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 diverse 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.  Trauma-informed, anti-oppressive, disability justice frameworks inform their past and present research.

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. Here you can find the main report of findings titled “Learning From Queer and Trans Sexual Joy: Cultivating Just, Pleasurable, and Affirming Sexual Cultures”; a report detailing six 2SLGBTQ+ youth- recommendations for a queer joy-centered approach to GBV prevention education, and; the Queer and Trans Sexual Joy research zine. 

Recently awarded a SSHRC Insight Development Grant with Dr. Casey Burkholder, Dr. Wright is extending their work on queer joy as a transformative method of resistance against anti-2SLGBTQ+ hate and gender-based violence with 2SLGBTQ+ Canadians. Queerjoy.ca 

Among other funded projects, JJ is part of a 2.9-million-dollar, 5-year longitudinal study with Egale Canada (Dr. Brittany Jakubiec and Dr. Celeste Pang), Dr. Merrick Pilling, and Dr. Becky Barrett funded by the federal Crime Prevention Action Fund which explores the impact of COVID-19 on 2SLGBTQIA+ communities’ experiences of gender-based violence. 

JJ is on the Editorial Board of Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality and Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture and Social Justice. They are also on the Board of Directors of Community-based Research Canada (CBRC) and 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  

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 a “Teaching Excellent Award” in 2019, 2020, and 2024 by their students. 

Select Publications

Wright, J., and C. Manuel. (2024). “Cripping and Queering Consent Education: Bridging Disability Justice, Queer Joy, and Gender-based Violence Prevention.” Culture, Health, and Sexuality. Read here. 

Wright, J., and J. Falek. (2024). ‘The Loving Queer Gaze’: The Epistemological Significance of Queer Joy. Sociology Compass. 1-19. Read here. 

Wright, J., Falek, J., and E. Greenberg. (2024). “Queer Joy-Centered Sexuality Education: Offering A Novel Framework for Gender-based Violence Prevention.” Journal of LGBT Youth. Read here. 

“Limits of Consent Education.” (2024). International Encyclopedia of Sexuality Education. Eds. L. Allen and M.L. Rasmussen. Palgrave Macmillan. Read it here. 

JJ Wright and Kris Wells (October 2023) wrote an op-ed for The Toronto Star titled “NHL Pride Tape ban proves hockey is not for everyone.” Find it here. 

Wright, J., Zidenberg, A. Fraser, L. Peter, T. Cameron, L. & B. Jakubiec. (2024). 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. (2023). 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. (2022). 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. 19-31. Find it here. 

Wright, J., and S. Abji. (2022). 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. 1-45. Find it here. 

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

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

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

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

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