Sheila Cavanagh
Encyclopedia
Sheila Cavanagh is an Associate Professor in Sociology and the Sexuality Studies Coordinator at York University
. She was previously an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Western Ontario
. Cavanagh completed her M.A. at the University of Toronto
(OISE
), and her Ph.D. in sociology at York University
. Her scholarship is in gender and sexuality studies with a concentration on feminist
, queer
, cultural, and psychoanalytic
theories. Cavanagh’s research focuses on the social regulation of gender and sexuality; trans studies; queer pedagogy
; and sex museums. She has published two sole authored books; five book chapters; twelve peer-reviewed journal articles; and four book reviews published in scholarly journals. Cavanagh has been granted federal funding through SSHRC and has presented her research at numerous national and international conferences.
Cavanagh is particularly notable for her scholarship on the social regulation of gender and sexuality, trans studies, and queer pedagogy
. Her most recent book, the groundbreaking Queering Bathrooms: Gender, Sexuality, and the Hygienic Imagination, was a 2011 Finalist for the GLBT Next Generation Indie Book Awards
. Queering Bathrooms "brings to light one of the last remaining forms of discrimination and segregation that goes unquestioned". Fuse Magazine reviewer Syrus Ware writes that Queering Bathrooms "provides a strong argument for reconsidering the public toilet, making it a must-read for city and urban planners, policy makers, architects and designers. Queering Bathrooms offers important recommendations about the future of bathroom design, suggests areas for future research, and imagines a future in which public toilets are at once luxurious, accessible and welcoming to all human beings". The Queer Bathroom Monologues, a play by Cavanagh based on interviews in the book, will be staged at the 2011 Toronto Fringe Festival
. The significance of Cavanagh's first book, Sexing the Teacher: School Sex Scandals and Queer Pedagogies, is highlighted by Professor Kate Krug of Cape Breton University
, who notes that it "makes the kind of 'trouble' for the moral panic around female teacher-student sex scandals that Judith Butler's
Gender Trouble
made for gender." Sexing the Teacher, which offers an "insightful analysis of female-teacher sex scandals and their treatment in media and public discourse [which] bridges disciplines", has been given honorable mention by the Canadian Women’s Studies Association for their annual book award.
Cavanagh is also interviewed in Rohan Spong's documentaries T is for Teacher (2009) and Queer Science (2008).
York University
York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....
. She was previously an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Western Ontario
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario is a public research university located in London, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus covers of land, with the Thames River cutting through the eastern portion of the main campus. Western administers its programs through 12 different faculties and...
. Cavanagh completed her M.A. at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
(OISE
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto is a teachers' college in Toronto, Ontario.-History:OISE/UT traces its origins to the founding of the Provincial Normal School in 1847...
), and her Ph.D. in sociology at York University
York University
York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....
. Her scholarship is in gender and sexuality studies with a concentration on feminist
Feminist theory
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical discourse, it aims to understand the nature of gender inequality...
, queer
Queer theory
Queer theory is a field of critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of the fields of LGBT studies and feminist studies. Queer theory includes both queer readings of texts and the theorisation of 'queerness' itself...
, cultural, and psychoanalytic
Psychoanalytic theory
Psychoanalytic theory refers to the definition and dynamics of personality development which underlie and guide psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapy. First laid out by Sigmund Freud, psychoanalytic theory has undergone many refinements since his work...
theories. Cavanagh’s research focuses on the social regulation of gender and sexuality; trans studies; queer pedagogy
Queer Pedagogy
Queer pedagogy explores the intersection between queer theory and critical pedagogy, which are both grounded in critical theory. In doing so, it explores and interrogates the student/teacher relationship, the role of identities in the classroom, the role of eroticism in the teaching process, the...
; and sex museums. She has published two sole authored books; five book chapters; twelve peer-reviewed journal articles; and four book reviews published in scholarly journals. Cavanagh has been granted federal funding through SSHRC and has presented her research at numerous national and international conferences.
Cavanagh is particularly notable for her scholarship on the social regulation of gender and sexuality, trans studies, and queer pedagogy
Queer Pedagogy
Queer pedagogy explores the intersection between queer theory and critical pedagogy, which are both grounded in critical theory. In doing so, it explores and interrogates the student/teacher relationship, the role of identities in the classroom, the role of eroticism in the teaching process, the...
