Lab for Sexuality & Gender Science
The Lab for Sexuality and Gender Science is co-directed by Drs. Sofia Jawed-Wessel and Liam Heerten- Rodriguez. We study the ideologies and lived experiences of stigmatization, marginalization, and objectification within the context of sexuality and gender. We are committed to rigorous theoretical, empirical, and practical work that centers our values of compassion, community, and transformation. Our goal in this work is to envision alternative futures and develop strategies and interventions that bring us closer to our visions.
We study the ideologies and lived experiences of stigmatization, marginalization, and objectification within the context of sexuality and gender.
Who We Are
Dr. Sofia Jawed-Wessel is a Professor of Public Health. Sofia’s work centers broad philosophical, cultural, and political implications of existing in a gendered and sexist world.
Dr. Liam Heerten-Rodriguez is an Assistant Professor of Social Work. Liam’s work is focused on the experiences of those whose bodies and sexualities have been stigmatized and the ways they exercise agency, self-determination, and resistance.
While the Lab was formed in 2023, Sofia and Liam have been professional collaborators and co-conspirators for nearly a decade. Their complimentary methodological expertise – spanning qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods – and disciplinary backgrounds – psychology, social work, and public health – allow them to capture nuanced realities of individual lived experiences, as well as the complex systems that inform them.
Both, Sofia and Liam are available for consulting, trainings and workshops, and speaking engagements.
Research & Projects
Fatness, Sexualized Oppression, & Resistance
In this project, our lab is documenting the ways that fat peoples’ experience stigmatization, marginalization, and discrimination within their intimate lives and relationships, as well as the ways that they respond, react, and cope with differential treatment. Go To Paper
Maternal Objectification
In this project, our lab is working to expand existing conceptualizations of objectification theory to better explain the phenomenon of maternal objectification at the micro (e.g. inter/intrapersonal relationships) and macro levels (e.g. cultural norms/policy decisions). Maternal objectification (MO) highlights the societal subjugation of women and the tendency to [...]
Abortion Outcomes & Inequities
We partnered with Nebraska Abortion Resources (NEAR) to better understand the abortion-seeking process via a series of sequential research and evaluation projects. NEAR is an abortion fund that provides financial and logistical support to people seeking abortion care. The long-term goal of this project is to establish an [...]
