Chelsea Reynolds
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1111 S. Broadway Suite 100 Los Angeles, CA 90015
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Mail code: 2020Campus: Dtphx
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Chelsea Julian Reynolds, Ph.D., is the founding director of the Center for Media & Communities at the ASU California Center, where she is an associate professor in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
Research
Dr. Reynolds's research program investigates how media shape and reflect social norms about culture and difference. She is a pioneer in the subfields of critical discourse analysis, gender and sexuality studies, and workplace wellbeing. Her studies have been published in interdisciplinary journals such as Communication Theory; Communication, Culture & Critique; Journal of Sex Research; and Journalism & Mass Communication Educator. She is the author of a textbook, "Sexual Communication: Research in Action" (2022). Her research was awarded the Mary Ann Yodelis Smith Award for Feminist Scholarship in 2017.
Service
Dr. Reynolds serves on the Board of Directors for the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication (AEJMC) and the Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists (NLGJA) Los Angeles chapter. She sits on the editorial board of Journalism & Communication Monographs and she is a judge for the Shaufler Prize in Journalism. Dr. Reynolds is a member of the ASU LGBTQ Faculty & Staff Association.
Teaching
At ASU, Dr. Reynolds teaches online sections of MCO 460 - Race, Gender & Media. She also leads professional trainings on trauma-informed leadership and media workers' mental health. In 2026, she was awarded the Jinx Coleman Broussard Award for Excellence in Teaching Media History.
Career
Professionally, Reynolds spent time in the magazine industry at Men's Health, Better Homes and Gardens, Midwest Living, and in nonprofit comms at the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality and the Association of Health Care Journalists. Before joining ASU, she was a tenured associate professor of journalism at California State University, Fullerton.
- Ph.D. Mass Communication, University of Minnesota 2017
- M.A. Journalism, University of Missouri 2012
- B.A. Magazine Journalism, English, Iowa State University 2008
Reynolds, C., Maddox, J., Stein, K., & Bendefaa, N. (2026). In defense of qualitative description: Reclaiming "little t" theory as a site of knowledge advancement. Communication Theory. https://doi.org/10.1093/ct/qtag011
Reynolds, C. & DeFoster, R. (2026). Critiquing the Drake-Kendrick rap battle: The Super Bowl 2025 Halftime Show as political commentary. Race / Gender / Class / Media, 6th edition, R. Lind (ed). Routledge.
Mendez, L., Reynolds, C., Arroyo, J. & Trevizo, V. (2026). “What my Mexican family hears when I tell them I have seen a therapist”: Latinx mental health content creators as intercultural super peers. Journal of Communication Inquiry. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01968599261444035
Reynolds, C. (2025). The Potter Box in strategic communication ethics. In D. Holtzhausen, J. Fullerton, & B. K. Lewis (Eds.), Principles of Strategic Communication (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Reynolds, C. (2024). “This is not a slippery slope” versus “the queer sex panic is just beginning”: Discourse about FOSTA-SESTA in ideologically diverse US mass media, 2017-2023. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 48(4), 504-523.
https://doi.org/10.1177/01968599231220925
Arrey, T., & Reynolds, C. (2023). “I definitely would appreciate a little more validation”: Toward an ethics of care in college newsrooms and journalism education. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 78(2), 142-164.
https://doi.org/10.1177/10776958231153267
Reynolds, C., Suwinyattichaiporn, T., & Bruschke, J. (2022). Sexual Communication: Research in Action. Kendall-Hunt. https://he.kendallhunt.com/product/sexual-communication-research-action
Reynolds, C. (2021). “Craigslist is nothing more than an internet brothel”: sex work and sex trafficking in US newspaper coverage of craigslist sex forums. The Journal of Sex Research, 58(6), 681-693. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2020.1786662
Lance, Z. L., & Reynolds, C. J. (2021). “Going virtual helped me learn that I can handle everything”: Campus magazine production as a high impact practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 76(4), 448-468.
https://doi.org/10.1177/10776958211023254
Reynolds, C. (2021). Magazines that made me: VICE. Journal of Magazine Media 22(1), 19-20. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jmm.2021.0029.
