Dr. Rebecca Sullivan

Professor, Department of English, University of Calgary

Feminist media and communications, Film and television, Popular culture, Gender and sexuality, Gender and sexual rights, Sex and reproductive policy in Canada, Pornography

Media

Agenda Plus: Systemic Sexism in Academia

The Agenda's Cara Stern speaks with Rebecca Sullivan, president of the University of Calgary's Academic Women's Association, about the systemic issues facing women pursuing careers in academia. Sullivan is a professor of English who specializes in feminist media and cultural studies.

Calgary University professor highlights danger of posting controversial comments online

Netflix’s ‘Cuties’ ignites the wrong debate on young girls’ sexuality

Red pill rhetoric infiltrating political parties, Calgary prof cautions

Netflix’s ‘Cuties’ ignites the wrong debate on young girls’ sexuality

Biography

Rebecca Sullivan specializes in feminist media and cultural studies. Her work bridges analysis of popular culture with media industries and political, legal and regulatory frameworks that circumscribe women's agency and bodily integrity in the public sphere.

She is the author of Pornography: Structures, Agency and Performance (with Alan McKee, 2015); Natalie Wood (2015); Bonnie Sherr Klein's Not a Love Story (2015); Becoming Biosubjects (with Neil Gerlach, Sheryl Hamilton and Percy Walton, 2011); Canadian Television Today (with Bart Beaty 2006); and Visual Habits: Nuns, Feminism and American Popular Culture (2005). She is the Co-Editor of How Canadians Communicate: Contexts of Popular Culture (2010).

Sullivan is a past Fellow in the Calgary Institute for the Humanities (2010-11); Killam Resident Fellow (2003-4); and Senior Fellow of the Institute for United States Policy Research (2007-8). She is currently leading the SSHRC-funded research project, The Legacy of Studio D for Feminist Media Arts Activism in Canada. She is past President of the Canadian Communication Association and the Sexuality Studies Association. Sullivan serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Porn Studies.

Expertise

  • Feminist media and communications
  • Public and popular feminist discourse
  • Gender and sexuality
  • Gender and sexual rights
  • Sex and reproductive policy in Canada
  • Pornography