Research and Publications

My research examines the contributions of social movements to changes in public policy and culture; cultural dimensions of social movements, such as collective identity and emotion; and transformations in feminism over the past 40 years. I focus especially on social movements and social change related to gender and sexual violence.

I am the author of The Politics of Child Sexual Abuse: Emotion, Social Movements, and the State (Oxford University Press, 2009), which received the 2010 Charles Tilly Award for Best Book in Collective Behavior and Social Movements; and Feminist Generations: The Persistence of the Radical Women’s Movement (Temple University Press, 1995), which examines generational differences among feminists and the development of the U.S. radical and lesbian feminist movements from the 1960s to the 1990s. I am the co-editor of Feminist Frontiers, an anthology in the sociology of gender (watch for the 10th edition from Rowman & Littlefield in 2019), and Social Movements: Identity, Culture, and the State, which focuses on new directions in social movement theory. My articles examine topics including feminist and conservative anti-pornography activism, coalitions, child sexual abuse, the Violence Against Women Act, collective identity and identity politics, emotions and protest, political generations in social movements and the impact of social movements on each other.

My newest book, Frenemies: Feminists, Conservatives, and Sexual Violence, was published in February, 2018, by Oxford University Press.

Books

Recent Articles

“Carceral and Intersectional Feminism in Congress: The Violence Against Women Act, Discourse, and Policy.” 2016. Gender & Society 30(5):791-818

“Identity Politics, Consciousness Raising, and Visibility Politics.” 2017. Oxford Handbook of U.S. Women’s Social Movement Activism, ed. Holly McCammon, Verta Taylor, Jo Reger, and Rachel Einwohner. Oxford University Press, 376-397

“Where are the Children?” 2016. Gender & Society 30(1):95-109

“Aggregate Level Biographical Outcomes for Gay and Lesbian Movements: Collective Identity, Lifecourse, and Generations.” 2016. In The Consequences of Social Movements, ed. Lorenzo Bosi, Marco Giugni, and Katrin Uba. Cambridge University Press, 130-156.

“Rethinking Coalitions: Anti-Pornography Feminists, Conservatives, and Relationships between Collaborative Adversarial Movements.” 2014. Social Problems 61(2): 175-193.

“The Politics of Visibility: Coming Out and Individual and Collective Identity.” 2012. In Strategies for Social Change, edited by Jeff Goodwin, Rachel Kutz-Flamenbaum, Greg Maney, and Deana Rohlinger. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 145-169.