Ummni Khan
Professor (on leave)
- B.A. (Concordia), M.A., LL.B. (York), LL.M. (Michigan), S.J.D. (Toronto), of the Bar of Ontario
- Email Ummni Khan
On leave
Current Research
Dr. Ummni Khan researches the socio-legal construction of deviant sexuality, with a focus on kink, sex work, and representations of hard core eroticism. Scrutinizing law alongside pop culture and progressive social movements, she considers how the policing of sexual risk discounts non-normative desires, and further entrenches other marginalities, particularly with regard to race, class, and disability. In addition to this intersectional analysis, Dr. Khan asks, how can we reframe deviancy through an epistemology of pleasure? Her work can be found in a variety of peer-reviewed and popular venues including: The Canadian Journal of Law and Society; The University of Toronto Law Journal; Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology; Feral Feminisms; and Ryerson’s Centre for Free Expression Blog.
Current Projects in Process
Office Hours
A novel that uses romance tropes to explore feminist theories of consent, agency, desire鈥攁nd how to brew an authentic cup of chai.
The Kinky Brat: Speak Pleasure to Power
An essay collection that advocates for pleasure as both an inherent good and a source of knowledge, resistance, and survival.
Current Supervisions
- Keely Grossman: Critical Blindness Studies
- Rachel Jobson: Rethinking Care Outside the Nuclear Family: Non-Monogamous Families and Community-Oriented Care
Media and Blogs
2020 鈥溾 Centre for Free Expression Blog, Ryerson University
- 鈥溾 Centre for Free Expression Blog, Ryerson University
2017 鈥溾 Centre for Free Expression Blog, Ryerson University
2016 鈥,鈥 Centre for Free Expression Blog, Ryerson University
2016 (Op-ed) Khan, Ummni. Ottawa Citizen (March 20)
2016 (Quotes) Beejoli Shah, 鈥溾 Fusion (February 12)
2016 (Interview) David Hugill and Judy Deutsch, 鈥溾 Canadian Dimension (May 12)
2015 (Quotes) Brigitte No毛l, 鈥溾樷 Vice News (September 29)
2015 (Quotes) Avery Zingel, 鈥溾 CBC News. (February 17)
2015 (Interview) Panelist, 鈥溾 HuffPost Live (February 10)
2015 (Quotes) M茅lanie Berliet, 鈥 The Daily Beast. (February 6)
2014 鈥溾 University of Toronto Press Publishing Blog (November 11)
2014 Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences ASPP highlight on Vicarious Kinks: 鈥?鈥
Selected Scholarly Publications
2025鈥” The Conversation
2025 鈥鈥 (co-authored with Kyler Chittick and Brenda Cossman) Alberta Law Review
2024 鈥 in Enticements: Queer Legal Studies (University of Chicago Press)
2022 in Binding and Unbinding Kink: Pain, Pleasure, and Empowerment in Theory and Practice (Springer)
2021 鈥 The Verdict Against Hip Hop & Rap Lyrics in Law, Social Science and Feminism鈥 Theoretical Criminology
2021 鈥鈥 (co-contributor with Kyler Chittick, Peter Alilunas, Laura Helen Marks and Thomas Waugh) Synoptique 鈥 An Online Journal of Film and Moving Image
2020 鈥鈥 University of Toronto Law Journal (Cited in the Supreme Court of Canada鈥檚 decision 2022 SCC 33)
2020 鈥鈥 in Research Handbook on Gender, Sexuality and Law (Edward Elgar Publishing)
2019 鈥鈥 (co-authored with Dr. Jean Ketterling) Asian Yearbook of Human Rights and Humanitarian law
2019 鈥鈥 Critical Analysis of the Law, An International & Interdisciplinary Law Review
2019 鈥鈥 (co-authored with Dr. Rena Bivens) Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology
2018 鈥鈥 in The Routledge companion to media, sex and sexuality
2018 鈥鈥 in Red Light Labour: Sex Work Regulation, Agency, and Resistance
2017 鈥鈥 Studies in Gender and Sexuality.
2016 鈥鈥 Canadian Bar Association – Law Matters (Republished in 2020 for their retrospective issue on influential articles)
2016 鈥鈥 in Synesthetic Legalities: Sensory Dimensions of Law and Jurisprudence (Ashgate Press).
2016 鈥鈥 O帽ati Socio-legal Series
2016 ” Women’s Rights Law Reporter (2016)
2015 鈥鈥 Canadian Journal of Law and Society
2015 “” Current Sexual Health Reports
2015 鈥鈥 in Feminist Surveillance Studies (Duke University Press)
2014 : S/m in the Socio-Legal Imaginary (University of Toronto Press)
2013 鈥鈥 Jindal Global Law Review
2012 鈥鈥 in Law and Justice on the Small Screen (Hart Publishing鈥
2009 鈥鈥. Law, Culture and the Humanities
2009 鈥鈥 The Canadian Journal of Women and the Law
2009 鈥鈥 The Journal of Sexuality and the Law
Other Publications
2025 鈥 Why we tiptoe around women鈥檚 rape fantasies鈥 Centre for Free Expression, TMU
2025 鈥鈥 Feminine Collective
2021 鈥鈥 Centre for Free Expression, TMU
2020 鈥?鈥 Centre for Free Expression, TMU
2018 鈥 (Or, An Intersectional Pleasure-Positive Defence of Catcalling)鈥 Centre for Free Expression, TMU
2018 鈥鈥 Centre for Free Expression, TMU
2016 鈥,鈥 Centre for Free Expression, TMU
2016 鈥鈥 vignette, compiled by David Hugill and Judy Deutsch (Volume 50, Issue 2 2016)
2014 鈥鈥 University of Toronto Press Publishing Blog
2014 鈥鈥 Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences ASPP highlight on Vicarious Kinks