Reynolds, C. (2020). “My zines, so far, aren't as political as other works I've produced”: Communicative capitalism among queer feminist zinesters. Communication, Culture & Critique, 13(1), 92-110.
https://doi.org/10.1093/ccc/tcz037
Reynolds C. (2020). Pedagogy of the stressed: Mental health in the mass communication classroom and on campuses. In Carter-Olson C., Everbach T. (Eds.), AEJMC master teacher series: Testing Tolerance: Addressing Tough Topics in the Journalism and Mass Communication Classroom (pp. 43–58). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Reynolds, C. (2020). The “woke” sex discourse: Sexuality and gender in online consumer magazines. The Handbook of Magazine Studies, 180-197.
Reynolds, C. (2019). Building theory from media ideology: Coding for power in journalistic discourse. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 43(1), 47-69.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0196859918774797
Reynolds, C. (2017). Hanging up the smoking jacket: Productive oppression and Playboy's impacts on mediated sexualization. Journal of Magazine Media, 18(1).
https://doi.org/10.1353/jmm.2017.0002
Reynolds, C. (2016). “8 things Latin moms say about men and sex” vs. “The 19 most frustrating things about casual dating”: Sexuality and relationships in Cosmo for Latinas online and Cosmopolitan online. Media Report to Women, 44(3), 12-18.
Reynolds, C., & LoRusso, S. (2016). The women's magazine diet: Frames and sources in nutrition and fitness articles. Journal of Magazine Media, 17(1).
Reynolds, C. (2015). “I am super straight and I prefer you be too:” Constructions of heterosexual masculinity in online personal ads for “straight” men seeking sex with men. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 39(3), 213-231.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0196859915575736
Grants:
Reynolds, C., Colón, M., Mucciolo, L., & Silversmith, S. (2026). Navigating Nepantla Through Nonfiction Storytelling: A Qualitative Investigation of Indigenous Documentary Practices in Pan-American Borderlands. $8,000 seed grant supported by the ASU Institute for Social Science Research and the Humanities Institute.
Forthcoming Publications:
Hays, C. & Reynolds, C. (In Press). “I just see a lot of skinny, muscular, white people in those ads”: A critical analysis of walking focus groups about LGBTQIA+ representation in outdoor promotional media. Journal of Homosexuality.
Hays, C., Kehrberg, A., Reynolds, C. & Achtzehn, H. (In Press). An imperfect archive:
Deplatformed queer speech in Sensitive Content magazine. Queerly Platformed: LGBTQ Realities, Resistance, and Algorithmic Life in the Age of Social Media, P. Pain (ed). Routledge.
Hays, C. & Reynolds, C. (In Press). “Homosexuals have rights — and so do trees”: Recovering the forgotten history of Trees for Queens and Stonewall-era environmental activism. Media, History & Memory, L. Burns (ed). Routledge.
Luna, K., Reynolds, C. & Zain, A. (In Press). “The AI challenged me to think about things differently”: Designing a custom AI Assistant to teach critical media literacy. Journal of Media Literacy Education. Preprint: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/jmle-preprints/54/
Reynolds, C. & Ayala, J. (In Press). Special issue: Mental Health in the Headlines. Journalism & Media.
Under Review:
Hays, C., Kehrberg, A., Reynolds, C. (R&R). Loaded desires: The politics of firearms and sapphic longing in The Hunting Wives.
Hays, C., Reynolds, C. & Mundel, J. (Under Review). Analyzing news media coverage of the Tennessee Drag Ban: A longitudinal content analysis.
Reynolds, C., Karim, E., & Landrum, A. (Under Review). “Have your best baby”: Genetic optimization as ideology in online content promoting embryo genetic testing.
Reynolds, C. (R&R). “We tried to warn you, but the coal mine’s on fire now:” Adult industry news as advocacy journalism in the wake of FOSTA/SESTA.
In Preparation:
Ausness, A., Reynolds., C., Gomberg, B., & Smith, D. (In Draft). Shaping the 21st century woman: Fourth-wave feminism in shapewear social media marketing.
Reynolds, C. (In Draft). "Manifest your dream life on ChatGPT:” Algorithmic interpellation and the ideological subject in AI-generated wellness discourse.
Courses
2026 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| MCO 460 | Race, Gender, and Media |
| MCO 460 | Race, Gender, and Media |
2026 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| MCO 460 | Race, Gender, and Media |
| MCO 460 | Race, Gender, and Media |
2025 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| MCO 460 | Race, Gender, and Media |
| MCO 460 | Race, Gender, and Media |
2025 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| MCO 460 | Race, Gender, and Media |
| MCO 460 | Race, Gender, and Media |