Published Articles and Chapters by Megan Nanney
Humanity and Society, 2020
While women are drinking more craft beer in the United States, the association between masculinit... more While women are drinking more craft beer in the United States, the association between masculinity and beer remains intact. Yet sparse research has considered how involvement in craft beer culture may differ across public and elite beer spaces. Public spaces are open settings such as bars or breweries, and elite settings are more closed settings such as bottle shares and beer clubs. In this article, we analyze a questionnaire of 1,102 craft beer drinkers to compare the ways that men and women gain and enact cultural legitimacy within different craft beer spaces. Our focus on public and elite consumption spaces generates two interconnected insights. First, in public spaces, men are assumed to have a natural basic beer knowledge. Women, however, are dismissed as "not real beer drinkers" through men's gatekeeping. Second, within elite spaces, both men and women must prove their belonging as elite drinkers and ultimately navigate gatekeeping mechanisms. As a result, our work extends consumption and gender literature by showing how inclusive cultural movements rest on the gendering of contextually specific knowledge and the policing of elite status and prestige in public and elite leisure spaces.
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Sociology Compass, 2020
This article reviews popular and scholarly literature on transgender students' experiences who ar... more This article reviews popular and scholarly literature on transgender students' experiences who are enrolled in single-sex colleges. Because such colleges rely on bounded conceptions of sex/gender to determine who can and cannot be eligible for admission, the enrollment and matriculation of transgender students pose a challenge to the central organizing logic of the single-sex environment. As such, I first drawsupon theorizations of gendered and queer organizations to highlight the utility of sociology in analyzing the transing of organizations through transgender inclusion. Using this framework, I then address trans student experiences at the time of admission and during matriculation at single-sex colleges. These perspectives frame transgender inclusion as a new organizational form but one that is rooted in the social construction of transnormativity rather than institutional transformation.
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Rethinking LGBTQIA Students and Collegiate Contexts, 2019
While there has been an ongoing push within postsecondary education for “data-driven decision-mak... more While there has been an ongoing push within postsecondary education for “data-driven decision-making,” there has been some provocative questioning of just what it means to collect data and develop policies to accommodate trans* populations. The relative lack of interrogation about such policy-making signals the ways in which institutional sexism reinforces and bolsters the ongoing effects of transgender oppression. This chapter discusses how calls for collecting certain types of data that already exist (e.g., climate data) or are rift with problematic assumptions and often become overly simplified (e.g., demographic data) continue to serve as impediments to forward policy-based progress. Rather, this chapter discusses what data is needed in order to chart a course for trans*formative change in postsecondary education, highlighting several ongoing initiatives to collect data with and alongside transgender students, faculty, and staff to further gender justice. The chapter closes with a vision of what trans*formational policies could look like across educational contexts and spaces.
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Intersectionality and Higher Education: Identity and Inequality on College Campuses, 2019
Outcry and protest arose in 2013 when Smith College, a women’s college in Massachusetts, denied a... more Outcry and protest arose in 2013 when Smith College, a women’s college in Massachusetts, denied admission to Calliope Wong, a trans* woman, because her financial aid form indicated her sex as male. Since then, at least 20 women’s colleges have adopted admissions policies outlining varying biological, social, and legal criteria for who may apply to the institution. In this chapter, I complicate our understanding of gendered policies as a relationship between identity, biology, and legal status leading to trans* precarity. Rather than sex/gender serving as the sole institutional barrier for trans* individuals at these institutions, the utilization of an intersectional analysis can highlight how even seemingly inclusive institutional policies may still exclude the most marginalized students. I call for higher education practitioners and policy makers to rethink adding trans* identities to pre-existing nondiscrimination policies that invite students into broken systems. I emphasize trickle-up justice and policy building led by the students to assist with addressing the multiple, interlocking systems of inequalities preventing full inclusion and participation within postsecondary systems of education.
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Research in Higher Education, 2018
Recently, multiple studies have focused on the phenomenon of " undermatching " —when students att... more Recently, multiple studies have focused on the phenomenon of " undermatching " —when students attend a college for which they are overqualified, as measured by test scores and grades. The extant literature suggests that students who undermatch fail to maximize their potential. However, gaps remain in our knowledge about how student preferences—such as a desire to attend college close to home—influence differential rates of undermatching. Moreover, previous research has not directly tested whether and to what extent students who undermatch experience more negative post-college outcomes than otherwise similar students who attend " match " colleges. Using ELS:2002, we find that student preferences for low-cost, nearby colleges, particularly among low-income students, are associated with higher rates of undermatching even among students who are qualified to attend a " very selective " institution. However, this relationship is weakened when students live within 50 miles of a match college, demonstrating that proximity matters. Our results show that attending a selective postsecondary institution does influence post-college employment and earnings, with less positive results for students who undermatch as compared with peers who do not. Our findings demonstrate the importance of non-academic factors in shaping college decisions and post-college outcomes, particularly for low-income students.
