Research
At the intersection of gender, sexuality, and inclusion, you’ll find Dr. Amy Moors. Whether it’s investigating stigma surrounding diverse expressions of sexuality and romantic relationships or examining the barriers to an inclusive higher education, Amy and her research team at the ONWARD lab seek answers in order to move up and onward toward a more just society.
How do monogamy ideals affect our lives?
From Romeo & Juliet to The Bachelor, our society has held up monogamy as a universal desire. From the moment we can understand the world, we are told that romantic, monogamous love is singular. Anything else is abnormal, immoral, or illegal, right?
Yet, at some point in their lives, 1 out of 5 Americans have been in a consensually non-monogamous relationship, such as polyamorous or open relationships (Haupert, Gesselman, Moors, Garcia, & Fisher, 2017). Twenty percent. That’s how many Americans have a pet cat or speak another language other than English at home. You’re more likely to have been in a consensual non-monogamous relationship than to be left-handed or red-headed.
Yet this vast swath of Americans are largely ignored. And if they are considered, they’re stigmatized as deviants and ostracized from polite society (Moors & Ramos, 2022).
In the ONWARD lab, Amy and her team focus on understanding the story of the 20 percent. How does this stigmatization of their love lives affect them? Amy also examines how multiple romantic and/or sexual partners affect trust, satisfaction, sexual health, and happiness.
Along with collaborating therapists, they research inclusive ways to work with clients engaged in consensually non-monogamous relationships.
How do social norms about sexuality affect us?
We all know the score when it comes to sex outside of marriage: men are players and women are [fill in the blank with a derogatory term].
Yet why are women expected to avoid relationships that won’t culminate with a wedding ring?
Why are women often more sexually inhibited than men?
Some researchers believe there is an evolutionary mechanism to each gender’s sexual behaviors.
While others suggest social and cultural reasons explain the difference.
This is what Amy and the ONWARD lab have found. In their research they’ve discovered that women are less likely to engage in non-marriage focused sex than men because women fear social sanctions (e.g., harassment for being sexually agentic; Conley, Ziegler, & Moors, 2013). But this isn’t universal. For instance, in queer relationships it’s not necessarily one’s gender but a person’s specific personality or sexual capabilities that plays a more prominent role in their willingness to engage in multi-partner relationships or casual sex (Moors et al., 2014; Matsick, Kruk, Conley, Moors, & Ziegler, 2021).
In the lab, Amy and her team study how these social norms affect dating and sexual behavior. They also look at how romantic beliefs and social pressure shape desire and dating decisions.
How do we create an equitable campus?
Many students, faculty, and administrators have a sincere desire to promote equity, but do not know how. Making real changes to the campus climate can be challenging. Responses to concerns about discrimination are, at times, ad hoc and lack a firm theoretical basis, which can make things worse.
Amy and the ONWARD lab hope to bridge the gap between research on an equitable environment and the practice of creating an inclusive campus by using evidence-based and theoretically-grounded methods to promote ally engagement and improve the campus climate (e.g., Moors, Mayott, & Hadden, 2022; Moors, Hsu, Sharma, & Hu, in prep).
Some of their work focuses on developing interactive educational workshops that teach skills for conflict management and how to “speak up” and intervene in situations of injustice. They also work with administrators in higher education to develop equitable policies and practices.