Download Sociologists Available to Discuss Valentine`s Day

ASA NEWS
Contact: Daniel Fowler, American Sociological Association, (202) 527-7885, [email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sociologists Available to Discuss Valentine’s Day-Related Topics
W ASHINGTON, DC, February 10, 2015 — With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, the American
Sociological Association (ASA) has sociologists available to discuss topics ranging from dating, love, and
consumerism to weddings, sex, and sadness.
Patricia Arend is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts,
whose research focuses on the relationship between gender inequality and consumer society, as well as
the popularity of the white wedding in an age of growing gender equality. Her study, “Consumption as
Common Sense: Heteronormative Hegemony and White Wedding Desire,” appeared in the Journal of
Consumer Culture, and she is currently working on a book manuscript titled, Dream Weddings: Fantasy,
Femininity and Consumer Desire.
Deborah Carr is a Professor and Chair of Sociology at Rutgers University in New Jersey, who studies
marital quality and mental health, as well as widowhood. The co-author of a study titled, “Do Special
Occasions Trigger Psychological Distress Among Older Bereaved Spouses? An Empirical Assessment of
Clinical Wisdom,” Carr can talk about Valentine’s Day in the context of sadness. She is also the author or
co-author of a number other studies including: “Happy Marriage, Happy Life? Marital Quality and
Subjective Well-Being in Later Life;” “Dating After Late-Life Spousal Loss: Does it Compromise
Relationships with Adult Children;” and “The Desire to Date and Remarry Among Older Widows and
Widowers.”
Pepper Schwartz is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Washington in Seattle, the Love and
Relationship Ambassador for AARP, as well as an advisor and on air relationship expert on the new A&E
reality show “Married at First Sight.” Previously, Schwartz was the relationship expert for
PerfectMatch.com for 15 years, and she has authored or co-authored more than 20 books including: The
Great Sex Weekend; The Lifetime Love and Sex Quiz Book; Everything You Know About Love and Sex is
Wrong; Prime: Adventures and Advice on Sex, Love, and the Sensual Years; and, most recently, Places
for Passion: The 75 Most Romantic Destinations in the World—and Why Every Couple Needs to Get
Away.
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About the American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association (www.asanet.org), founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership
association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and
profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society.