The Kaleidoscope of Gender: Prisms, Patterns, and Possibilities

Joan Z. Spade is Professor Emerita of sociology at The College at Brockport, State University of New York. She received her PhD from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York; her MA from the University of Rochester; and her BA from the State University of New York at Geneseo. In addition to courses on gender, Joan taught courses on education, family, research methods, and statistics. She published articles on rape culture in college fraternities and on work and family, including women’s and men’s orientations toward work. She has also coedited two books on education and published articles on education, including research on tracking, and gender and education. Joan was active in Sociologists for Women in Society, Eastern Sociological Society, and the American Sociological Association. In addition to visiting children and grandchildren with her significant other, she enjoys RVing, music and the arts, travel, and being outdoors.

Catherine (Kay) G. Valentine is Professor Emerita of sociology at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York. She received her PhD from Syracuse University and her BA from the State University of New York at Albany. Kay taught a wide range of courses, such as sociology of gender, senior seminar in sociology, sociology of bodies and emotions, sociology of consumerism, and human sexuality. Her publications include articles on teaching sociology, on women’s bodies and emotions, on gender and qualitative research, and on the sociology of art museums. Kay is coeditor of Letting Go: Feminist and Social Justice Insight and Activism (Vanderbilt University Press, 2015). She is the founding director of women’s studies at Nazareth College and a longtime member of Sociologists for Women in Society and the American Sociological Association. She has also served as president of the New York State Sociological Association. Kay and her life partner, Paul J. Burgett, University of Rochester vice president and professor of music, are devotees of the arts and world travel.