DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

Area(s) of Interest

Sexualities, stigma, inequality, sex and gender, social movements, consensual non-monogamy, mononormativity

Biography

Mark Griffith is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Sexuality Studies, jointly appointed in the Sociology Department and Gender & Sexuality Studies Program at Northwestern University. His research interests are in sexualities, with the goal of broadening our understanding of sexualities beyond sexual orientation. His dissertation focuses on consensual non-monogamy (CNM)—relationship structures in which multiple sexual and/or romantic partners are allowed under the terms of one’s relationship(s). The project investigates mononormativity—the societal arrangements and narratives that reward those who perform monogamy and punish those who don’t—via interviews with CNM practitioners and activists, as well as content analysis. In his next project, he plans to study raceplay, or sexual practices in which race is made explicit, in order to put it in conversation with notions of racial color-blindness and explore how sexuality and race are co-constructed.

In 2024, Mark earned his Ph.D. in Sociology at Harvard University. In 2019, he earned his B.A. at Dartmouth College, where he majored in Sociology and minored in African-American studies.