Crystal Jackson

Associate Professor, Women and Gender Studies

Associate Professor, School of Social Transformation

crystal.jackson@asu.edu

Mail code: 4308

Campus: Tempe
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Long Bio

Crystal A. Jackson (they/she) is a sociological feminist scholar whose research underscores feminist and queer understandings of sexual labors and gender politics in the United States. They have published scholarly studies on straight male porn fandom, queer porn performers’ articulation of their work as activism, and local strip club regulations. As a scholar-activist, Jackson’s earlier work focused on 21st century U.S. sex worker rights organizing as an example of successful labor resistance and survival in a carceral state. Jackson is also co-author of "The State of Sex: Tourism, Sex, and Sin in the New American Heartland" (Routledge, 2010), an ethnographic exploration of the only legal sale of sex in the country, Nevada’s rural brothels. Their current research explores how the racial justice concept of 'abolitionism' is deployed in mainstream, institutionalized U.S. anti-sex trafficking policies and advocacies to demand actions that are in direct opposition to racial justice abolitionist aims.

Jackson began their higher ed journey at the Community College of Southern Nevada. She eventually earned her doctorate in sociology with an emphasis in women's studies from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2013. Jackson joined the faculty of ASU’s School of Social Transformation as an associate professor of women and gender studies in August 2023. They currently serve as Secretary for the national Sociology for Women in Society (SWS), a scholarly feminist professional organization.

Education

Ph.D. and M.A., Sociology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV)
Women's Studies Graduate Certificate, UNLV
B.A., Psychology, UNLV
Community College of Southern Nevada (transferred to UNLV)

Google Scholar URL

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=tr1vK5kAAAAJ

Research Interests

sexual labor; U.S. sex worker rights organizing; political economy of sexuality; state violence and carcerality

Publications

Jackson, Crystal A. 2022. “Upholding Racist Heteronormativity: The Anti-Blackness of Prostitution Neo-Abolitionism in the United States.” International Journal of Gender, Sexuality and Law. 2(1): 326-359.

Jackson, Crystal A. and Barbara G. Brents. 2022. “The U.S. Sex Workers’ Rights Movement.” Pp. 351-374 in Sex for Sale: Prostitution, Pornography, and Erotic Dance, 3rd edition, edited by R. Weitzer. New York and London: Routledge.

Jackson, Crystal A., Paul J. Maginn, Aleta Baldwin & Barbara G. Brents. 2022. [article re-print] “Consent and Sexualized Leisure in Sin City: Observations from a U.S. Pornography Expo in Las Vegas.” Pp. 393-410 in Innovation and Impact of Sex as Leisure in Research and Practice, edited by L. Berdychevsky & N. Carr. New York and London: Routledge.

Jackson, Crystal A., Paul J. Maginn, Aleta Baldwin & Barbara G. Brents. 2020. “Consent and Sexualized Leisure in Sin City: Observations from a U.S. Pornography Expo in Las Vegas.” Leisure Sciences. 42(3-4): 393-410.

Jackson, Crystal A. 2019. “’Sex Workers Unite!’: U.S. Sex Worker Support Networks in an Era of Criminalization.” WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly 47(3): 169-188.

Jackson, Crystal A., Aleta Baldwin, Barbara G. Brents, and Paul Maginn. 2019. “EXPOsing Men’s Gender-Role Attitudes as Porn Superfans.” Sociological Forum 34(2):483-500.

Baldwin, Aleta, Debby Herbenick, Vanessa R. Schick, Brenda Light, Brian Dodge, Crystal A. Jackson, and J. Dennis Fortenberry. 2019. “Sexual Satisfaction in Monogamous, Non-Monogamous, and Unpartnered Sexual Minority Women in the U.S.” Journal of Bisexuality 19(1):103-19.

Jackson, Crystal A., D. Sahl, and Barbara G. Brents. 2018. “Porn Fans as Sex Tourists?: Broadening Meanings of Sexual Consumption among Adult Entertainment Expo Attendees in Las Vegas, Nevada.” Porn Studies 5(3):241-56.

Barberet, Rosemary and Crystal A. Jackson. 2017. “UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Sanctions for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules): A Gendered Critique/Reglas de las Naciones Unidas para el Tratamiento de las Reclusas y Medidas no Privativas de la Libertad para las Mujeres Delincuentes (Reglas de Bangkok): Derechos Humanos y Criminología Feminista.” Papers: Revista de Sociologia 102(2):215-30.

Jackson, Crystal A., Jennifer J. Reed, and Barbara Brents. 2017. “Strange Confluences: Radical Feminism and Evangelical Christianity as Drivers of US Neo-Abolitionism.” Pp. 66-85 in Prostitution, Feminism, and the State: The Politics of Neo-abolitionism, edited by E. Ward and G. Wylie. New York and London: Routledge.

Jackson, Crystal A. & Jennifer J. Reed. 2016. “Missing Rights and Misplaced Justice for Sex Workers in the United States.” Pp. 15-23 in Agenda for Social Justice: Solutions 2016 – Society for the Study of Social Problems, edited by G. Muschert, B. Klocke, R. Perrucci, & J. Shefner. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.

Jackson, Crystal A. 2016. “Framing Sex Worker Rights: How U.S. Sex Worker Rights Activists Perceive and Respond to Anti-Sex Trafficking Advocacy.” Sociological Perspectives 59(1):27-45.

Jackson, Crystal A. and Laurenn McCubbin. 2016. “The Queer Porn Mafia: Redefining Identity, Sex, & Feminism through Commodified Sexuality.” Queer Studies in Media and Popular Culture 1(3):337-53.

Jackson, Crystal A. 2014. “Being an Academic Ally: Gender Justice for Sex Workers.” Pp. 109-13 in Sociologists in Action on Inequalities: Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality, edited by M. K. White, J. M. White, and K. O. Korgen. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Brents, Barbara and Crystal A. Jackson. 2013. “Gender, Emotional Labour & Interactive Body Work: Negotiating Flesh and Fantasy in Sex Workers’ Labor Practices.” Pp. 77-92 In Body/Sex/ Work, edited by C. Wolkowitz, R. Cohen, T. Sanders, and K. Hardy. U.K.: Palgrave MacMillan.

Jackson, Crystal. 2011. “Revealing Contemporary Constructions of Femininity: Expression & Sexuality in Strip Club Legislation.” Sexualities 14(3):354-369.

Brents, Barbara, Crystal A. Jackson and Kathryn Hausbeck. 2010. The State of Sex in Nevada: Tourism, Sex, and Sin in the New American Heartland. New York, NY: Routledge.