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Shawna Irissarri

Biography:

Shawna Irissarri is a PhD student in the department of Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Kentucky. She obtained her bachelor's in Women's Studies and Psychology from California State University, Fresno where she was active in the creation of programming and services for students with marginalized gender identities with an emphasis on trans student rights. She also serves as a graduate teaching assistant at the department of Gender and Women's Studies. Her research focuses on portrayals of lesbian sexuality in mainstream pornography, the effect of capitalism on the pornography industry and queer women sex workers with an emphasis on lesbians of color and trans lesbian identities. She is examining how neoliberal capitalist interests promote sapphobic/transphobic/racist influences on popular lesbian pornography and how these forces serve to reflect and reinforce cultural values that contribute to marginalization as well as how this environment is navigated by lesbian pornography producers, sex workers and consumers.

Research Interests:
Lesbian Representation
Queer Theory
transgender studies
Porn Studies
political economy/ecology of neoliberal(izing) global capitalism
Sex Work