EDUCATION
Ph.D. Human Sexuality, Policy Leadership specialization, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, 2023
Dissertation: The Birth Pleasure Study,
Committee: Michelle Marzullo (chair), Dána-Ain Davis, Robbie Davis-Floyd
M.P.H. Health & Social Behavior, Global Health specialization, UC Berkeley, 2012
B.S. Biology, UCLA, 2010
PUBLICATIONS
Refereed Journal Articles
2020 Birth Pleasure: Meanings, Politics, and Praxis, Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement, Volume 11(1).
Book Chapters
2021 Reproductive Rights & Justice: Thinking through the Connections, Contradictions, and Complexities, in Locating Critical Sexuality: Forecasting the Trends of ‘Glocal’ Sexual Literacy, Gil Herdt, Michelle Marzullo, and Nicole Polen-Petit. Anthem Publishers.
Manuscripts in Submission
2024 Pleasure in Birth: Pushing Reproductive Justice Forward (monograph, Routledge)
Manuscripts in Preparation
2024 Pleasure-Mediated Physiology for Perinatal Health (monograph, Oxford, University of California, Rutgers, Duke, University of Washington Presses)
2024 Deliver Us: Ending Oppression in Childbirth. (monograph, AK Press and PM Press)
2024 Using feminist autoethnographic methods: Going within and beyond the self (article, Feminist Anthropology)
Web-based Publications
2019 Siegel, V., Roth, C., Bolaza, E., & Emmert-Aronson, B. (November 27). Is orgasmic meditation a form of sex?SocArXiv Papers.
Other Publications
2016 “Advocacy Case Study: The California Healthy Youth Act of 2015.” Organizational report. American Civil Liberties Union – Northern California, San Francisco, CA
2011 “State of the State: Violent Injury Prevention and Intervention in California’s Trauma Centers, Full Report 2011.” Organizational report, YouthAlive!, Oakland CA
CONFERENCE ACTIVITY & PARTICIPATION
Papers Presented
2019 Birth Pleasure & Maternal Health: An Embodied form of Defiance of Patriarchy (11 April). Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (MIRCI) Conference, McLaughlin College, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
2018 Pleasure Experienced in Birth: A Review of the Science and Scandal (November 14). American Public Health Association, Annual Meeting & Expo, Sexual and Reproductive Health Section, Oral Presentation, San Diego, CA.
2018 Giving Birth Anew: What birth has to teach us about defiance, justice, and freedom (October 12). CIIS Women’s Spirituality Conference, Women Rising! New visions for a post-patriarchal world, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA.
2018 Oppressing Birth: A Discussion of Systematic Violence and Denial of Rights (June 7). Center for Research and Education on Gender and Sexuality (CREGS) Summer Institute on Sexuality, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA.
2015 Challenging Boundaries: Incorporating Sexual Fluidity into Sex Education (November 14). Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality Annual Conference, Albuquerque, NM
Posters Presented
2018 Oppression and Violence in Birth Care: Public Health Implications, poster (November 13). American Public Health Association, Annual Meeting & Expo, Spirit of 1848 Social Justice & Public Health Student Poster Session, San Diego, CA.
2015 One in Eight – Sexual Love and Sexual Rights in Urban Slums, poster (November 12). Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality Annual Conference, Albuquerque, NM.
