Cllr Dr Max Morris
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maxmorris.bsky.social
Cllr Dr Max Morris
@maxmorris.bsky.social
1.8K followers 1.1K following 130 posts
Green Oxford City Councillor. Senior Lecturer in Criminology & Sociology @ Oxford Brookes University focusing on gender & sexuality. Views my own. They/them.
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maxmorris.bsky.social
I've been unwell for almost all of January, which feels ironic given that I'm still editing tomorrow's Intro to the Sociology of Health and Illness slides. Perhaps I should make it a class discussion: Is your lecturer suffering from the effects of post-viral fatigue or marketised higher education? 🤔
Three textbooks on the sociology of health and illness
January 29, 2026 at 6:55 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
Happy New Year Lovelies! 🎉💋🥂
January 1, 2026 at 12:04 AM
maxmorris.bsky.social
2025 has been a tumultuous year but I wanted to end it by remembering some of the highlights:

📢 speaking up for trans rights in Oxford
📚 launching my book at the University of Oxford
💚 introducing the 1st and 1000th members of Oxford City Green Party
📸 twerking hard for the residents of East Oxford
Max speaking at the Oxford4TransRights demonstration in Bonn Square Max presenting their book, Not Sex Work, in the Department of Sociology at the University of Oxford Max introducing the 1000th (Indigo) and 1st (Michael) members of Oxford City Green Party at the Town Hall Max squatting to photograph a Green Party councillor (Alex) and candidate (Ahalya) outside the East Oxford Community Centre
December 31, 2025 at 12:31 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
Happy Xmas! 👑🎄🎁🎉🥂 @apowelllaw.bsky.social
Alex and Max wearing colourful paper crowns
December 25, 2025 at 4:35 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
Fantastic book launch by @apowelllaw.bsky.social in the Law School at the University of Exeter this evening. 🎉📖🥂
Queering UK Refugee Law: Sexual Diversity and Asylum Administration was published by Bristol University Press.
Further details available here: bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/queering-uk-...
Alex presenting his book in the Law School at the University of Exeter
December 15, 2025 at 6:48 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
On Wednesday 17th December, I will be speaking at this event for International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, alongside other fantastic feminist researchers! Come along to show your solidarity in Soho. 🌈☂️
'International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers with The Josephine Butler Society, Wednesday 17th December 2025, St Anne's Church, 55 Dean Street, Soho, London, W1D 6AF, 3-5pm (Doors open at 2:30pm). Hosted by our Chair Del Beach-Campbell. Speakers: Dr Rosa Vince (University of Leeds) - Feminist approaches to sexual objectification, Dr Hanne M Stegeman (University of Exeter) - Webcam Sex Work across Europe, Dr Max Morris (Oxford Brookes University) - Not Sex Work: Queer Intimacy. Panel discussion and Q & A. Refreshments provided. Please join us to remember, learn, share and celebrate.'
December 13, 2025 at 12:57 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
This weekend's wet and windy winter walk took us all the way to Farmoor Reservoir. 🌊 @apowelllaw.bsky.social
Max and Alex taking a selfie by Farmoor Reservoir Max balancing on the bridge between the two reservoirs Eating sandwiches on the walk Enjoying two pints at the end of our walk
December 6, 2025 at 8:12 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
Another reminder that Polanski is the best antidote we have for Farage, here's something I wrote for Metro (over 6 years ago now)! Choose hope, love and unity over fear, hate and division.

metro.co.uk/2019/07/18/m...
'Max Morris: Sociologist of class, gender, and sexuality' 'That is the best explanation I can come up with for why so many gay men remain hostile to people living with HIV. HIV has never been an exclusively ‘gay’ issue, of course, given that groups including migrants, people of colour, sex workers, trans women, and bisexual people have been demonised by association, or described as ‘vectors of transmission’ into seemingly ‘respectable’ communities. This ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality continues to shape our politics, with figures such as Nigel Farage suggesting that HIV positive people should be banned from coming to the UK'
December 4, 2025 at 5:00 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
Wonderful to see improvements made to the green space outside Donnington Community Centre, including benches and food planters for local residents to enjoy! Collaboratively funded by the organisation Earthwatch and Oxford City Council's Community Infrastructure Levy. 🌱🪑 @oxfordgreenparty.bsky.social
Green Party Councillors Rosie Rawle and Max Morris sat at/besides the new benches and planters Max enjoying one of the new benches outside Donnington Community Centre
December 4, 2025 at 3:07 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
It was my privilege to introduce @oxfordgreenparty.bsky.social's 1000th member at the Green Fair in Oxford Town Hall this afternoon! 💯💚📈
Max and Indigo with a glowing "1000" made from recycled plastics
November 29, 2025 at 3:03 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
Oxford was looking very pretty in the winter sun today 🏳️‍⚧️
Oxford college flying a trans flag
November 19, 2025 at 11:25 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
The Oxford Unity March brought together hundreds of residents as well as dozens of local organisations, trade unions, and political parties standing together to defend our city's diverse communities. Green Party members showed our solidarity. My comment for Cherwell: www.cherwell.org/2025/11/16/o...