. Her most recent book, the groundbreaking Queering Bathrooms: Gender, Sexuality, and the Hygienic Imagination, was a 2011 Finalist for the GLBT Next Generation Indie Book Awards
Next Generation Indie Book Awards
The Next Generation Indie Book Awards is an awards program that recognizes and honors authors and publishers of exceptional independently published books in 60 different categories...
. Queering Bathrooms "brings to light one of the last remaining forms of discrimination and segregation that goes unquestioned". Fuse Magazine reviewer Syrus Ware writes that Queering Bathrooms "provides a strong argument for reconsidering the public toilet, making it a must-read for city and urban planners, policy makers, architects and designers. Queering Bathrooms offers important recommendations about the future of bathroom design, suggests areas for future research, and imagines a future in which public toilets are at once luxurious, accessible and welcoming to all human beings". The Queer Bathroom Monologues, a play by Cavanagh based on interviews in the book, will be staged at the 2011 Toronto Fringe Festival
Toronto Fringe Festival
The Toronto Fringe Festival is an annual theatre festival, featuring uncensored plays by unknown or well-known artists, taking place in the theatres of Toronto. Several productions originally mounted at the Fringe have later been remounted for larger audiences, including the Tony Award-winning...
. The significance of Cavanagh's first book, Sexing the Teacher: School Sex Scandals and Queer Pedagogies, is highlighted by Professor Kate Krug of Cape Breton University
Cape Breton University
Cape Breton University , formerly the "University College of Cape Breton" , is a Canadian university in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Regional Municipality....
, who notes that it "makes the kind of 'trouble' for the moral panic around female teacher-student sex scandals that Judith Butler's
Judith Butler
Judith Butler is an American post-structuralist philosopher, who has contributed to the fields of feminism, queer theory, political philosophy, and ethics. She is a professor in the Rhetoric and Comparative Literature departments at the University of California, Berkeley.Butler received her Ph.D...
Gender Trouble
Gender Trouble
Gender Trouble by Judith Butler is a highly influential book in academic feminism and queer theory. It is also the book credited with creating the seminal notion of gender performativity. It is considered to be one of the canonical texts of queer theory and postmodern/poststructural feminism.-...
made for gender." Sexing the Teacher, which offers an "insightful analysis of female-teacher sex scandals and their treatment in media and public discourse [which] bridges disciplines", has been given honorable mention by the Canadian Women’s Studies Association for their annual book award.
Cavanagh is also interviewed in Rohan Spong's documentaries T is for Teacher (2009) and Queer Science (2008).
Current research projects
- (In Progress) Queer Jouissance: Gender and Sexuality in Lacanian Psychoanalysis. Sole authored manuscript.
- (In Progress) Co-editor with Professor Angela Failler of the University of WinnipegUniversity of WinnipegThe University of Winnipeg is a public university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada that offers undergraduate faculties of art, business and economics, education, science and theology as well as graduate programs. The U of W's founding colleges were Manitoba College and Wesley College, which merged...
and Rachel Hurst of Xavier University. Skin, Culture and Psychoanalysis. (Manuscript near completion and in preparation for submission).
Books
- (2010) Queering Bathrooms: Gender, Sexuality, and the Hygienic Imagination. Toronto: The University of Toronto PressUniversity of Toronto PressUniversity of Toronto Press is Canada's leading scholarly publisher and one of the largest university presses in North America. Founded in 1901, UTP has published over 6,500 books, with well over 3,500 of these still in print....
. ISBN 9781442610736 - (2007) Sexing the Teacher: School Sex Scandals and Queer Pedagogies. Vancouver: University of British Columbia PressUniversity of British Columbia PressThe University of British Columbia Press is a university press that is part of the University of British Columbia. It was established in 1971.-External links:*...
. Given honorable mention by the ‘Canadian Women’s Studies Association’ for their annual book award. ISBN 9780774813747
Chapters in books
- (2011 Forthcoming) “Corporal Punishment and Child-Centered Pedagogies: Foucault, Gender and Discipline in Education” In Kari Dehli, Brenda Spencer, and James Ryan (Eds.) Forming, Reforming, and Performing Education: Using Foucault to Rethink Canadian Schooling. Calgary: Detselig Press.
