This year members of the NSRC have had the amazing opportunity to attend numerous national conferences related to sexuality studies. We’ve heard from experts doing research and advocacy at every intersection of sexuality, health, and social justice. As newbie to the field these conferences afforded me the opportunity to chat with authors whose work I have studied and admired from afar, and I was often star-struck.
Meeting stars of sexuality studies is very excited, but it pales in comparison to my experience yesterday at the 4th annual SF State of Sexuality conference. The conference is a showcase of sexuality research produced by SFSU graduate students, and it was held in classroom one floor up from my office. Many of the participants are students in the Sexuality Studies department, and I knew each of them from my time in the department last year.
Despite my familiarity with each presenter I felt star-struck once again. In less than a year and with no funding each student produced research that changes the ways we should think about sexuality. Presentations varied in topic from examining the way Black men negotiate racialized and sexualized stereotypes in creating online profiles to a film on sexuality, visibility, and disability.
The most striking difference between student research and faculty research are the creative approaches and risks students are able to take in their research when they aren’t tied down by funding constraints. Working in a field that is so preoccupied with what is "risky" their work should reminded us that taking risks can be a good thing. Students took on tough issues like race, poverty, disability, and pleasure. Issues that the sexuality community as whole has yet to deal with thoughtfully and systematically.
Tomorrow, many of the graduate student presenters from the conference will graduate. I feel privileged to know so many young scholars who will inevitably become leaders in field of sexuality, and I trust that they will continue to ask the same tough questions as the move in the next phase of the lives. As they move on I hope they will carry with them Ellen DeGeneres’ advice from her recent commencement speech at Tulane Univeristy:
"Follow your passion. Stay true to yourself. Never follow someone else’s path, unless you are in the woods and your lost and you see a path, then by all means you should follow that."
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The National Sexuality Resource Center is proud to honor the 2009 Sexuality Studies cohort. Their names and the title of the thesis projects are listed below. Congratulations
2009 Seuxality Studies Cohort
Kendra BloomWorking to be ‘Out’: LGBTQ Young People Negotiate Sexual Authenticity
Durryle BrooksWhat you got to say 'bout me: A Discourse Analysis of the Construction of Black/African-American Male Identity in Academic Literature
Stephanie M. Cornwell"And you belong": Queer hip-hop and identity development among queer young women
Michael DiazMalleable Machismo: Exploring Friendships Between Straight Latino Men and Gay Men
Anthony FreemanNegotiating the Stereotype: Black Gay Men, Online Sexual Cultures and Racialized Representations of Masculinity
Amanda Lynn HoffmanCraving Cock, Occasionally: Heterosexual Men talk about Sexual Desire for Men
Rachel HowardTowards a History of Inclusion: Pre-Stonewall Queer Youth Activism in San Francisco
Stephanie HubbardHIV Positive Youth: Negotiating Sexual Experiences and Romantic Relationships: An Exploratory Study
Steffan MorinThe Real Ideal: Gay Men Reflect on Pornography
Angelica PicazoShame, Pleasure, and Empowerment: A Critical Analysis about Female Masturbation on Youtube.com
Sydney Ann Seifert Beyond Risk: The Evaded Curriculum in Sexuality Education for Marginally Housed and Homeless Young Women
Matthew StiefAgency in Sexual Orientation Research: Furthering the Integrative Paradigm
Desiree Christine Valdez"So Brave": A Study of Women and Alternative Birth Choices in the United States
The Department of Sexuality Studies and the National Sexuality Resource Center, along with the Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality, make up the National Centers on Sexuality, a collaboration designed to expand knowledge and put knowledge into action.
