Ella Ben Hagai, associate professor of psychology and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Lesbian Studies, has won the 2023 Distinguished Book Award from the American Psychological Association’s Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity (Division 44). Co-written with Professor Eileen L. Zurbriggen (UC Santa Cruz) and with a contribution from Noël R. Lugo (M.A., California State University, Fullerton), the book Queer Theory and Psychology: Gender, Sexuality, and Transgender Identities juxtaposes propositions made by queer theorists and recent psychological findings on the fluidity of gender, social construction of sexualities, and the broad spectrum of transgender identities.
Internationally renowned queer theorists and psychology scholar Meg-John Barker wrote, “Ben Hagai and Zurbriggen do a brilliant job summarizing foundational ideas from queer theory and trans studies in an accessible way for unfamiliar readers, and exploring how recent psychological studies resonate with these ideas, and sometimes extend and/or challenge them. There is a strong intersectional and abolitionist thread throughout the book, encouraging both queer and psychological thought to center the needs of the most marginalized, and to question oppressive normativities however they show up in our work, lives, and communities.” The book is available through the CSUF library. For a free online copy, contact Ben Hagai at ebenhagai@fullerton.edu.