Latest news with #AllyLouks
BBC News
01-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Cambridge Uni academic reflects on her social media storm
Some people seek fame or infamy on social media, while others find themselves embroiled in a storm of unsolicited and often vitriolic comments. This happened to a Cambridge University academic - but how has being in the spotlight affected her?A photo of Dr Ally Louks and her completed PhD thesis, posted to X in November 2024, attracted viral fame when it was viewed more than 120 million times - and the numbers have risen steadily since the congratulations and interest in her subject - "the politics of smell" - were many disturbing comments, mysogynistic, accusatory and personally on the experience three months on, she says: "This has undoubtedly changed my life... and while I would not wish this on anyone, it has given me a platform to speak positively about academia and research." Dr Louks, a supervisor in English Literature at the university, is a self-confessed introvert and rarely used social media before posting her photo - which was mainly intended for her friends - on X. Her subject - "Olfactory Ethics: The politics of smell in modern and contemporary prose" - explored "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 example, her work looked at Hitler's claims about the smell of Jewish people in his book Mein Kampf, and how descriptions of the transatlantic slave trade were also used "to legitimize racism".Her seemingly innocent post attracted a number of abusive comments from people who believed women should stay out of academia and those who did not understand her work, and were "under-informed or indeed uninformed", as she puts comments included threats of rape and death. 'I wasn't sleeping' Within about 36 hours of her post, the haters got on board."It was pretty all-consuming for the first week," she says. "Replies were coming in far faster than I could read them, so I wasn't sleeping much in an attempt to keep up with the conversation. "I won't pretend that it was pleasant to have people saying unkind things, but the critiques were ultimately quite baseless as they were based on the title and abstract of my thesis alone or were downright misogynistic. "It never caused me to question the value or validity of my work. I tried to approach the situation with openness and intellectual curiosity, because there was some valid scepticism, and I've relished the opportunity to prove the worth of my work among the public audience that I've been gifted." 'Don't engage' Dr Louks says she tried to approach the attention - both good and bad - in a positive way - and would advise anyone else to do the same."The positive comments I received significantly outweighed the negatives, but the negative ones were liked and shared which boosted them to the top of my feed."I refused to engage with anyone who was aggressive or insulting but I did respond to some people who were sceptical or just didn't understand my work. I was perfectly happy to prove the validity of it."I don't engage so there's no point in the negative posters carrying on."My story shows that it's possible to remain both open to criticism and respectful of others online whilst also defending what matters, which is the value and validity of research in the humanities and the legitimacy of women's role in academia." 'I'm an introvert' "Initially I was very shaken up when the hateful comments starting coming in," she says."I'm an introvert and I never asked for this - and while some people say they are even jealous of this social media 'fame', I wouldn't wish this on anyone."But it has given me a platform to talk about the importance of academia so for me, personally, it's undoubtedly been a good thing."Dr Louks now has been assigned both a British and American literary agent."It doesn't go over my head that the reason that I have all of these opportunities is because people responded to my work with such scepticism initially," she previously told the BBC. 'There was support' Dr Louks says she received - and continues to receive - support from both her college and the university as a whole, which she describes as "really heartening"."This experience has undoubtedly changed my life... but in many ways this experience hasn't changed me. "I think a lot of people want this kind of attention, but I have never harboured a desire to become famous. "What I am passionate about doing is sharing my research, sparking conversations about important social phenomena, and translating academic work for public audiences, and this experience has given me a platform to do that and to perhaps turn that into a career." 'A learning experience' For someone who used to shy away from social media, she admits that "all of the things I post get a lot of attention now because I have gained a large following". "I go 'viral' nearly every day by my old standards - posts which would sometimes attract up to 10 likes from my friends."But the attention has been overwhelmingly positive since that initial post. "I do think very carefully about what I say online now, and as a generally offline person, it has been a real learning experience, but I think you typically can't go too wrong if you remain open to feedback and approach discussions with generosity and a willingness to listen." Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
22-02-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Academic trolled for Cambridge University PhD gets literary agent
An academic who received death threats in response to her completed PhD about "the politics of smell" has been assigned both a British and American literary agent. A photo of Dr Ally Louks and her completed thesis, posted to X in November 2024, attracted viral fame when it was viewed more than 120 million the The University of Cambridge supervisor said there had been a lot of positive feedback from people, her post also resulted in negative attention, misogynistic comments and even rape and death threats. Despite the online attacks she said: "I have really relished the opportunity to try to prove the value of my work among that public audience." Since the vial post, her works have now been picked up by a British and an American literary agent who she said were "both absolutely wonderful.""It doesn't go over my head that the reason that I have all of these opportunities is because people responded to my work with such scepticism initially," she said. Her PhD, which took three-and-a-half years to research and write, was titled "Olfactory Ethics: The politics of smell in modern and contemporary prose".It explored why some writers used language associated with smell to characterise harmful attitudes toward objects of "disgust and desire".Dr Louks told the BBC: "It speaks very strongly to disgust as the so called Foetor Judaicus which is the smell of Jews that Hitler talked about in Mein Kampf." She also spoke about how smells were also used during the transatlantic slave trade "to legitimize racism". Following the completion of her works, Dr Louks said some people on X deemed it "woke nonsense," whole others said women should not be in academia, but having babies or caring for their husbands. Prof Andy Parker, a Master at Peterhouse College, said he had seen examples of misogyny and online attacks throughout his academic said: "It's not a new phenomenon, but it's particularly strange in this case for people to pick on a very sensible academic subject... a proud post from somebody who's just made a great achievement... treated as some sort of culture war."Prof Jennifer Richards, director of studies at the college added Dr Louks had "shown how to do things differently - be kind, recognise other people's humanities and share your research". After being bombarded on X, Dr Louks said while she was an "introvert" she was "doing it to show that women in academia deserve to be here". Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
