Lisa Downing (/ˈdaʊnɪŋ/; born 1974) is an author and academic. She is Professor of French Discourses of Sexuality at the University of Birmingham. Downing's work is innovative in its dialogue between the critical humanities and the sciences, especially psychiatry. Her published work focuses principally on theories of sexual perversion and queer theory; the work of Michel Foucault; ethical philosophy and film; and, most recently, the cultural meanings of criminality.