Dr Sarah L Jones

Research

I’m a social and cultural historian of gender and sexuality, working mostly on histories of modern Britain and America.

My current research explores the popular life of sexual science in print, specifically looking at how debates and ideas from sexual science played a role in early twentieth-century culture. While I’m interested in the relationship between sexuality and print culture more broadly, my most recent work has investigated the history of popular, mass-produced sex advice literature - how it was written, published, sold, and accessed, but also how and why it was read and consumed. You can see some of this work in my latest article in Gender & History.

Much of this research has been informed by my work on the Wellcome Trust funded Rethinking Sexology project at the University of Exeter, where I was a research fellow prior to joining Bristol in 2020.

The other strand of my work looks at the history of sex radicalism and ‘free love’ movements. My recently published article in the Journal of Victorian Culture makes use of some of this research and interrogates how sex radical communities in both Britain and the United States were able to cohere through transatlantic print networks. It is open access and can be found here. 

I’m also really interested in how we can use research into histories of gender and sexuality to meaningfully engage with the public beyond the university. I've been lucky enough to have been involved with some great engagement projects, and am currently heading up a new initiative which will look at how games can support and encourage those outside the academy to explore queer history.

Teaching

When i'm not busy with all of that I conduct research into impactful and innovative pedagogy. In 21/22 I was a BILT Associate, working as part of a team to investigate new ways of helping students transition to university. In addition to producing commissioned educational resources for Bloomsbury and Adam Matthew Digital, I have written for the Radical History Review on creative historical practice and image-based learning. 

I’ve supervised a vast array of excellent research projects that have covered such diverse topics as the history of drag culture, polyamory, Victorian pornography, women's magazines, sex scandals, "dykes on bikes," sex work, and the Spice Girls. I'd be delighted to speak to any students with interests in modern histories of gender, feminism, sexuality, sex radicalism, or popular culture, as well as the history of science and medicine, LGBTQ+ history, and histories of print and the media.

My pronouns are she/her/hers.

Contact details:

Email: Sarah.Jones@bristol.ac.uk

Twitter: @callingdrjones_

Office: G43 (between 11 and 13 Woodland Road)