Abigail Saguy
Biography
I am a sociologist who has spent my career studying how subordinated groups are sometimes able to gain power by creating new cultural meaning.
To date, I have pursued these interests through several distinct lines of inquiry. These include: 1) how and why the United States and France developed different legal and corporate approaches to sexual harassment; 2) how fatness has come to be understood as a public health crisis, and how and why fat rights groups have promoted alternative understandings of bigger bodies; 3) how and why various groups talk of “coming out” as members of these groups to resist stigma and collectively mobilize for social change; and, most recently 4) how fundamentally different understandings of gender have divided feminists, LGBTQ+ activists, and conservatives in battles over parenting ideologies, pronouns, identity documents, women’s sports, and whether biological sex should remain a meaningful legal and social category.
Degrees
2000 Ph.D., Princeton University
1999 Ph.D, L’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris
Fields of Study
Sociology of Gender, Cultural Sociology, Law and Society, Political Sociology, Medical Sociology
Research
Americans can’t agree on what “gender” means—and that’s fueling some of the most explosive political battles of our time.
My newest book, Gender Flashpoints: The Power of Dialogue (In Press, Russell Sage Foundation) shows how competing definitions of gender drive conflicts over bathrooms, sports, pronouns, identity documents, and childhood socialization. Through interviews with 94 activists—including feminists, LGBTQ+ advocates, conservatives, and gender-critical feminists—it reveals both profound disagreements and unexpected common ground.
The book demonstrates that major policy changes implemented without public debate trigger backlash and policy whiplash. It identifies workable solutions (like redesigned restrooms) that satisfy competing concerns. And it makes the case that honest dialogue across political divides is both possible and essential—offering practical strategies for fostering such conversations.
This book doesn’t tell you what to think. It gives you tools to understand, navigate, and discuss some of the most crucial and fraught topics of our time.
This research received generous support from the National Science Foundation Program in Law and Social Science.
It extends earlier research with Juliet A. Williams and Mallory E. Rees, published in leading sociology, law and society, and gender studies journals, including Social Forces , Social Problems, Gender & Society, Law & Society Review, and Signs .
My previous book, Come Out, Come Out, Whoever You Are (2020, Oxford), examined how and why people “come out” as specific kinds of people. It examined the political goals this accomplishes and how the term’s origins in the gay rights movement inform what it means to come out as, say, fat, undocumented, as Mormon fundamentalist polygamist, or as a victim of sexual abuse. It showed that identity-based movements seek to cast off negative stereotypes and internalized shame. Sometimes this involved reclaiming stigmatized terms such as black, queer, or fat. Other times, groups try to destigmatize and reframe issues by employing new terms, such as undocumented, DREAMers, or plural-marriage-families. In both instances, people counter stigma and discrimination and pursue a human need to have their authentic self publicly recognized and valued.
In 2013, I published What’s Wrong with Fat? (Oxford). This book examined how and why fatness has come to be understood as a public health crisis and the social consequences of understanding body weight in this way. I also published several articles that examine related issues.
My very first book, What is Sexual Harassment? From Capitol Hill to the Sorbonne (2003, California), showed how different legal and political traditions constrained and enable U.S. and French activists to develop distinct legal approaches to sexual harassment that, in turn, had disparate implications for corporate policies in each nation.
In 2018, I extended this work in an article published in Law & Society Review, showing how European law—and specifically a 2002 Directive—has shaped the practice and content of sexual harassment law in France. I showed that the European Directive changed how French courts address sexual harassment and shaped the content of a new sexual harassment law France passed in 2012. Yet, its influence has been mediated by dominant national attitudes about: 1) the nature of sexual harassment, 2) which legal institutions are best suited to address it, and 3) the character of women who claim to have been harassed. I further demonstrated that news reporting on a 2011 arrest of a French politician for sexual assault led to more positive attitudes about sexual harassment victims. The impact that news media reporting on this arrest has had on the enforcement of sexual harassment law in France sheds light on the likely impact of the #MeToo movement in the United States, as I discussed in several subsequent publications.
Publications
Books
Gender Flashpoints: The Power of Dialogue. Russell Sage Foundation. In Press
Come Out, Come Out, Whoever You Are. Oxford University Press. 2020.
What’s Wrong with Fat? ” Read the Introduction” Oxford University Press. 2013.
What is Sexual Harassment?: From Capitol Hill to the Sorbonne. University of California Press. 2003.
Selected articles
““The Social Constructions of Gender.” Sociological Forum. Online First.
“Following a Child’s Lead and Setting Kids Up for Success: Convergence and Divergence in Parenting Ideologies on the Political Right and Left.” (with Mallory E. Rees) 2024. Social Forces. 103(22): 615–632.
“Too ‘Full of Gender‘: How Activists Conceptualize the Promises and Pitfalls of Gender-Neutral Identity Documents.” (with Juliet A. Williams). 2023. Social Problems. Online First.
“A Little Word that Means A Lot: A Reassessment of Singular They in a New Era of Gender Politics.” (with Juliet A. Williams). 2021. Gender & Society Review. 36(1): 5–31.
“Gender, Power, and Harassment: Sociology in the #MeToo Era.” (with Mallory E. Rees). 2021. Annual Review of Sociology. 47:417–435.
“Reassessing Gender Neutrality.” (with Juliet A. Williams and Mallory E. Rees). 2020. Law & Society Review. 54 (1): 7–32
“Reimagining Gender: Gender Neutrality in the News.” (with Juliet A. Williams). Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. vol. 44, no. 2 (Winter 2019): 465–489.
