Shira Tarrant
Dr. Tarrant received her PhD in political science from UCLA with expertise in political theory, feminist theory, and American politics. Among her eight books on gender and sexual politics, her most recent include The Pornography Industry: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press), Men and Feminism (Seal Press), and Gender, Sex, and Politics (Routledge). Her newest publication is about academic mental health. Her work has been featured in The New Yorker, Playboy, Bitch magazine (RIP), and The Atlantic. Her media commentary appears in global and local outlets, including Rolling Stone, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, KPCC, NPR, NBC, New York Times, Forbes, Ms., and more. Dr. Tarrant is a tenured full professor with the Department of Women鈥檚, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. For more information go to and
Pop culture, comedy and humor, masculinity, free speech and civic engagement, marriage and family therapy and clinical mental health
PHIL 455: Philosophical Perspectives on Sex and Love
WGSS 102: Gender, Race, Sex and Societies
WGSS 300: Feminist Theory / WGSS 415: Feminist Debates
WGSS 370: Masculinities
WGSS 365: Pop Culture: Seeing Sex and Gender
POSC/WGSS 402: Women in Political Theory
WGSS 307: U.S. Women and the Economy: Money, Sex and Power
WGSS 308: Gender, Sex, and the Law
Books
The Pornography Industry: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Gender, Sex, and Politics: In the Streets and Between the Sheets in the 21st Century. New York: Routledge, 2015.
New Views on Pornography: Sexuality, Politics, and the Law. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2015. Co-edited with Lynn Comella.
Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex, and Power, revised second edition. New York: Routledge, 2013.
Fashion Talks: Undressing the Power of Style. Co-edited with Marjorie Jolles. Albany, New York: SUNY Press, September 2012.
Men and Feminism. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press, 2009.
Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex and Power. New York: Routledge, 2008.
When Sex Became Gender. New York: Routledge, 2006. (Selected for the Perspectives on Gender series.)
Articles and Book Chapters (academic peer reviewed, select)
鈥淭ools for Improving Academic Mental Health and Holistic Wellbeing,鈥 in Research Handbook of Academic Mental Health, eds. Marissa Edwards, Angela Martin, Neal Ashkanasy, and Lauren Cox, (2024).
鈥淏ad Sex and the Search for Pleasure, Truth, and Revolution 鈥 Bad Sex by Nona Willis Aronowitz: Short Takes,鈥 Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society (September 28, 2022).
鈥淢asculinity and Militarized Police: The Anti-Racist Hope in Tom Digby鈥檚 Love & War,鈥 Journal of Philosophy of Emotion (forthcoming).
鈥淧ornography and Pedagogy: Teaching Media Literacy,鈥 in New Views on Pornography: Sexuality, Politics, and the Law, eds. Lynn Comella and Shira Tarrant. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2015.
鈥淭ruth Claims About Porn: When Dogma and Data Collide鈥 in The Philosophy of Pornography: Contemporary Perspectives, Lindsay Coleman and Jacob M. Held, eds. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.
鈥淒ressing Left: Decoding the Politics of Masculine Style,鈥 in Fashion Talks: Undressing the Power of Style, ed. Shira Tarrant and Marjorie Jolles. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2012.
Articles and Essays (public media, select)
The Other Plan B, Playboy, Winter 2020.
Our Country, Which Art in Panic, Playboy, Summer 2019.
The Polarized Problem of Porn, Times Literary Supplement, August 19, 2016.
The Republicans鈥 Porn Problem, The New West: The Official Blog of the Western Political Science Association, July 18, 2016.
Pornography鈥檚 Dirty Little Secret: What We Say vs. What We Do, Religion Dispatches, May 2, 2016.
Slut-Shaming Hurts Every Woman鈥擨ncluding Mean Girls, In These Times, June 23, 2014.
Super Bowl 2014 Will Serve Up New Crop of Sexist Ads, But This Year You Can Tweet Back, AlterNet, January 30, 2014.
Why Men Can Be Good for Feminism, AlterNet, August 6, 2013.
Gender and Sexuality, in Stay Solid! A Radical Handbook for Youth, ed. Matt Hern. Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2013.
Students Speak Out: 5 Ways to Stop Online Harassment, Ms., February 8, 2013.
Women, Sex and S&M: Mainstream Media Totally Wrong About Female Desire 鈥 Again, AlterNet, April 16, 2012.
Sh*t Men Say to Men About Harassment, Ms., April 4, 2012.
