to be or do on me which were entirely beside the point."

Dr Louks' PhD is titled "Olfactory Ethics: The politics of smell in modern and contemporary prose" and took her three and a half years to research and write.

She said her thesis "explores why certain writers of the past century use the language associated with smell to characterise harmful attitudes towards objects of disgust and desire".

"I draw on the well-documented history of olfactory prejudice in order to examine its contemporary relevance," she added.

Dr Louks said: "I don't want to stoop to their level, I don't think it's useful.

"I'm open to criticism, provided it is based in reality and I think it's important to be an example for people because although I never wanted to go viral, I do now have a platform at least for a little bit and I think it's important to show people that we don't have to be this way."

A Cambridgeshire Police spokeswoman said: “We have received a report of a hate incident, namely a threatening email, which was sent to a woman at 22.47 GMT on 1 December following a social media post about her completion of a PhD.

"An investigation has been launched and anyone with any information is urged to contact police."

Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.