The Leather Archives & Museum is pleased to announce the 2023 Visiting Scholar, Alexandra Grolimund. Grolimund will receive a $1,000 stipend, as well as financial support for travel to Chicago to conduct research on-site in the archives.

In addition to this award, the LAM Program Committee chose to recognize applicant Kassandra Sparks with an “Honorable Mention” for their submitted research proposal.

The annual Visiting Scholars program was created in 2010 to support researchers, writers, artists, and filmmakers working in kink, fetish, leather, and BDSM whose projects could benefit from LAM’s vast archival collections.

The program is funded through a generous grant from Leather Sins, hosts of Kinky Kollege in Chicago, IL. This year LAM received 42 applications, the largest number since its inception with an extremely competitive field of research proposals.

The 2023 Visiting Scholar, Alexandra Grolimund, is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Essex, where her interdisciplinary work bridges the School of Law and the School of Philosophy and Art History.

Grolimund’s research focuses on UK criminal law and European human rights law with a focus on the socio-cultural legacy of Operation Spanner. She has numerous publications and conference presentations relating to S/M, consent, and the law.

Grolimund earned an MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BA in International Relations from Webster University. She serves as an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Essex and currently resides in Manningtree, England.

Grolimund’s research at LA&M will explore the international campaign of support that arose during the R v Brown House of Lords case, known colloquially as the Spanner case named after Operation Spanner, the police investigation into gay male sadomasochism across the UK in the 1980s.

In addition to this year’s Visiting Scholar, an Honorable Mention has been given to applicant Kassandra Sparks. Sparks is researching the History of Professional Dominatrixes in New York City and the commercial BDSM industry. Sparks is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of California Berkeley in the Anthropology Department.

Many thanks to Leather Sins and their Kinky Kollege events for their support of this program.

You can visit The Leather Archives & Museum on the web at leatherarchives.org.