Several attendees at a public lecture by criminologist and associate professor Greg Newbold have complained about the event.

High-profile Canterbury University criminologist Greg Newbold is unapologetic about a public lecture on rape that prompted a complaint from students.

The university is reviewing the lecture – attended by 70 people on July 13 – after seven students complained in a letter about his "apologetic attitude towards accused rapists".

The students' letter said the lecture, about feminist campaigns in the 1970s and 1980s and their impact on rape law, "visibly disturbed" attendees who were "likely in shock at the inappropriateness".

Scanned from Archive Cherry Raymond was a champion of feminist issues. In a public lecture, Newbold praised her looks.

They say Newbold, a sociology professor, made comments that "objectified women" and contributed to rape culture by saying New Zealand's penalties for rape were too drastic and failing to address the impact on victims.

On one lecture slide, he commented the woman depicted was "beautiful".

He told the lecture that "one wouldn't find big women modelling underwear because the reason women buy underwear is they want to be beautiful like the models posing in it (implying big women can't be beautiful)".

He said "sex will always sell for biological reasons: women are attracted to strong men and men want nubile women", the letter said.

Newbold defended the lecture, saying if people were offended by his comments that women sometimes made false rape claims then they were offended by fact.

He gave the lecture to promote his new book, Crime, Law and Justice in New Zealand.

"I wasn't there to try and make women feel good about themselves; I wasn't there to mollify feminists," Newbold said.

"I was there to give a factual talk about factual situations as I see it. I really don't care whether people were offended or not. It's not my problem."

Newbold said praising feminist Cherry Raymond's looks was probably "best left out", but reiterated other comments, including that rape sentencing in New Zealand was "out of balance" with sentencing for other crimes.

"Attempting to murder someone and leaving them paralysed and blind, the maximum you can get for that is 14 years, whereas for a sexual violation you get 20 years."

Postgraduate student Kara Kennedy, who was at the lecture and wrote the complaint letter, said the university needed to do a better job of vetting its speakers.

"When you're representing the university in a public space, you need to have evidence and support, especially for such a controversial and sensitive topic."

UC spokesman Phil Barclay said the vice-chancellor had asked a senior female academic to investigate and the university would review the lecture and its organisation before responding to the complainants.

He said academic freedom, including the right to hold diverse opinions, was core to the role and function of the university but carried certain responsibilities, expectations and accountabilities.

"The university cannot and does not back away from potentially controversial topics, but does acknowledge such topics should be addressed with sensitivity."

The university's Feminist Society has thrown its support behind the students who complained, saying it was important to take a stance "against sexism in campus".