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Food, Culture and Society, 2018
According to recent industry reports, sales of craft beer have doubled over the last six years, a... more According to recent industry reports, sales of craft beer have doubled over the last six years, and are set to triple by 2017 (Klonoski 2013). In addition to increasing popularity, there have been significant changes in the consumption patterns of craft beer. While beer has maintained a position as the most popular alcoholic beverage among men age 21-34, a recent Gallup poll (2012) indicates that craft beer has surpassed wine as the most popular beverage for women of the same age group (Klonoski 2013). In light of this trend, there has been little research done to explore gender dynamics in craft beer consumption and the craft beer industry. This paper seeks to understand the increasing popularity of craft beer among women by: 1) exploring beer as a gendered object, 2) illuminating the experiences of women in the craft beer culture and industry, and 3) examining how gender is done, redone, and undone in craft beer spaces. Drawing from a discursive content analysis of an online beer community, we seek to consider the gendered nature of beer and how gender is both reconfigured and upheld, allowing for the possibility for new consumption patterns.
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Advances in Gender Research: Gender Panic, Gender Policy, 2017
Forthcoming in Advances in Gender Research (vol 24): Gender Policy, Gender Panic edited by V. Dem... more Forthcoming in Advances in Gender Research (vol 24): Gender Policy, Gender Panic edited by V. Demos and M.T. Segal
Purpose
The purpose of this chapter is to examine women’s college alumnae’s gender panics surrounding transgender admittance policies and negotiations on how to define the boundaries of the alumnae community in moments of these panics.
Methodology/approach
I explore these negotiations by conducting a modified grounded theory approach of online discussion threads of one women’s college alumnae Facebook group from 2013-2016 as a case example. These threads (39 threads; 2,812 comments) discuss transgender admissions policies at women’s colleges and the definition of woman more broadly.
Findings
I outline three strategies that define who belongs to a women’s college community in response to peers’ gender panics. First, I discuss the ways in which alumnae “call out hate” and label exclusionary peers as TERFS. Second, I discuss the negotiated boundaries of who is included within the women’s college community. Finally, I focus on the recommended suggestions and expectations for fellow alumnae to be allies towards their trans peers.
Social implications
These findings imply that feminist boundary negotiation is not simply based on external threats, but can also be debated amongst members within the community.
Originality/value of paper
This paper highlights the nuances and strategies of boundary construction in regards to the social category of woman. I propose that researchers expand theorizations of gendered boundary negotiation to consider the ways in which boundaries are drawn not only as a form of panic and exclusion, but also as a response to such panics to promote inclusivity and diversity.
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Gender and Society, 2017
In 2013, controversy sparked student protests, campus debate, and national attention when Smith C... more In 2013, controversy sparked student protests, campus debate, and national attention when Smith College denied admittance to Calliope Wong—a trans woman. Since then, eight women's colleges have revised their admissions policies to include different gender identities such as trans women and genderqueer people. Given the recency of such policies, we interrogate the ways the category woman is determined through certain alignments of biology-, legal-, and identity-based criteria. Through an inductive analysis of administrative scripts appearing both in student newspapers and in trans admittance policies, we highlight two areas U.S. women's colleges straddle while creating these policies: inclusion/exclusion scripts of self-identification and legal documentation, and tradition/activism-speak. Through these tensions, women's college admittance policies not only construct " womanhood, " but also serve as regulatory norms that redo gender as a structuring agent within the gendered organization.
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Editorials by Megan Nanney
Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 2020
Editorial Feature Review: It takes a village to raise a child. This African proverb is most appro... more Editorial Feature Review: It takes a village to raise a child. This African proverb is most appropriate here. From the beginning, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity (SRE) has been a collective enterprise, one nurtured by the members of the Section of Racial and Ethnic Minorities (SREM) of the American Sociological Association (ASA). The success of the journal is the result of the cumula-tion of knowledge and wisdom from great scholars upon whose shoulders we stand, and within whose footsteps we step with great respect. It is also testimony to all the great scholarship SRE has received and published since opening its portal for submissions in 2014. When the editors of SRE set out on the journey to make a home for new, engaging, and cutting edge publications, we did so without a clear definition of what a "sociology of race and ethnicity" was or even what it would look like. As racism scholars ourselves, we only knew that it was interdisci-plinary and that while so much had already been said, there was still so much left to say. We also knew, early on from ASA SREM members, that we were to keep front and center the fact that the ground had significantly been laid by some of the most formidable race/racism and ethnicity scholars out there. This review pays homage to the mothers and fathers of the sociology of race and ethnicity. In the following, we lay out the methodology we used to survey 64 race and ethnicity scholars for this review. We then present eight lessons that stood out from the collected data. Although the topics were 975579S REXXX10.1177/2332649220975579Sociology of Race and EthnicityBrunsma et al. research-Abstract In this Editorial Feature Review, we reached out to senior race/racism and ethnicity scholars who have theoretically, epistemologically, and empirically contributed in major ways to what we now call the sociology of race and ethnicity. We wanted to pay our respects to these mothers and fathers of the discipline and the gifts that they have given our discipline over their careers. Our review was guided by a set of six key questions that cover their views of the field in the early parts of their careers, their experiences along the way, their views of what is going on now in the discipline, and their advice and suggestions to those currently practicing sociologies of race and ethnicity. We highlight eight major lessons from central scholars who have inspired generations of academics and whose leadership, mentorship, and scholarship, will never be forgotten.
