Selected Research and Academic Work

Current Research and Writing

My most recent book is Doing Gender Diversity. It's co-edited, with Lis Maurer (who runs the LGBT Center at I.C.), and was published by Westview/Perseus (2009). We argue that everyone performs gender, and that it's worthwhile to examine gender diversity across society, within various social institutions. We focus on the U.S. and we're hoping to get lots of good feedback now that the book is in people's hands. T 

Also check out Sexualities in Context: A Social Perspective. It was published in 2006 by Westview (part of the Perseus Book Group). I also edited a reader called Sexualities: Identities, Behaviors, and Society (with Michael S. Kimmel, of SUNY-Stony Brook). It was published in 2004 by Oxford University Press.

My other writing & research focuses on various aspects of sexualities and gender and has been published in a variety of places, including the Journal of Homosexuality and some anthologies and books. Currently I am working on several projects related to sexualities. 

Student Research Team

I've been working with undergrads at I.C. on and off since spring, 2006. We're studying hooking up, casual sex, and dating on campus. The undergrad researchers have done nearly 100 interviews and I've been fortunate to present our research at a number of conferences and as an invited speaker to campuses all over the U.S. and in Canada (and at a conference in Austria). The students have also presented their work at a variety of conferences, both on and off campus, and are learning valuable skills about how to do research.

I've also worked with a Dana Fellow intern, Audrey Harkness, on a related project -- she designed a pamphlet about hooking up, to one day be used (hopefully!) in campus health centers and in residence halls. Audrey graduated in 2008 with degrees in Psychology and Spanish.

Past Work

I've done some wild and fun research and community service over the past 20 years. In my guise as a health & sexuality educator, public health specialist, and evaluation researcher, I have:

--done survey research at gay bars

--educated seventh graders on sexual communication

--presented findings to the state commissioner of public health

--counseled people on whether to get tested for HIV infection

--demonstrated countless times how to put a condom on (a banana, a broomstick, my forearm)

--done observational research at adult sex parties

--interviewed people living with AIDS and HIV disease

among other things.... 

 Please don't hesitate to be in touch with me if any of this intrigues you!