“Europeanization or National Specificity? Legal Approaches to Sexual Harassment in France, 2002-2012.” Law & Society Review. vol. 52, no. 1 (March 2018): 140–171.
“‘I Would Never Want to be an Only Wife’: The Role of Discursive Networks and Post-Feminist Discourse in Reframing Polygamy.” (with Nicole Iturriaga) Social Problems. vol. 64, no. 3 (February 2017): 333–350.
“Culture, Health, and Bigotry: How Exposure to Cultural Accounts of Fatness Shape Attitudes About Health Risk, Health Policies, and Weight-Based Prejudice.” (with David Frederick and Kjerstin Gruys) Social Science and Medicine. vol. 165 (September 2016): 271–279.
“Effects of Competing News Media Frames of Weight on Antifat Stigma, Beliefs about Weight, and Support for Obesity-Related Policies.” (with David Frederick, Gaganyjot Sandhu, and Traci Mann.) International Journal of Obesity. vol. 40, no. 3 (March 2016): 543–549.
“Coming Out of the Shadows: Harnessing a Cultural Schema to Advance the Undocumented Immigrant Youth Movmeent.” (with Laura Enriquez). American Journal of Cultural Sociology. vol. 4, no. 1 (February 2016): 107–130.
“How to Describe it? Why the Term ‘Coming Out’ Means Different Things in the U.S. and France.” (with Michael Stambolis-Ruhstorfer) Sociological Forum. vol. 29, no. 4 (2014): 808–829.
“Reporting Risk, Producing Prejudice: How News Reporting on Obesity Shapes Attitudes about Health Risk, Policy, and Prejudice.” (with David Frederick, and Kjerstin Gruys.) Social Science and Medicine. vol. 111 (June 2014): 125–133.
“Gendered Homophobia and the Contradictions of Workplace Discrimination for Women in the Building Trades“(with Amy Denissen) Gender & Society. vol. 28, no. 3 (June 2014): 381–403.
“ Coming Out as Fat: Rethinking Stigma. ” (with Anna Ward) Social Psychology Quarterly. vol. 74, no. 1 (March 2011): 53–75.
“ Social Problem Construction and National Context: News Reporting on ‘Overweight’ and ‘Obesity’ in the U.S. and France.” (with Kjerstin Gruys and Shanna Gong) Social Problems. vol. 57, no. 4 (November 2010): 586–610.
“Morality and Health: News Media Constructions of Overweight and Eating Disorders.” (with Kjerstin Gruys). Social Problems. vol 57, no. 2 (May 2010): 231–250.
“Fat in the Fire? Science, the News Media, and the ‘Obesity Epidemic‘.” (With Rene Almeling). Sociological Forum. vol. 23, no. 1 (March 2008): 53–83.
“The Epidemiology of Overweight and Obesity: Public Health Crisis or Moral Panic? ” (With Paul Campos, Paul Ernsberger, Eric Oliver, and Glen Gaesser). International Journal of Epidemiology. vol. 35, no. 1 (February 2006): 55–60.
“Constructing Social Problems in an Age of Globalization: A French-American Comparison.” (With Rodney Benson) American Sociological Review. vol. 70, no. 2 (April 2005): 233–259.
“Weighing Both Sides: Morality, Mortality and Framing Contests over Obesity.” (With Kevin W. Riley) Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law. vol. 30, no. 5 (October 2005): 869–921.
“International Crossways: Traffic in Sexual Harassment Policy.” European Journal of Women’s Studies. vol. 9, no. 3 (2002): 249–267.
“Employment Discrimination or Sexual Violence?: Defining Sexual Harassment in French and American Law.” Law and Society Review. vol. 34 no. 4 (2000): 1091–1128.
“Puritanism and Promiscuity? Sexual Attitudes in France and the United States.” Comparative Social Research. vol. 18 (1999): 227–247.
Awards & Grants
Awards
Heterodox Academy Open Inquiry Award for Teaching. 2025.
Sociology Research Association (SRA). Elected Membership. 2025–
Russell Sage Foundation. Fellow. 2023–2024
UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award, 2017.
Honorable Mention. Association for Humanist Sociology Book Award. for What’s Wrong with Fat?
Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS), Stanford. Fellow. 2008–2009.
Fellowship. Robert Wood Johnson Scholars in Health Policy Research Program (Yale site). 2000–2002.
Winner. Sally Hacker Award. Sex and Gender section of the American Sociological Association. 2000. “Sexual Harassment in France and the United States: Activists and Public Figures Defend their Definitions.”
Grants
National Science Foundation. Law and Social Science and Sociology Programs. # 1734340. For “How difference matters in the development of legal doctrine” (with Juliet Williams) $326,967. September 1 2017-August 31 2020.
ASA/NSF Fund for the Advancement of the Discipline (FAD): Creating the “Obesity Epidemic”: Science, Social Activism, and the Mass Media. $7000. 2004–2006.
National Science Foundation. Doctoral Dissertation Research: Defining Sexual Harassment in France and the United States. NSF 98-2. $3400. 1998–1999.
French Government. Subvention pour le fonctionnement d’une cotutelle de thèse (Dissertation Grant). 35,000 F ($6364). 1998–1999.
Council for European Studies. The Young Scholars Networking Grant. Spring 2000.
