Research Interests

• Critical sexuality studies and critical sexual literacy 

• Temporalities, affect & queer theory 

• Access to higher education for LGBTQ+ people 

• Artificial intelligence, FemTech, and sexual & reproductive health 

• Workplace diversity and inclusion 

• Sexuality, marriage, and economics in the U.S.

Biography

Michelle A. Marzullo, Ph.D. is a practicing anthropologist specializing in critical sexuality studies. She is Chair and Professor for the Human Sexuality PhD Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), leading only the second fully accredited PhD program in the U.S. She leverages her position to be a convener of academics and advocates fostering a critical sexuality studies lens homing in on relationships between power and sexuality, sex and gender. Her research expertise spans four main areas: 1. LGBTQ access to higher education; 2. artificial intelligence and sexual & reproductive health; 3. workplace diversity and inclusion; and 4. sexuality, marriage, and economics in the U.S. She is a mixed methodologist utilizing standard qualitative approaches such as interviews and focus groups, language and discourse analysis, and quantitative approaches to triangulate data sources for answering transdisciplinary questions. Her work spans academic and practical applications, having engaged a wide range of research and consultancy engagements in the realms of public health, diversity & inclusion, policy, higher education, and organizational and technology change efforts. Notable organizations she has engaged with include Ernst & Young, the Point Foundation, International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Human Rights Campaign Foundation, Child Welfare League of America, California Department of Public Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Kaiser Permanente’s Division of Research.

Education

American University, Washington, DC Ph.D. in Anthropology (concentration in Race, Gender and Social Justice)

San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA M.A. Human Sexuality Studies

Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT B.A. in Psychology (minor in Sociology)

Awards & Distinctions

• 2020 Grand Challenges Canada, $250,000 funding for the AAID Project (Dec. 2020-Dec. 2022) 

• 2010 St. Clair Drake Grant, Society for the Anthropology of North America 

• 2004-2009 Point Foundation Scholarship 

• 2007-2008 American University College of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Research Fellowship 

• 2007 American University GLBTA Resource Center Academic Award 

• 2004 Carlos Enrique Cisneros Scholarship 

• 2001 Genentech Out & Equal Scholarship 

• 2001 Grant Larsen Fellowship

Courses

1. Sexual Theory and Intersectionality 2. Sex, Gender & Reproductive Rights 3. Methodology II (Qualitative Research Method) 4. Comprehensive Examinations

Publications

Marzullo, M. & W.L. Leap (Forthcoming in 2023). Lavender Languages and Critical Sexuality Studies: Sexuality and Power in Daily Life. Bloomsbury.

Marzullo, M. (Forthcoming in 2023). Partnering to Create Innovative AI Tools for Global Reproductive Freedom. Digital anthropology innovation in methods, tools and education: Call for evidence and ideas. LiiV Center: Digital Innovation in Anthropology & UNESCO.

Marzullo, M. & G. Herdt. (Forthcoming in 2023). Anthropological foundations of sexuality, health and rights: 1920s-2020s. Routledge Handbook of Sexuality, Health and Rights, 2nd edition. Editors Peter Aggleton, Richard Parker. Routledge.

Marzullo, M. (2021). Doing critical sexuality studies. In G. Herdt, M. Marzullo, and N. Pollen-Petit (Eds.), Critical Sexual Literacy: Forecasting Trends in Sexual Politics, Diversity and Pedagogy. Pp. 79-90. London: Anthem Press. https://anthempress.com/critical-sexual-literacy-hb

Herdt, G. and M. Marzullo (2021). Introduction: What we mean by critical sexual literacy. In Critical Sexual Literacy: Forecasting Trends in Sexual Politics, Diversity and Pedagogy. Pp. 1-10. London: Anthem Press. https://anthempress.com/critical-sexual-literacy-hb

Herdt, G., M. Marzullo, and N. Pollen-Petit (Eds.). (2021). Critical Sexual Literacy: Forecasting Trends in Sexual Politics, Diversity and Pedagogy. London: Anthem Press. https://anthempress.com/critical-sexual-literacy-hb

Marzullo, Michelle A., Jasmine Rault, and T.L. Cowan 2018. “Can I Study You?” Cross-Disciplinary Conversations in Queer Internet Studies. First Monday 23(7). doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/fm.v23i7.9263

Marzullo, Michelle A. 2015 History of LGBT/queer sexuality, North America [not including indigenous]. Patricia Whelehan and Anne Bolin, eds. Sexual Orientations and Identities Section, Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality, pp. 693-699. Wiley-Blackwell. https://www.wiley.com/en-us/The+International+Encyclopedia+of+Human+Sexuality%2C+3+Volume+Set-p-9781405190060

Marzullo, Michelle A. 2013 Seeking “Marriage Material”: Rethinking the U.S. Marriage Debates Under Neoliberalism. In Feminist Activist Ethnography: Counterpoints to Neoliberalism in North America. Christa Craven and Dána-Ain Davis, eds., pp. 77-100. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, a division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739176368/Feminist-Activist-Ethnography-Counterpoints-to-Neoliberalism-in-North-America

Marzullo, Michelle A. 2011. Through a Glass Darkly: U.S. Marriage Discourse and Neoliberalism. Journal of Homosexuality 58 (6-7): 758-774. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21740209/