About Me

PhD Degree

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Dr. Gordon Hodson, a world-renowned expert in prejudice and discrimination, supervised me during my Ph.D. studies at Brock University. Funded by two Ontario Women's Health Scholar Awards and two SSHRC doctoral fellowships, my Ph.D. research clarified the anti-women effects of pornography consumption among self-identified men and women. Studies 1-3 provided evidence for my prejudice-focused person-by-situation framework wherein hostile and benevolent sexist ideologies are essential moderators of anti-women pornography effects. Specifically, more frequent pornography consumption predicts greater sexual harm against women (e.g., sexual objectification), particularly among consumers higher in hostile or benevolent sexism. In fact, not only are anti-women effects absent among those lower in ideological sexism, but for women lower in hostile sexism, pornography consumption predicts lower sexual harm against women. In a sample of self-identified feminist women, Study 4 of my dissertation delved further into what ethical pornography consumption might look like. Qualitative data analyses revealed the importance of consent, pleasure, sexual freedom, and the distinction between fantasy and reality as participants attempted to resolve ethical tensions arising from pornography use.

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Master's Degree

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I completed my Master's degree alongside the supervision of Dr. Hodson at Brock University. My M.A. thesis explored women's reactions to jokes that aggress against women and belittle their intelligence and worth. Although women overall rejected sexist jokes, those endorsing cavalier humor beliefs pushed back less against sexist jokes and were more likely to accept discrimination against their ingroup. My Master's thesis was awarded the CPA Certificate of Academic Excellence for best Master's thesis and the Graduate Research Writing Award for Best M.A. Thesis in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Brock University. Upon completing my Master's degree I also received the Distinguished Graduate Student Award (for highest overall average).

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Undergraduate Degree

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I earned my B.A. in Psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University). Dr. Becky Choma, an expert in political ideology, prejudice, and discrimination, was my thesis supervisor. My undergraduate honours thesis focused on the roles of self-objectification and system justifying beliefs in predicting skin bleaching behaviour. Notably, we found that the positive relation between skin-tone surveillance and skin-bleaching behavior was stronger among women of color who more strongly (vs. weakly) endorsed system justifying ideologies. My undergraduate honours thesis was awarded the CPA Certificate of Academic Excellence for best undergraduate thesis.

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Previously, I have also held several Ontario Graduate Scholarships, the Joseph Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, the Bluma Appel Graduate Entrance Scholarship for Excellence in Social Sciences, and several NSERC undergraduate student research awards.

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I enjoy gardening, hiking, listening to music, and pampering my American Bulldog, Dallas.