- (2011) “Queer Notes on Sex Education in Ontario” In Darren Stanley and Kelly Young (Eds.) Contemporary Studies in Canadian Curriculum: Principles, Portraits and Practices. Calgary: Detselig Press, 237-269.
- (2009) “Sex in the Lesbian Teacher’s Closet: The Hybrid Proliferation of Queers in School” In Jo-Anne Dillabough, Julie McLeod and Martin Mills (Eds.) Gender and Education. RoutledgeRoutledgeRoutledge is a British publishing house which has operated under a succession of company names and latterly as an academic imprint. Its origins may be traced back to the 19th-century London bookseller George Routledge...
. - (2005) “Female Teacher Gender and Sexuality in Twentieth Century Ontario, Canada,” In Rebecca Coulter and Helen Harper (Eds.), History is Hers: Women Educators in Twentieth Century Ontario. Detselig: Calgary.
- (2005) “Nervous Narratives: Female Teacher Maladies in the Twentieth Century,” In Rebecca Coulter and Helen Harper (Eds.), History is Hers: Women Educators in Twentieth Century Ontario. Detselig: Calgary.
- (1999) “The Heterosexualization of the Ontario Woman Teacher in the Postwar Period,” in Nuzhat Amin et al. (Eds.), Canadian Woman Studies: An Introductory Reader. Inanna publications and Education Inc.: Toronto. Reprinted in Mona Gleason and Adele Perry (Eds.) Rethinking Canada: The Promise of Women’s History. Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
.
Papers in refereed journals
- (Sept. 2008) “Sex in the Lesbian Teacher’s Closet: The Hybrid Proliferation of Queers in School.” Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 29(3): 387-399.
- Cavanagh, Sheila and Sykes, Heather. (2006). “Transsexual Bodies at the Olympics: The International Olympic Policy on Transsexual Athletes at the Athens Summer Games.” Body and Society 12(3): 75-102.
- (2006). “Spinsters, Schoolmarms, and Queers: The Unmarried Teacher in Medicine and Psychoanalytic Theory.” Discourse: The Cultural Politics of Education 27(4): 421-440.
- (2005) “Sexing the Teacher: Voyeuristic Pleasure in the Amy Gehring Case,” Social TextSocial TextSocial Text is an academic journal published by Duke University Press. Since its inception as an independent editorial collective in 1979, Social Text has addressed a wide range of social and cultural phenomena, covering questions of gender, sexuality, race, and the environment...
82, 23 (1): 111-134. - (2005) “Female Teacher Gender and Sexuality in 20th Century Ontario, Canada.” History of Education Quarterly 45(2): 247-273.
- (2004) “Upsetting Desires in the Classroom: School Sex Scandals and the Pedagogy of the Femme Fatale.” Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society (9):315-332.
- (2003) “Teacher Transsexuality: The Illusion of Sexual Difference and the Idea of Adolescent Trauma.” Sexualities: Studies in Culture and Society 6 (3-4): 365-388.
- (2003) “The Gender of Professionalism and Occupational Closure: The Management of Tenure Related Disputes by the ‘Federation of Women Teachers’ Associations of Ontario’, 1918-1949.” Gender and Education 15 (1): 39-57.
- (2001) “From a Belief in Biology as Destiny to an Environmental Perspective of Mental Health: The Impact of the Canadian National Committee for Mental Hygiene on Education in Ontario, Canada, 1920-50.” Change:Transformations in Education: A Journal of Theory, Research, Policy and Practice, 4 (1): 48-62.
- (2001) “The Pedagogy of the Pastor: Social Studies Education in Early Twentieth Century Canada.” Canadian Journal of Education. 26 (4): 405-421.
- (1999) “The Heterosexualization of the Ontario Woman Teacher in the Postwar Period.” Canadian Woman StudiesCanadian Woman StudiesCanadian Woman Studies/Les cahiers de la femme is a bilingual feminist quarterly published by Inanna Publications. It was founded by Shelagh Wilkinson, who was also the magazine's publisher and first editor.-External links:**...
