Jane Ward

Jane Ward is an American scholar, feminist, and author.

For the volleyball player, see Jane Ward (volleyball).
Jane Ward gives a lecture at Skylight Books in Los Angeles on September 8, 2015.

Life

Ward is Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of California, Riverside.[1] She currently holds the position of Vice Chair for the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies and Program Chair for LGBIT studies at the University of California, Riverside. Ward received her PhD in sociology from the University of California Santa Barbara in 2003.

Ward is known for her book Not Gay: Sex Between Straight White Men (NYU Press, 2015),[2] a 2016 Lambda Literary Award Finalist.[3] Ward's research has been featured in New York Magazine, The Guardian, Forbes, Salon, Newsweek, Huffington Post, Cosmopolitan, and Vice. Her 2008 book Respectably Queer: Diversity Culture in LGBT Activist Organizations was named a favorite book of 2008 by The Progressive magazine.[4]

She lives in Southern California with her partner Kat Ross. Ward's published work focuses on a broad range of topics, from feminist pornography, queer parenting, and the racial politics of same-sex marriage, to the social construction of heterosexuality and whiteness. She is the blogger for FeministPigs.[5] She is a cofounder, along with CJ Pascoe and Tey Meadow, of the blog SocialInqueery.com.[6] Beyond her writing, she was a founding member of "The Miracle Whips" burlesque group in 2004. She also started the parenting collective "L.A. Genderqueer Parenting" in 2009. Both groups were based in Los Angeles.

Works

Ward's first book, Respectably Queer, is based on her observations of three different queer organizations: the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, Bienestar, and Los Angeles-Christopher Street West.[7]

Ward's second book, Not Gay, has received positive reviews from New York Magazine and many other outlets. New York Magazine states "[Ward] shows that homosexual contact has been a regular feature of heterosexual life ever since the concepts of homo- and heterosexuality were first created—not just in prisons and frat houses and the military, but in biker gangs and even conservative suburban neighborhoods."[8]

In Not Gay, Ward examines same sex encounters between men who are considered to be heterosexual.[9] Questions that frame her analysis include "Are men gay for having sex with other men?" To answer such questions, she traces American history to the 1950s, examining same sex encounters such as those in public bathrooms. Ward also uses sociological, psychological, and historical research to link gender and sexuality to race, focusing on the perceived heterosexuality of white men who have sexual encounters with other white men. Ward's work in Not Gay presents a perspective on opposite couple attraction[10] and a new outlook on heterosexual masculinity.[11]

In 2020, Ward published her third book, entitled The Tragedy of Heterosexuality.[12]

See also

References
  1. "Faculty Profile System: Jane Ward". University of California, Riverside website. Retrieved November 28, 2015.
  2. Singal, Jesse (August 5, 2015). "Why Straight Men Have Sex With Each Other". New York. Retrieved November 28, 2015.
  3. "28th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
  4. "The Progressive Magazine 72". December 12, 2008. Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  5. "Feminist Pigs". Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  6. "Social (In)Queery". Social (In)Queery. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  7. "Respectably Queer | Item Detail | University Press | Vanderbilt University". www.vanderbilt.edu. Retrieved 2017-05-09.
  8. "Jane Ward feminist queer professor and author of Not Gay and other sexuality studies books". scholarship for the feminist revolution. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  9. http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=b48281a0-3b64-4ad2-b407-e620df0921f1%40sessionmgr4010&hid=4110
  10. Westbrook, Laurel (2016). "Not Gay: Sex between Straight White Men. By Elizabeth Jane Ward. New York: New York University Press, 2015. Pp. Xi+239. $25.00 (paper)". American Journal of Sociology. 121 (6): 1962–1964. doi:10.1086/685727.
  11. Meyer, Doug (2017). "Book Review: Not Gay: Sex between Straight White Men by Jane Ward Not Gay: Sex between Straight White Men. By Ward Jane. New York, NY, USA: New York University Press, 2015, 240 pp., $89.00 (cloth); $25.00 (paper)". Gender & Society. 31 (1): 119–120. doi:10.1177/0891243216642382.
  12. "The Tragedy of Heterosexuality". NYU Press. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
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