Research
At the intersection of gender, sexuality, and inclusion, you’ll find Dr. Amy Moors. Whether it’s investigating stigma surrounding diverse expressions of sexuality and romantic relationships or examining the barriers to an inclusive higher education, Amy and her research team at the ONWARD lab seek answers in order to move up and onward toward a more just society.
How do monogamy ideals affect our lives?
From Romeo & Juliet to The Bachelor, our society has held up monogamy as a universal desire. From the moment we can understand the world, we are told that romantic, monogamous love is singular. Anything else is abnormal, immoral, or illegal, right?
Yet, at some point in their lives, 1 out of 5 Americans have been in a consensually non-monogamous relationship, such as polyamorous or open relationships (Haupert, Gesselman, Moors, Garcia, & Fisher, 2017). Twenty percent. That’s how many Americans own cats or speak another language other than English at home. You’re more likely to have been in a consensual non-monogamous relationship than to be left-handed or red-headed.
Yet this vast swath of Americans are largely ignored. And if they are considered, they’re stigmatized as deviants and ostracized from polite society (Moors et al., 2013).
In the ONWARD lab, Amy and her team focus on understanding the story of the 20 percent. How does this stigmatization of their love lives affect them? Amy also examines how multiple romantic and/or sexual partners affect trust, satisfaction, sexual health, and happiness.
Along with collaborating therapists, they research inclusive ways to work with clients engaged in consensually non-monogamous relationships in hopes of making their lives better.
How do social norms about sexuality affect us?
We all know the score when it comes to sex outside of marriage: men are players and women are [fill in the blank with a derogatory term].
Yet why are women expected to avoid relationships that won’t culminate with a wedding ring?
Why are women often more sexually inhibited than men?
Some researchers believe there is an evolutionary mechanism to each gender’s sexual behaviors.
While others suggest social and cultural reasons explain the difference.
This is what Amy and the ONWARD lab have found. In their research they’ve discovered that women are less likely to engage in non-marriage focused sex than men because women fear social sanctions (e.g., harassment for being sexually agentic; Conley, Ziegler, & Moors, 2013). But this isn’t universal. For instance, in queer relationships it’s not necessarily one’s gender but a person’s specific personality or sexual capabilities that plays a more prominent role in their willingness to engage in multi-partner relationships or casual sex (Moors et al., 2014; Matsick, Kruk, Conley, Moors, & Ziegler, in press).
In the lab, Amy and her team study how these social norms affect dating and sexual behavior. They also look at how romantic beliefs and social pressure shape desire and dating decisions.
How do traditional gender roles and academia mix?
Even in the progressive halls of academia, women are often faced with the choice between family and career. This belief is especially entrenched in male-dominated STEM fields, where there is a strong perception that a woman can’t succeed in the sciences and care for children, family members, and her own health at the same time. It’s perceived as all or nothing. Separate spheres.
This stereotype, along with other racial and sexuality biases, not only harm campus culture, they find their way into interpersonal interactions. Sometimes this can take form microaggressions or more explicit acts such as a lack of equitable policies. All of this creates a culture of exclusion that harms the well-being and advancement of diverse scholars.
Amy and the ONWARD lab focus on identifying roadblocks such as microaggressions and discrimination that impede students and faculty members’ careers in higher education. They also search for solutions by examining situations where people in academia thrive. For instance, Amy has found that family-friendly climates mitigate gender-specific tension experienced by postdocs and faculty—whether or not they have children (Moors, Malley, & Stewart, 2014).
How do we create an equitable campus?
Many students, faculty, and administrators have a sincere desire to promote equity, but do not know how. Making real changes to the campus climate can be challenging. Responses to concerns about discrimination are, at times, ad hoc and lack a firm theoretical basis, which can make things worse.
Amy and the ONWARD lab hope to bridge the gap between research on an equitable environment and the practice of creating an inclusive campus by using evidence-based and theoretically-grounded methods to promote ally engagement and improve the campus climate.
Some of their work focuses on developing interactive educational workshops that teach skills for conflict management and how to “speak up” and intervene in situations of injustice. They also work with administrators in higher education to develop equitable policies and practices.