Books

Item Description

This is your chance to bring your friends over and Skype with acclaimed pop-feminist author and expert commentator, Patricia Leavy, author of such books as Low-Fat Love, Essentials of Transdisciplinary Research: Using Problem-Centered Methodologies, Fiction as Research Practice: Short Stories, Novellas, and Novels, as well as American Circumstance which you will receive a signed copy of. Ask her questions about her studies, her work, how to break into the writing industry, or just about life in general.

As a pop culture and women’s studies expert, Dr. Leavy has spent over a decade conducting interview research with women on topics including sexuality, relationships and body image. She is the author of the novel American Circumstance (2013) which explores appearance versus reality– how people’s live and relationships look versus how they are– and how social class shapes identity in complex ways. Her previous novel, Low-Fat Love (2011) explores women’s identity-development in the context of popular culture, why some women are attracted to men who withhold their support and the psychology of unhealthy relationships (including with one’s self). Low-Fat Love was nominated for numerous book awards and was Sense Publishers #1 selling book in 2012 (and their best selling title to date). She is also the author of Iconic Events: Media, Politics and Power in Retelling History (2007) which investigates the collective memory practices surrounding Titanic, the Shirtwaist Factory Fire, Pearl Harbor, the Columbine High School Shootings and September 11th. Iconic Events emphasizes the gendered nature of the media reporting, political appropriations and pop culture adaptations of these events. For example, the book unpacks the use of Titanic in the women’s suffrage movement. Dr. Leavy is also the coauthor of Feminist Research Practice: A Primer (2007) and co-editor of Hybrid Identities: Theoretical and Empirical Examinations (2008).

As a sociologist, pop culture and women’s studies expert Dr. Leavy has appeared on national and local television (for example, Glenn Beck and Lou Dobbs Tonight) and is regularly quoted in international, national and local print news (for example, The New York Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, The LA Times). She regularly contributes to the Huffington Post and other news media.