This year members of the NSRC have had the amazing opportunity to attend numerous national conferences related to sexuality studies. We’ve heard from experts doing research and advocacy at every intersection of sexuality, health, and social justice. As newbie to the field these conferences afforded me the opportunity to chat with authors whose work I have studied and admired from afar, and I was often star-struck.

Meeting stars of sexuality studies is very excited, but it pales in comparison to my experience yesterday at the 4th annual SF State of Sexuality conference. The conference is a showcase of sexuality research produced by SFSU graduate students, and it was held in classroom one floor up from my office. Many of the participants are students in the Sexuality Studies department, and I knew each of them from my time in the department last year.

Despite my familiarity with each presenter I felt star-struck once again. In less than a year and with no funding each student produced research that changes the ways we should think about sexuality.  Presentations varied in topic from examining the way Black men negotiate racialized and sexualized stereotypes in creating online profiles to a film on sexuality, visibility, and disability.

The most striking...