Green Party Councillor Max Morris, who attended the march, told Cherwell: “While the media fixates on Farage, ordinary people are standing in unity with migrants and refugees. Green Party councillors, candidates, and members showed up in big numbers to oppose the rise of fascism alongside the government’s disastrous attempts to appease the far-right” Oxford Green Party banner on Cowley Road Oxford Green Party banner on Cowley Road Protesters in Oxford City Centre
November 16, 2025 at 5:10 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
Had a wonderful book launch with @sociologyoxford.bsky.social last night! 📚🥂
Max speaking at a lecturn Book Launch for 'Not Sex Work: Queer Intimacy, Post-identity, and Incidental Encounters in the Digital Era' (Routledge, 2025)
November 15, 2025 at 1:50 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
Counterprotesters turn out for trans-exclusionary feminism event (Cherwell News): cherwell.org/2025/10/18/o...
Councillor Max Morris, Green Party member of Oxford City Council, told Cherwell: “I was at today’s counter-protest to resist the far right and Posie Parker’s hateful rhetoric, both in a personal capacity as a non-binary person and as a local councillor.” “Oxford City Green Party councillors, candidates, and supporters have been showing up routinely to stand in solidarity with our diverse communities. At the last council meeting, we successfully called on Oxford City Council to stand with minority groups in our city and oppose the division stoked by the far right.”
October 19, 2025 at 10:00 AM
maxmorris.bsky.social
The people of Oxford showed up on mass to resist the far right and Posie Parker's hateful rhetoric today. Sadly, the government's silence has left a vacuum which these groups have rushed to fill. Never welcome in our city. Also big thanks to whoever handed me this sign. #GenderAnarchy #TransRights 🏳️‍⚧️
Max holding a "Down with the Fash" placard in a crowd of counter-protestors
October 18, 2025 at 2:16 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
Enjoyed exploring the countryside this weekend with @apowelllaw.bsky.social in seasonal colours 🍁🌰🍂
Max in a woodland Alex in an alleyway Max by bright red vine leaves Alex crossing stepping stones
October 12, 2025 at 10:33 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
Had an amazing weekend at the Green Party Conference. Catching up with old friends and making lots (and lots) of new ones as the party's membership soars. Inspiring to be a small part of a movement that's bringing hope rather than hate and light in what can sometimes seem like ever darker times. 🏖️☀️💚
Max and Alex on Bournemouth Pier
October 6, 2025 at 9:21 AM
maxmorris.bsky.social
New semester, new frumpy jumper 👾🌈💖
Max trying on a retro jumper in a changing room mirror
September 17, 2025 at 5:00 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
Well that might just be the fastest and most flattering peer review I've ever received! 🤩

Drawing on unpublished data from my book to explore identity and respectability politics in queer/sex work social movements. 🏳️‍🌈

If anyone wanted to publicly review my book I can probably get you a free copy? 📖
"1. A really interesting—and extremely well-written— analysis of sex work, sex worker rights, and queer liberation politics. The reviewers both agree that this paper is as close to perfect as one would hope. While both have made minor comments throughout, they hope that these clarificatory queries will further strengthen your already stellar paper. In particular, they both flagged the need to expand a little on the social backgrounds of your interview subjects as this would add depth to, and contextualize, your analysis of respectability politics. On a personal note, I particularly enjoyed reading about your participants’ experiences as they navigated identity in a “post-identity” era. 2. We ask that you add an updated abstract and indicate some key words with your abstract that could relate to these themes..."
September 12, 2025 at 2:48 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
This week I received some physical copies of my first book, 'Not Sex Work: Queer Intimacy, Post-identity, and Incidental Encounters in the Digital Era'. It explores the overlaps between #SexWork and #LGBTQ+ studies through a queer socialist feminist perspective. 📚☂️🏳️‍🌈 www.routledge.com/Not-Sex-Work...
