We were lucky to catch up with Spring Cooper recently and have shared our conversation below.

Spring, appreciate you joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

I never thought that a personal trauma would impact my professional career trajectory so significantly. But the cyber sexual assaults I suffered at the hand of my ex-boyfriend, over and over, did just that. It wasn’t the assaults that were the defining moment, though: it was the decision to press charges against him. This decision was hard, scary, and needed significantly more determination than I could have imagined. As the first person to press charges for non-consensual image sharing in NY (colloquially “revenge porn”), I was thrust into the role of trailblazer–which is a notoriously difficult experience. I was teaching police and litigators about the crime, I was searching for support in a slowly evolving environment, and I was continually being assaulted the entire time. The case took six years to resolve, with dozens of blockades along the way, but the results are exciting. I became an advocate, I started some research on the topic, and I set a precedent for the crime with a jury’s award of $30 million.

Spring, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a professor of sexuality at CUNY School of Public Health and Health Policy in New York City. My work broadly is destigmatization of sexuality. Specific research areas include exploring what sexual agency looks like in different groups of young people and how social networks impact its development; access and uptake of PrEP; how method of meeting sexual partners may impact sexual risk decision-making; HPV vaccination decision-making; and how we create and foster anti-oppressive and trauma-informed classrooms. I teach graduate level classes in sexuality and also on strategic multimedia development and advocacy. I have a podcast with one of my best friends/colleagues that is appropriate for young and older listeners answering questions about sexuality and relationships called “The Sex Wrap” with social media handle @TheSexWrap.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I think the hardest moments of the court case were the times that it was delayed, over and over. Many of these were tactics by my ex’s lawyer to try to get me to drop the case. And it was effective–if there hadn’t been so much press about my case when it started as the first revenge porn case in New York, I might have given up numerous times. Because of the press, I had many people reach out to me and thank me for doing what they couldn’t (for any number of reasons). And that support held me through those years.

Contact Info:

• Other: My personal socials are @drspringc and my podcast socials are @thesexwrap

Image Credits
For the studio photos, it is Kevin Frest For the pic in the fur jacket, it is Aaron Stark For the others, they are personal pics