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Joanna Wuest

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  • Assistant Professor of Politics
Joanna Wuest, Assistant Professor of Politics

Professor Joanna Wuest teaches and researches constitutional law, American politics, and gender and sexuality politics.

Her book, Born This Way: Science, Citizenship, and Inequality in the American LGBTQ+ Movement (University of Chicago Press), examines how the natural sciences and the mental health professions have been foundational to LGBTQ+ civil rights victories.

Wuest’s writing has appeared in academic and popular outlets including Perspectives on Politics, Polity, Politics & Gender, Law & Social Inquiry, GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, Nonsite, the Nation, Boston Review, Dissent, and Jacobin.

She teaches courses on Civil Liberties, Constitutional Law, American Politics, Gender & Sexuality Law, and Law & Inequality.

Areas of Expertise

Constitutional Law; American Politics; Gender and Sexuality; Citizenship; Law and Political Economy

Happening at Mount Holyoke

Recent campus news

A study by Joanna Wuest, assistant professor of politics at Mount Holyoke College, argues that recent state bans on gender-affirming care for minors identifying as transgender are based on faulty or distorted evidence. Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash.

Study asserts gender-affirming care bans based on uncertainty

A study by Joanna Wuest, assistant professor of politics at Mount Holyoke College, argues that recent state bans on gender-affirming care for minors identifying as transgender are based on faulty or distorted evidence.

The bisexual pride flag. Image courtesy of Peter Salanki via Wikimedia Commons.

Bisexuality more complex than genetics

Mount Holyoke College Assistant Professor of Politics Joanna Wuest spoke to Scientific American about flaws in a recent study linking bisexuality with risk-taking.

A colorful array of Lego figures arranged in the colors of the rainbow. Photo by James A. Molnar on Unsplash.

Birth of the concept of “born this way”

“Radiolab” talked to Joanna Wuest, assistant professor of politics at Mount Holyoke College, about the origin, rise and uncertain future of the belief that sexuality is innate.

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Recent Awards

Wuest, J. (2024) Born This Way: Science, Citizenship, and Inequality in the American LGBTQ+ Movement (University of Chicago Press, 2023) was granted an Honorable Mention for the 2024 Rachel Carson Prize (Society for the Social Studies of Science).

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