I am a sociologist who studies how cultural schemas shape power relations and how subordinate groups are sometimes able to increase their control by creating new cultural meaning.

To date, I have pursued these interests through four main lines of inquiry that examine: 1) how and why the United States and France developed very different legal and corporate approaches to sexual harassment; 2) how and why fatness has come to be understood as a public health crisis and the consequences of understanding body weight in this way; 3) how and why various groups talk of “coming out” as members of these groups to resist stigma and collectively mobilize for social change; and 4) how the legal principle of gender neutrality, i.e., that the state should not overtly discriminate based on gender, has advanced gender equality and how new understandings of “gender neutrality” are being used today to promote diverse forms of gender expression and a wider range of gender identities.

Feel free to request from me any electronic copies of any of my articles that you are unable to locate, or to send questions/comments on my research at: saguy@soc.ucla.edu