18 (1): 55-69, 1998. Reprinted in Nuzhat Amin et al. (1999) (Eds.), Canadian Woman Studies: An Introductory Reader, Toronto, Inanna publications and Education Inc., pp. 387-395. Reprinted in Mona Gleason and Adele Perry (Eds.) Rethinking Canada: The Promise of Women’s History. Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
. - Cavanagh, Sheila and Harper, Helen. (1997) “Lady Bountiful: The White Woman Teacher in Multicultural Education.” Women’s Education/Des Femmes 11(2): 27-33, 1994. Reprinted (1999) in Women’s Education/Des Femmes 13(1): 94-99.
Book reviews
- (June 2008) Review of Romance in the Ivory Tower by Paul R. AbramsonPaul R. AbramsonPaul Richard Abramson was born on December 24, 1949 in Norwalk, Connecticut. He has been a Professor of Psychology at UCLA since 1976, where he teaches the classes on Human Sexuality and Sex & the Law...
. Teacher’s College Press. - (1998) Review of dangerous territories: struggles for difference and equality in education by Leslie G. Roman and Linda Eyre. Canadian Woman StudiesCanadian Woman StudiesCanadian Woman Studies/Les cahiers de la femme is a bilingual feminist quarterly published by Inanna Publications. It was founded by Shelagh Wilkinson, who was also the magazine's publisher and first editor.-External links:**...
17(4): 149. - (1995) Review of Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex by Judith ButlerJudith ButlerJudith Butler is an American post-structuralist philosopher, who has contributed to the fields of feminism, queer theory, political philosophy, and ethics. She is a professor in the Rhetoric and Comparative Literature departments at the University of California, Berkeley.Butler received her Ph.D...
. Critical Sociology 21(3): 144-147.
Review essays
- (2002) Review Essay. “The Pedagogy of Texts on Transgendered Subjects.” International Journal of Cultural Studies 5(4): 499-506.
Non-refereed media publications
- (2011) “Unisex Toilets and the Sex-Elimination Linkage” Gay and Lesbian Review.
- (April 5-11, 2007) “No textbook crime: Teacher-teen affairs are unprofessional but not always criminal” Now MagazineNOW (magazine)Now is a free weekly newspaper in Toronto, Canada. It was first printed on September 10, 1981 by Michael Hollett and Alice Klein. Now is an alternative weekly mixing arts and entertainment news with political coverage....
, Issue 1315, Volume 26, No. 31. - (March 29, 2007) “Student/teacher relationships: Professional misconduct or sex crime?” Xtra!Xtra!Xtra! is a gay magazine, on newsprint in tabloid format, published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.-History and content :...
, No. 585, p. 12. - (1996) “The Prom You Never Had, The Prom You Always Wanted: For Lesbian and Gay Youth.” SirenSiren (magazine)Siren was a bimonthly Canadian magazine, published in Toronto, Ontario for the city's lesbian community.The magazine was launched in 1995 by a women's collective of volunteers. Its popularity increased in late 1996, around the time the lesbian monthly magazine Quota ceased publication...
1, 3 (August/September): 3-4.
Public art and performance projects
- (2011) Queer Bathroom Monologues. Toronto Fringe FestivalToronto Fringe FestivalThe Toronto Fringe Festival is an annual theatre festival, featuring uncensored plays by unknown or well-known artists, taking place in the theatres of Toronto. Several productions originally mounted at the Fringe have later been remounted for larger audiences, including the Tony Award-winning...
, July 6-17. Play by Sheila L. Cavanagh and Directed by Megan Watson. Ass. Director: Brittany Ross-Fichtner; Dramaturge: Alistair Newton; Set and Costume Designer: Jackie Comner; Stage Manager: Cassandra Silver; Choreographer: Patricia Allison; Actors: Hallie Burt; Tyson James; and Chy Ryan Spain. - (2010) The Queer Bathroom Monologues. Play based on interview data collected for the SSHRC funded Queering Bathrooms project. Performed at the Gladstone Hotel on November 7th for the launch of Queering Bathrooms: Gender, Sexuality and the Hygienic Imagination (UTP, 2010). Performers include: Tina Edan, Leonardo Zuniga and Jo SiMalaya Alcampo.