Listen to the interview with Terry Gross on National Public Radio's Fresh Air (October 9, 2006)

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Studies at Ohio State University. I am the co-coordinator of the Religious Studies concentration, and an affiliated faculty member in Women’s Studies, Sexuality Studies, and the Center for the Study of Religion.

The focus of my research is American religion and culture, particularly the intersection of religion, sexuality and politics.   I teach and write about the role of religion in social movements; religion, media and popular culture; conservative Christianity and the Christian Right. 

My first book,  Straight to Jesus: Sexual and Christian Conversions in the Ex-Gay Movement (University of California Press, 2006) is an ethnographic and historical study of the ex-gay movement and the sexual politics of the Christian Right.  The book received the Ruth Benedict Prize from the Society of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists and the Gustave O Arlt Award from the Council of Graduate Schools.   

I am also co-editor of Zero Tolerance: Quality of Life and the New Police Brutality in New York City (New York University Press, 2001).

I am currently working on two book projects.  One follows the religious practices of men and women in state faith and character prisons.  The other is about the fans and fan cultures of the Twilight series.

During the 2010-2011 academic year I will be a member of the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton.  I will also be supported by a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2011-2012.