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Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 2016
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Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 2015
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Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 2015
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Book Reviews by Megan Nanney
Gender & Society, 2020
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Sexualities, 2019
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Journal of LGBT Youth, 2018
As the concept of LGBTQ+ rights has gained more currency and validity over the past 20 years, ant... more As the concept of LGBTQ+ rights has gained more currency and validity over the past 20 years, anti-discrimination and hate crime legislations have been heralded as the primary interventions to discourage and punish discrimination and violence on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. In Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Schooling, authors take up the complicated relationships between research, practice, and policy regarding sexual orientation, gender identity and schooling.
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Journal of LGBT Youth, 2017
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Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2015
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CV and Academic Philosophies by Megan Nanney
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Thesis and Dissertation Work by Megan Nanney
Previous research has discussed the extension of social, economic, and political rights, includin... more Previous research has discussed the extension of social, economic, and political rights, including same-sex marriage, to the lesbian, gay, and bisexual communities. Yet, as Duggan (2002, 2003) and others argue, these sexual rights are extended only to individuals on the condition that they conform to the pre-existing heteronormative framework. Puar (2007) argues that this new normativity, called homonormativity, is part of a larger nationalist project that constructs and defines the terms of national belonging by extending sexual citizenship to the “good gay citizen.” One way that individuals can work towards their inclusion is through consuming homonationalist “prepackaged experiences” that spread American ideals through travel. One example of this includes study abroad programs, where students serve as representatives of the home nation by spreading skills, culture, and ideologies to the international realm through subtle actions. Preparatory orientation programs serve as a sight where students are instructed on how to be responsible representative citizens of their nation (Virginia Tech Global Education Office 2014). Utilizing analysis of a study abroad website, participant observation of an orientation program, and eight interviews with study abroad staff and lesbian, gay, and bisexual identified students, this study examines how study abroad perpetuates homonationalist motives and ideals through the construction and inclusion of the “good representative student.” I find that by privatizing and excluding sexuality from the study abroad experience as a “non-factor”—claiming that it is a matter of what students do, not who they are—homonationalism can be considered a consequence of current orientation practices.
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Papers by Megan Nanney
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Uploads
Published Articles and Chapters by Megan Nanney
Purpose
The purpose of this chapter is to examine women’s college alumnae’s gender panics surrounding transgender admittance policies and negotiations on how to define the boundaries of the alumnae community in moments of these panics.
Methodology/approach
I explore these negotiations by conducting a modified grounded theory approach of online discussion threads of one women’s college alumnae Facebook group from 2013-2016 as a case example. These threads (39 threads; 2,812 comments) discuss transgender admissions policies at women’s colleges and the definition of woman more broadly.
Findings
I outline three strategies that define who belongs to a women’s college community in response to peers’ gender panics. First, I discuss the ways in which alumnae “call out hate” and label exclusionary peers as TERFS. Second, I discuss the negotiated boundaries of who is included within the women’s college community. Finally, I focus on the recommended suggestions and expectations for fellow alumnae to be allies towards their trans peers.
Social implications
These findings imply that feminist boundary negotiation is not simply based on external threats, but can also be debated amongst members within the community.
Originality/value of paper
This paper highlights the nuances and strategies of boundary construction in regards to the social category of woman. I propose that researchers expand theorizations of gendered boundary negotiation to consider the ways in which boundaries are drawn not only as a form of panic and exclusion, but also as a response to such panics to promote inclusivity and diversity.
Editorials by Megan Nanney
Book Reviews by Megan Nanney
CV and Academic Philosophies by Megan Nanney
Thesis and Dissertation Work by Megan Nanney
Papers by Megan Nanney
Purpose
The purpose of this chapter is to examine women’s college alumnae’s gender panics surrounding transgender admittance policies and negotiations on how to define the boundaries of the alumnae community in moments of these panics.
Methodology/approach
I explore these negotiations by conducting a modified grounded theory approach of online discussion threads of one women’s college alumnae Facebook group from 2013-2016 as a case example. These threads (39 threads; 2,812 comments) discuss transgender admissions policies at women’s colleges and the definition of woman more broadly.
Findings
I outline three strategies that define who belongs to a women’s college community in response to peers’ gender panics. First, I discuss the ways in which alumnae “call out hate” and label exclusionary peers as TERFS. Second, I discuss the negotiated boundaries of who is included within the women’s college community. Finally, I focus on the recommended suggestions and expectations for fellow alumnae to be allies towards their trans peers.
Social implications
These findings imply that feminist boundary negotiation is not simply based on external threats, but can also be debated amongst members within the community.
Originality/value of paper
This paper highlights the nuances and strategies of boundary construction in regards to the social category of woman. I propose that researchers expand theorizations of gendered boundary negotiation to consider the ways in which boundaries are drawn not only as a form of panic and exclusion, but also as a response to such panics to promote inclusivity and diversity.