Meredith G. F. Worthen

Meredith Gwynne Fair Worthen is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Oklahoma. Her research areas include sexualities and LGBTQ studies. She is the author of Queers, Bis, and Straight Lies: An Intersectional Examination of LGBTQ Stigma and Sexual Deviance and Society: A sociological examination.

Early life and education Worthen was raised in Dallas, Texas. She attended the University of Texas for her BA, MA, and PhD, and completed her PhD in sociology in 2009.

Career In 2009, Worthen became an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma, and then received tenure in 2014. as well as deviance, feminist criminology, sexualities, and LGBTQ identities.

In 2016, she published the textbook Sexual Deviance and Society: A sociological examination.

In her first empirical book, Queers, Bis, and Straight Lies: An Intersectional Examination of LGBTQ Stigma, published in 2020, Worthen developed Norm-Centered Stigma Theory (NCST) as part of a sociological examination of stigma.

After moving to Oklahoma, Worthen founded The Welcoming Project in 2011, which became a nonprofit organization after initially being developed to promote the display of welcoming messages to people in the LGBTQ community at businesses and organizations, including on websites.

Book chapters

Encyclopedia entry

Studies

Personal life Worthen is married to her long-time partner and they have a daughter.