Kari Lerum

Associate Professor

Kari Lerum

B.A. Sociology, Pacific Lutheran University
Ph.D. Sociology, University of Washington

Phone: 425-352-3588
Email: lerum@uw.edu
Website: https://karilerum.weebly.com/
Mailing Box: 358530, 18115 Campus Way NE, Bothell, WA 98011-1713

Intro

I became a professor because I love to cultivate knowledge within communities which foster curiosity, high ethical standards for research and scholarship, and practices which honor the dignity of all. I am sociologist by training (PhD sociology University of Washington Seattle) and Adjunct Professor in Gender, Women, & Sexuality Studies at UW Seattle. I am also a former co-chair of the Seattle LGBTQ commission, and a member of a Puget Sound coalition called Rights & Safety for People in the Sex Trade. 

Teaching

I teach a range of courses in topics related to society and culture, feminist theory and film, death & dying, institutions, research methods, sexual labor studies, & sexuality education. 

Recent Courses Taught

BIS 181 Introduction to Sociology 
BIS 219 Politics of Sexuality Education 
BISGWSS 303 Approaches to Feminist Inquiry 
BIS 304 Institutions & Social Change 
BIS 312 Approaches to Social Research 
BIS 341 Girls on Film 
BIS 490 (Senior Seminar): Death Rituals 
BIS 490 (Senior Seminar): Sex Work, Human Trafficking, & Social Justice 

Research/Scholarship

My primary research focuses on the intersections of sexuality, power, and context, with a focus on sex work and the politics of anti-human trafficking policies. My secondary areas of scholarship are in critical autoethnography, critical death studies, and feminist media studies. My current research and scholarship include a community-based interview project with trans and non-binary individuals in the sex trade in the Seattle area, and a book project with Routledge press (Sexuality: The Basics).

Selected Publications

Lerum, K. (2024). Sex Work and Criminalization. In A. Goldberg (Ed.), The Sage Encyclopedia of LGBTQ+ Studies, 2nd ed. Sage.

Lerum, K. (2024) Trafficking in the Sex Trades. In A. Goldberg (Ed.), The Sage Encyclopedia of LGBTQ+ Studies, 2nd ed. Sage.

Lerum, K. (2023) No One Cites Obituaries: Extricating from Sticky Grief. Journal of Autoethnography, 4, 2.

Lerum, K. (2021) Teaching Death Rituals during States of Emergency: Centering Death Positivity, Decolonization, Grief, & Ritual. Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, 20, 1. DOI: 10.1080/15505170.2021.1964114

Lerum, K., & Brents, B. (2016). Sociological Perspectives on Sex Work and Human Trafficking. Sociological Perspectives, 59, 17-26. (Introduction to special issue edited by Lerum & Brents).

Lerum, K, & Dworkin, S. (2016). The power of (but not in?) Sexual Configurations Theory. (Invited commentary). Archives of Sexual Behavior, 45(3), 495-499.

Lerum, K., & Dworkin, S. (2015). Sexual agency is not a problem of neoliberalism: Feminism, sexual justice, & the carceral turn. Sex Roles, 3(7-8), 319-331.

Lerum, K. (2015). A FemmeNist ManiPedifesto. Cultural Studies ß à Critical Methodologies, 15, 156-162. 

Lerum, K. (2014, Winter). Human Wrongs vs. Human Rights. Contexts.

Lerum, K, McCurtis, K, Saunders, P., and Wahab, S. (2012). Using Human Rights to hold the US Accountable for its Anti-Sex-Trafficking Agenda: The Universal Periodic Review & New Directions for US Policy. Anti-Trafficking Review, 1, 80-103.

Lerum, K., & Dworkin, S. (2009). ‘Bad Girls Rule’: An Interdisciplinary Feminist Commentary on the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls. Journal of Sex Research, 46(4).