Students
Sara Demers
Originally from Pennsylvania, I had always hoped to move to the warm & sunny
desert, and am happy to say that I am finally here and have no plans of
returning to the dreary northeast. My research interests are rather broad and
sometimes incongruous, and include women writers in Africa and
the diaspora, African women's roles in revolution and social movements,
countercultures and activism, girls' studies, cultural ideals of beauty and body
image, and physical and sexual violence. Due to the impossibility of merging
all of these interests into a single unified project, my graduate thesis work
will focus on violence in adolescent dating relationships, specifically in
relation to victims' use of coping mechanisms and help-seeking behaviors.
In my "spare" time, I volunteer with the Women's Resource Center, and also work on the Violence Against Women Network applied research project, helping to produce new sexual violence research documents. I am also a full-time mom to an 8 year old son and a new 4 month old kitten that we affectionately call "baby girl" or "little badness," depending on the day.
After graduation, I plan to continue avoiding the corporate world by pursuing additional studies in law, public health, or a women's studies PhD program.