Lisa Wade is a cultural critic and sociologist based in Los Angeles, California. Currently an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Occidental College, Lisa’s life work involves inspiring her students and the public to think sociologically. Accordingly, her career extends beyond academic writing and teaching to blogging, tweeting, public speaking, and informing the news. She is also a regular contributor to Ms., Jezebel, and GlobalPolicyTV. Her research, found in highly-regarded academic journals, involves the relationship between social inequality and the body, especially as sexuality becomes a marker of difference and an arena of social control. See her list of selected publications or full curriculum vitae for more. Before receiving her M.S. and Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Lisa earned an M.A. in human sexuality from New York University and a B.A. in philosophy from the University of California – Santa Barbara.
U.S. Discourse about “Female Genital Mutilation”
Learning from “Female Genital Mutilation”: Lessons from 30 Years of Academic Discourse, Ethnicities (2012)
The Function of Balance in U.S. News Coverage of Uncontested Issues: The Case of Female Genital Cutting, Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism (2012)
Journalism, Advocacy, and the Social Construction of Consensus, Media, Culture & Society (2011)
The Politics of Acculturation: Female Genital Cutting and the Challenge of Building Multicultural Democracies, Social Problems (2011)
Defining Gendered Oppression in U.S. Newspapers: The Strategic Value of “Female Genital Mutilation", Gender and Society (2009)
Hook Up Culture
Hooking Up and Opting Out: What Students Learn about Sex in their First Year of College (with Caroline Heldman), Sex for Life: From Virginity to Viagra, How Sexuality Changes Throughout our Lives (2012)
Hook Up Culture: Setting a New Research Agenda (with Caroline Heldman), Sexuality Research and Social Policy (2010)
The Incidental Orgasm: The Presence of Clitoral Knowledge and the Absence of Orgasm for Women (with Emily Kremer and Jessica Brown), Women & Health (2005)
Sex Education and Teenage Sexuality, Network News: The Newsletter of Sociologists for Women in Society (2004)
The Social Significance of the Body
Sexualizing Sarah Palin: The Social and Political Contexts of the Sexual Objectification of Female Candidates (with Caroline Heldman), Sex Roles (2011)
The Emancipatory Promise of the Habitus: Lindy Hop, the Body, and Social Change, Ethnography (2011)
The Potential Relevances of Biology to Social Inquiry (with Jeremy Freese and Allen Li), Annual Review of Sociology (2003)
Contexts Feature and Other Teaching-Related Publications
Illustrating the Social Construction of Race and Racial Stereotypes with Images (with Gwen Sharp), Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology (2011)
Conference Presentations
Different Types of Publication Opportunities for Students (with Gwen Sharp), American Sociological Association Conference (2011)
Big Time Blogging: The Secrets of Sociological Images (with Gwen Sharp), Society for the Study of Social Problems Conference (2011)