A pile of Max's book, Not Sex Work, on a Pride Progress flag Max holding a copy of their book
September 6, 2025 at 7:45 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
As of today my book is available for pre-order and you can read a preview of the first few pages to get a sense for the direction I'm taking (see screenshots of the introduction below). Applying a 'queer socialist feminist lens' to sex and work in the digital era. 📲 www.routledge.com/Not-Sex-Work...
"1 Defining Sex, Work, and Sex Work Not Sex Work This book begins with a question: what is sex work? Carol Leigh coined the term in 1979 when attending a feminist workshop on the 'Sex Use Industry' by suggesting that the event's title should be changed to 'Sex Work Industry'. As she recalled, 'How could I sit amid other women as a political equal when I was being objectified like that, described only as something used, obscuring my role as actor and agent in the transaction?' (Leigh, 1998, p. 230). Today, sex work is the preferred term within both activist and academic networks to characterise a diverse range of paid sexual behaviours, both direct and indirect, replacing more traditional terms such as prostitution or whoring by offering'a more affirmative and inclusive term for erotic labour within feminist movements' (Brooks-Gordon et al., 2021, p. 812). I too adopt this definition of sex work as my starting point. Replacing older, gendered, and more pejorative labels such as 'call girl", 'harlot", 'hooker', 'prostitute', or 'whore', alongside those used for (typically younger) men such as 'rent boy', the term sex worker is also better suited to the now dominant research paradigm for understanding commercial sex: the social and economic model (see, e.g, Wolkowitz et al., 2013). This model places greater emphasis on how sex work can be understood as a form of labour like (m)any other(s), including various forms of expertise and exploitation (Smith & Mac, 2018). Relatedly, drawing on the critical 'makeshift economy' approach to social history, Walkowitz (2016) noted how socialist feminists have interpreted 'prostitution as sexual labour, an integral part of the survivalist strategy of the poor over many centuries', while adding that the..." "...'improvisational skills', 'psychological complexity', creativity, and political agency of women who sold sex challenges the determinism of many survivalist interpretations (pp. 189-193). Such models have shifted the focus of researchers to consider the emotional and physical skills demonstrated by sex workers as key reasons to (1) oppose their criminalisation and stigmatisation and (2) support their human and labour rights, aims that I support. In responding to this first question, however, a second one arises: what is not sex work? The title of this book is inspired by the many conversations I have had with gay, bisexual, and queer young men over recent years, including those who participated in my doctoral research: a project titled 'Incidental Sex Work' (Morris 2018a). These participants agreed to sell sex online but did not advertise as, nor consider themselves to be, sex workers. Contrasting my study with her own, about people who 'dabble' in sex work as a 'side hustle' in addition to performing forms of 'square work', Bowen (2021) has characterised incidental sex work as applying to those 'who may not acknowledge that they sell sex or identify as sex industry workers' (p. 44). Yet, as several participants suggested, my construction (perhaps imposition) of a new label to characterise their behaviours as a distinctive type of sex work might not have been appropriate or justified in the first place. By giving a name to something which had previously only been commented on in passing by researchers, sometimes referred to as 'adventurous' (Luckenbill, 1985), amateur' (Harcourt & Donovan, 2005), or 'occasional' (Grov & Smith, 2014), the original study's title could be seen as self-contradictory. For the participants, being paid for sex once, twice, or a handful of times was considered something casual, experimental, nonprofessional, or, as I termed it, incidental: a range of activities which did not require a label. Therefore, in this book, I attempt..."
August 28, 2025 at 4:20 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
Sun on the beach and fun on the campsite this bank holiday weekend! ☀️🏖️🍦🏕️🔥🍔
Max sunbathing on a beach Max holding a salted caramel ice-cream Max's mum and her boyfriend by a camp fire Campsite BBQ
August 26, 2025 at 5:02 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
View from the Ashmolean's rooftop restaurant Alex walking along a fallen tree in the woods Max taking in the woodland scenery by Boars Hill Alex and Max visiting New College
August 19, 2025 at 2:25 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
This summer we decided to do a holiday from home (or "staycation") to sample many of the touristy things that we never usually get to in Oxford. Good for the environment, local economy, and personal bank balance! Also learned a lot about culture and history (and ghosts) right on our doorstep. 😎🍰🏛️🌳🚌👻
Max in central Oxford Alex enjoying afternoon tea at the Ashmolean museum Max at Varsity bar overlooking the spires Alex and Max on an open top tour bus
August 19, 2025 at 2:20 PM
maxmorris.bsky.social
Oxford city centre was bustling this weekend but there are so many pretty places to chill in. 🌳
Max relaxing in Christ Church Meadow
July 27, 2025 at 6:31 PM