Research

I am a qualitative researcher with expertise in qualitative research design including in-depth interviews, surveys, content analysis, focus group interviews, and ethnography. As a gender-focused scholar, my growing research agenda interested in examining how constructions of masculinity and femininity have both evolved and still limit individual identities and interactional experiences. My primary goal as a sociologist is to conduct research and disseminate research that illuminates processes of inequality and contributes to tangible social change. I have additional expertise in medical sociology, cultural studies, and mixed-methods research design focused on integrating qualitative data to enrich quantitative findings for a public audience.

My academic research interests include:

Sex & Gender, Masculinities, Femininities & Femme Theory, Sexualities, Qualitative Research Methods, Media and Popular Culture, Drug Use & Harm Reduction.

Research Software Skills & Competencies:

Advanced: MAXQDA, ATLAS.ti, Qualtrics

Intermediate: dedoose, STATA, Python, R

Ph.D. Dissertation

I am currently completing my dissertation, “Boys’ (Who Dress Like Girls) Club: Cisgender Women & AFAB Individuals in Drag Queen Performance”. This is a qualitative study of cisgender women and AFAB individuals who perform as drag queens and examines their experiences in performance spaces historically dominated by cisgender men.

Drag queens & drag performance have gained unprecedented mainstream popularity in the recent decade, so it is important that social research presents an accurate portrait of the diversity of drag performance. Though women have a storied history in the world of drag, popular culture portrayals & understandings have focused primarily on the experiences of cisgender gay/bisexual/queer male performers.

Given the recent politicization of and attack on drag and drag performers, amplifying voices of all drag artists is essential. Though this project is being produced for the purposes of academic study, collected data and results will be analyzed with a public audience in mind. Upon completion of this project, information and experiences shared by study participants will not simply disappear behind an academic publication paywall and will be readily available to all interested parties once I am able to share the final product.

Examining our social world through the critical lenses of gender, race, and class is essential to the further progress of women, trans identified folks, and those living outside of established binaries of gender. We live in a time of uncertainty and fear surrounding social issues and I believe that academics and researchers have an integral role to play in the creation of a more just society. This dissertation project is an important first step in achieving that goal.

Details and recruitment info can be found on the official research website: https://womenindragstudy.org

Master’s Thesis

In 2019, I completed my MA project, titled “Masculinity is a loaded gun: Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Transgender Men Navigating Hegemonic Masculinities.” Drawing on 42 semi-structured, in-depth interviews, this sociological study assesses the ways in which gay, bisexual, and queer transgender men and transmasculine individuals navigate overlapping fields of cisgender straight and gay masculinities (Coles 2008, 2009) to construct coherent masculine identity. Additionally, this study considers the ways in which transgender men’s and transmasculine individual’s narratives of masculinity have implications for how hegemonic masculinity currently operates for cisgender and transgender men.

This study finds that trans men often face significant struggle in navigating cisgender fields of masculinity, encountering particular marginalization in the cisgender gay field of masculinity. Overall, study participant narratives of masculinity find them assessing constructions of cisgender masculinity as particularly problematic or “toxic,” leading to the development of behavioral and discursive strategies to be seen as non-threatening, non-toxic, safe men.

This project was supervised by Dr. Michael Sauder, professor of sociology at the University of Iowa. Data was collected from October 2018 to August 2019. Two manuscripts have been completed and submitted for publication from this projec.t

Undergraduate Research

As an undergraduate studying sociology and anthropology at Warren Wilson College, I completed an ethnography of transgender video bloggers documenting their social and physical transitions on YouTube. Conducting 11 in-depth, semi-structure interviews, I examined how utilizing YouTube as an online platform shaped the construction of identity and personal narratives of transgender experience and identity both on- and off-line. Data was collected in from early 2011 to early 2012, and the project was completed in May 2012.