Lecture Abstracts and Slides
This page includes abstracts and slideshows for talks concerning friendship, hookup culture, inequality and the body, sexuality and sexual pleasure, and the value of public sociology.
A Feminist Defense of Friendship
In American culture we tend to elevate family – both the kind we are born into and the kind we form through romantic relationships – above friendship. Research shows, however, that having non-romantic confidants is more strongly related to physical and mental health than romantic partnership. In this talk — originally written and presented with my friend, Caroline Heldman — I offer a feminist defense of friendship. I challenge the idea that forming healthy, supportive friendships is less important than finding Mr. or Mrs. Right. I review cultural messages about friendship and show how these messages intersect with an emphasis on heterosexual relationships in ways that undermine women’s ability to be friends with women, men’s ability to be friends with men, and men and women’s ability to befriend each other.
“Adorable animals soften the uncomfortable truths Dr. Wade shares about how my generation forms platonic attachments. I left with both a general sense of urgency and an acute desire to cook dinner for my guy friends.”
–Paul Holmes (student, Yale University)
For an excerpt, read my article at Salon or view the slideshow for more (warning: extreme cuteness):
ON HOOKUP CULTURE…
The New Culture of Sex on Campus
The media both celebrates and condemns “hookup culture,” a mythical environment in which college students have an endless string of casual sexual partners. In fact, students are having a lot less sex than these stories suggest. More, they report that the sex they are having is disappointing, to say the least. In this talk, I discuss the difference between hooking up as a behavior, a script, and a culture; what it means to live in a hookup culture; and why students report distress, disappointment, and trauma. The solution? Not to abandon the casual hookup (it has some interesting advantages), but to even the playing field on college campuses by taking power away from privileged students, giving everyone the information they need to make informed decisions, and then let students themselves nurture and innovate new sexual cultures, thus diversifying sexual options on campus.
“Lisa Wade’s presentation was stimulating, informative, and thought-provoking—everything you want a guest speaker to be. Her mix of humor and research drew in the audience and kept them talking for weeks after.”
— Jennifer Smith, PhD (Pacific Lutheran University)
For more, read an excerpt from American Hookup at TIME or the Guardian, see the book, listen on NPR, or read a review.
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On the Margins of Hookup Culture: Student Diversity and Sex on Campus
Hooking up is most widely practiced, endorsed, and controlled by students with intersectional privilege. But everyone on residential colleges campuses are living with hookup culture. What’s it like to be in it, but not of it? This talk centers religious students, romantics, students of color, and queer and gender queer students, exploring what we do and don’t know about their experiences.
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Hookup Culture: …to the Best of Our Knowledge
Hookup culture is far more interesting, complicated, comforting, and concerning than you think! Aimed at higher education health, counseling, and residence life staff, this lecture — full of surprises — offers an overview of everything we know about hookup culture, closing with a discussion of the theoretical issues and recommendations for institutions.
“Lisa was very current in her material and able to flawlessly answer audience questions, tailoring her talk to the needs of those around her.”
– Mary Walsh BNSc., RN., MA., CCC (Outreach Counsellor, Queen’s University)
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ON INEQUALITY AND THE BODY…
Biology and the Gender Binary: The Surprising New Science of Sex Difference
Is it nature or nurture? Yes! In this lecture I offer a different perspective on the nature/nurture debate, using striking and often amusing evidence for the influences of society on our biology. Ranging across the biological sciences — genetics, hormones, and neuroscience — I discuss the newest research on society-biology interactions, paying special attention to the implications for understanding gender differences and similarities. The article closes with an argument that embracing these developments can enhance rather than harm ongoing efforts to reduce social inequalities of all kinds.
View the slideshow:
For more, explore the research: “The New Science of Sex Differences” (published in Sociology Compass) and “The Potential Relevances of Biology to Social Inquiry” (published in the Annual Review of Sociology).
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The Emancipatory Promise of the Habitus: The Body and Progressive Social Change
This talk, aimed at advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students, shows how scholars use research to build theory with an ethnography that offers a new perspective on Bourdieu’s habitus. While most research on the habitus has emphasized how it inhibits social mobility, I draw on scholars who argue that the uneven nature of the social world can create a fractured habitus. If we stumble upon emancipatory spaces, then, we may learn bodily habits that empower us. Drawing on an ethnography of lindy hop — a vintage swing dance — I show that dancers are taught to use their bodies in ways that disrupt the conventional masculine and feminine habitus. I conclude that progressive social change may very well be advanced by focusing on the body as well of, or ahead of, the mind.
For more, read the research or view the slideshow:
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ON SEXUALITY…
Exploring the Rainbow: Genders and Sexualities across Cultures and Time
From inside one’s own culture, gender and sexual orientation usually seem like rather straightforward phenomenon. In cross-cultural and historical perspective, however, there is nothing straightforward about it. This talk is a shallow but broad overview of a range of ways that different groups have organized gender and sexuality. It’s an extraordinary tour that will make audiences take another look at their own cultural assumptions.
Flip through the slideshow:
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The Power of Public Sociology (for undergraduates)
Anyone with a sociological imagination can make a difference and together we can change the world! In this inspirational talk, the founder and editor of Sociological Images traces its humble beginnings and surprising impact. Drawing on inspiration from C. Wright Mills, she argues that each and every one of us can contribute to ensuring that sociology guides our national conversation and shapes our policy.
“Her talk really made me realize that my interests and dreams for the future are achievable and all I need to do is just get out there and try!”
— Marissa Vakiner (student, University of Nebraska-Omaha)
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Doing Public Sociology: Notes from a Practitioner (for professionals)
The most widely-read sociology blog on the web, Sociological Images helps a broad public audience develop and apply a sociological imagination. In addition to offering an overview of the blog’s reach and impact, Lisa Wade, PhD – founder, author, and editor – will narrate the blog’s unlikely beginnings, reveal the “behind the scenes” workings, and share its evolving philosophy, including those features that have contributed to its success. Lisa will close with an optimistic call to take advantage of the keen and eager public interest in the social sciences.
For more, read about the blog, visit Sociological Images, or see the slideshow:
Lisa Wade, PhD 