JJ (Jessica) Wright (she/they) is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies at MacEwan University. She was previously the lead postdoctoral researcher at McGill University on the iMPACTS Project: Collaborations to Address Sexual Violence on Campus (2021-22), within the the Department of Integrated Studies in Education. They earned their Ph.D. in June 2021 from the Department of Social Justice Education at the University of Toronto, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE).  Her doctoral project involved research with youth in higher education who self-identified as trauma survivors and explored the impact of traumatized subjectivity for gender-based violence (GBV) prevention education, namely consent education.  

Their current work focuses on understanding meaning-making about consent and gendered violence through the perspectives of queer and trans young people. JJ just launched findings from the Queer Sexual Joy project funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada in collaboration with Egale Canada. Find the Queer and Trans Sexual Joy research zine in the tab at the top right of the site. The main report of findings titled “Learning From Queer and Trans Sexual Joy: Cultivating Just, Pleasurable, and Affirming Sexual Cultures” can be found here. A report detailing six 2SLGBTQ+ youth- recommendations for a queer joy-centered approach to GBV prevention education can be found here.

Recently awarded a SSHRC Insight Development Grant with Dr. Casey Burkholder, in 2024, Dr. Wright will be building upon their work on queer joy and gender-based violence prevention education by engaging 2SLGBTQ+ youth in Alberta and New Brunswick in visual arts-based participatory research.

JJ is on the Editorial Board of Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture and Social Justice. They are also on the Board of Directors of the Queer and Trans Health Collective. Additionally, they are Co-President of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education’s Queer Studies in Education and Culture (QSEC) Association.

Select Awards and Work 

JJ was the recipient of the University of Toronto’s “Graduate Award for Scholarly Achievement in the Area of Gender-Based Violence” in the 2018-19 school year, awarded to one graduate student across U of T’s three campuses. Their doctoral research was also funded by two Ontario Graduate Scholarships, a University of Toronto Graduate scholarship, and numerous other awards and grants. They were also nominated for the “Teaching Assistant Teaching Excellent Award” in both 2019 and 2020 by their students. 

She has done extensive work as a member of the national working group to end GBV at post-secondary institutions as part of the Canadian Federal government’s project, “Courage to Act: Addressing & Preventing Gender-Based Violence on Post-Secondary Campuses.” Read her guest blogs titled “Factoring Survivors In: A Tool for Making Consent Education Trauma-informed” and “Building Consent Culture and Collective Care Through the Principles of Disability Justice.” 

Select Publications

Wright, J., Zidenberg, A. Fraser, L. Peter, T. Cameron, L. & B. Jakubiec. (2023). Speak Out: Lessons on How to Support Canadian 2SLGBTQI Youths Who Face Gender-Based Violence. Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality. Read it here.

Wright, J. and E. Greenberg. “Non-binary youth and binary sexual consent education: Unintelligibility, disruption and possibility.” Sex Education. Find it here.

JJ was part of the Reviewer Group for the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada’s (SIECCAN) Guidelines for Integrating Gender-based Violence Prevention Into School-Based Comprehensive Sexual Health Education. 2023, 1-120. Read the resource here. 

Cavanaugh, L., Applebaum, J., Kawolics, K., Izzo, M.., Kraft, K., Laing, M., Martin, T., Owis, B., & Wilson, S., & Wright, J. (2023). Become 2SLGBTQIA+ Literate: Everyday Strategies for Educators. The ArQuives. Find it here. 

Wright, J. “Trauma-informed Consent Education: Understanding the Grey Area of Consent Through the Experiences of Youth Trauma Survivors.” Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture, and Social Justice 43.1 (December 2022): 19-31. Find it here. 

Wright, J., and S. Abji. Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic: A National Survey of Gender-Based Violence Services at Canada’s Post-Secondary Institutions. Courage to Act: Addressing and Preventing Gender-Based Violence at Post-Secondary Institutions in Canada. 2022. 1-45. Find it here. 

Wright, J., Zidenberg, A., Fraser, L., Peter, T, Cameron, L., and B. Jakubiec. Addressing LGBTQ2SIA Youth Dating Violence: Lessons on How to Support Canadian LGBTQ2SIA Youth who Face Dating Violence. Egale Canada, SpeakOUT Project. 2022, 1-34. Find it here.

Vigor, J., Wright, J., K. Campbell. Social Media and Mobilizing Change for Community Impacts after #MeToo. Canadian Women’s Foundation. 2022, 1-38. Find it here.

Wright, J., Wong, T., Toner, J., et al. Courage Catalysts: Creating Consent Culture on Campus. Courage to Act: Addressing and Preventing Gender-Based Violence at Post-Secondary Institutions in Canada. 2021, 1-164. Find it here. 

Bialystok, L., Wright, J., Guy, C., Berzins, T., Osborne, E. “The Appropriation of Sex Education by Conservative Populism.” Curriculum Inquiry  50.4 (2020): 330-51. Find it here.  

Bialystok, L., and J. Wright. “‘Just Say No’: Public Dissent over Sexuality Education and the Canadian National Imaginary.” Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 40.3 (2019): 343-57. Find it here.

In 2019, as Research Lead at Silence Is Violence, a grassroots, student-led, anti-sexual violence organization, JJ and a team of five students released a 60-page report on University of Toronto students’ experiences and understandings of sexual violence across U of T’s three campuses. The full report is available below.