Carolyn O’Connor
Carolyn O’Connor, MSW, RSW, PhD
Research Interests
- Technology-facilitated sexual violence and gender-based violence
- Online child sexual exploitation and child sexual abuse material
- Human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children and youth
- Non-consensual sexting and sextortion
- Immersive and emerging technologies (social VR, smart devices) and digital harm
- Feminist science and technology studies; qualitative and phenomenological methods
- Trauma-informed, survivor-centred practice and research
Biography
About Carolyn
Carolyn O’Connor is social work clinician, instructor, and researcher committed to creating meaningful, multi-level impact in her community through direct practice, social work education, and a program of research on sexual violence prevention. As a social worker in private practice, she offers treatment to clients experiencing depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, interpersonal conflict, and stress, among other mental health and relationship concerns.
Academic Experience
Since 2021, Carolyn has worked as a lecturer and course instructor at the University of Toronto, Toronto Metropolitan University, and Seneca College, teaching at both the undergraduate (BHMA, BSW) and graduate (MSW) levels across a range of areas, including clinical social work practice, social change, research and evaluation, family violence, and health psychology. Grounded in social constructivism, femagogy, and experiential learning principles, she is passionate about supporting students’ learning and preparing the next generation of social workers. Her teaching philosophy is student-centered, emphasizing psychological safety, shared power, and knowledge co-construction to help students develop the critical thinking, reflexivity, cultural humility, and self-awareness required to navigate the complexity and ambiguity of social work practice. Through relational teaching practices and meaningful integration of student feedback, Carolyn empowers students to “think like a social worker” while incorporating their diverse experiences and perspectives into class discussion.
Carolyn served on the Ontario Association of Social Workers’ (OASW) Board as the Student Director for the 2023-2025 term. In this role, she represented social work students across the province and acted as a liaison between students and the OASW, advocating for initiatives and supports during their short time as students and as they transition into the workforce.
Research Experience
Carolyn’s mixed-methods dissertation explores sexual consent conceptualizations and processes among early adolescents aged 10-14. Specifically, she examines how this population understands sexual consent and the communication process involved, as well as the influences (i.e., media, sex education, parents) shaping their understanding. Her findings highlight the significance of broader cultural norms and discourses like rape culture and postfeminism, as well as dominant pedagogical and legal frameworks. Her third paper applies constructivist grounded theory methods to develop a cognitive process underlying how early adolescents make sense of sexual consent. The results demonstrate that when provided time, critical questioning, and hypothetical scenarios, early adolescents can move along a spectrum of thinking that is increasingly abstract. In other words, there is an observed shift from seeing consent in a vacuum and as a straightforward and strictly verbal interaction, to consent as a nuanced, conditional, and socially constructed phenomenon. This study holds several important implications for sex education and prevention programming that can better equip young people for real-world issues of consent communication.
In her other work as a research assistant and lab advisor, Carolyn has supported several projects including the evaluation of a gender-based violence prevention program for middle school students, a study examining the impact of the #MeToo movement on survivors’ decisions to disclose or report their experiences, and a multi-province study of child welfare policies and practices that occur when children are exposed to intimate partner violence.
Dissertation
Exploring early adolescents’ perceptions of sexual consent: A mixed methods analysis
Education
- PhD, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto
- MSW, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto
- BA, Child & Youth Studies, Brock University