Catharine MacKinnon, Ph.D., highly acclaimed feminist attorney and political scientist, has evaluated Dr. Russell's research as follows:

“Professor Russell is the recognized academic expert on the empirical study of sexual violence against women in the United States, and a leading authority on this subject throughout the world. None of the conceptual, factual, political, or legal advances in understanding, documenting, and opposing violence against women in this country, including my own work, would have been possible without her ground-breaking studies and scholarly publications.”