Accepted Presentations
2020 Birth & Sexuality – What do AASECT Professionals Need to Know? American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT) Annual Conference, Palm Springs, CA, (June 4-7) (pre-conference seminar accepted, cancelled due to Covid-19)
2020 Taking Care of Mama: When does a Mama get to feel good? Interrogating the co-optation of “self-care” and mobilizing a pleasure praxis in liberating motherhood (May 1-3). International Association of Maternal Activists and Scholars (IAMAS), Chicago, IL. (accepted, cancelled due to Covid-19)
TEACHING
Courses
Human Sexuality. Adjunct Professor. California Institute of Integral Studies, School of Professional Psychology & Health, Community Mental Health Masters Program, San Francisco (Fall 2019)
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. Teaching Assistant. California Institute of Integral Studies, PhD Program in Human Sexuality Studies Department, San Francisco (Fall 2016, Fall 2017)
Sexual Function and Practices. Teaching Assistant. California Institute of Integral Studies, PhD Program in Human Sexuality Studies Department, San Francisco (Spring 2016)
Administration
2017-2020 Online Learning Manager, Consultant. California Institute of Integral Studies, Human Sexuality Ph.D. Program
Guest Lectures in Departmental Courses
2018 Mixed Methods Research (December 01), Methodology
2018 Birth: History/Herstory, Citizenship, and Justice (October 26), Sexual, Gender, and Reproductive Rights
2018 A Method to the Madness: Mixed Methods Research (March 10), Sexual, Gender, and Reproductive Rights
2017 Birth: History/Herstory, Citizenship, and Justice (October 28), Sexual, Gender, and Reproductive Rights
2016 Heterosexuality: A Supposedly Straightforward Topic (October 24), Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
2015-2016 ACLU Northern California – Reproductive Justice Intern, San Francisco (conducted case study of interorganizational efforts to pass AB 329, the California Healthy Youth Act)
2011 Graduate Intern: YouthALIVE! & The National Network of Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programs, Oakland (conducted qualitative study of California trauma centers’ violence intervention programs)
2007-2010 Sex Educator & HIV/Reproductive Health Counselor: Westside Family Health Center, Community Outreach and Education Department, Santa Monica (county sexual health data collectors in all community outreach, educational, and clinical activities)
2005-2007 Clinical Research Coordinator: Brentwood Biomedical Research Institute, Los Angeles (coordinated several clinical trials with dialysis patients at the West LA Veterans Administration)
2003-2008 Laboratory Assistant II: UCLA Department of Physiology, Membrane Biology Laboratory/Brentwood Biomedical Research Institute, VA GLA West Los Angeles (involved in several studies of tissue expression of various membrane transporters such as H-K+-ATPase and its various subunits in cancerous and healthy tissues, and in a rat model, studying cardiac gene expression in acidosis in order to examine possible modalities of treatment of life-threatening acidosis)
2002-2003 Laboratory Assistant I: UCLA Cousin’s Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, Los Angeles (assisted in immunological studies of sleep patterns among users of methamphetamine, and a study of Tai Chi and its effects on immune function)
NON-ACADEMIC WORK
2023 Founder & Lead, Sorada Research & Education Consulting
2015 Monitoring & Evaluation Intern: PATH, San Francisco
2012-2014 Founder, SexyHuman: Sexuality Education and Coaching
2010-2011 Team Leader, Team Management & Leadership Program: Landmark Education
2010 Director, The Vagina Monologues, UCLA Production
SERVICE
2020 Reviewer – Sexual and Reproductive Health Program, Annual Conference, American Public Health Association
2019 Reviewer – Sexual Medicine Open Access, Journal of the International Society for Sexual Medicine
AWARDS AND HONORS
2014 California Institute of Integral Studies, Human Sexuality Doctoral Scholarship
2011 United States Department of Health & Human Services, Public Health Service Bureau of Health Professionals, Scholarship for Disadvantaged Students
2010-2012 Center for Health Leadership Fellow, UC Berkeley School of Public Health
TEACHING AREAS / COURES PREPARED TO TEACH
Human Sexuality & Reproductive Anthropology
Sex, Pleasure, & Reproduction
Sex, Race, Place, & Class
Genders, Sexual Identities, and Feminisms
Sexual and Reproductive Rights and Justice
Bodies, Embodiment, and Somatic Theory
Trauma, Polyvagal Theory, Co-regulation for Social Scientists
Qualitative Participatory Methods, Activism, & Health Research
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
American Anthropological Association
American Public Health Association
National Women’s Studies Association
International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health
Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality
International Association of Maternal Activism and Scholarship
