Research

My main research interests are in (a)sexuality, gender, masculinities, inclusion/exclusion, and culture. My current work situates asexuality as a strategic site for the deconstruction of gender and sexuality.

I have quickly emerged as an important voice in asexuality studies and a trailblazer in the sociology of asexuality. My research on asexuality has won various awards. This includes three awards from the American Sociological Association, such as the 2025 Distinguished Article Award from the ASA Sexualities Section for my work on the relationships between bisexuality and asexuality.

My methodological focus is primarily qualitative, including interviews, focus groups, discourse analysis, and digital ethnography.

For a full list of my published research, please visit my Google Scholar profile. For questions on any specific publication, contact me at cwiner@niu.edu.

Highlights

  1. Understanding asexuality
    A major literature review titled Understanding Asexuality: A Sociological Review (Sociology Compass, 2024) synthesizes definitions and frameworks of asexuality, explores intersections with gender, identity, intimacy, stigma, family, and community, and advocates for intersectional, interdisciplinary, and ethically sound future research.
  2. Compulsory Gender & Gender Detachment In Does Everyone Have a Gender? Compulsory Gender, Gender Detachment, and Asexuality (Socius, 2025), I examine the surprising finding that about a third of my 77 interview respondents felt resistant to defining themselves through the lens of gender. My respondents felt that they did not have a gender identity. From this paper, which has won two awards from the American Sociological Association, I introduce the concepts of “gender detachment” and “compulsory gender.”
  3. Splitting Attraction
    In Splitting Attraction: Differentiating Romantic and Sexual Orientations Among Asexual Individuals (Social Currents, 2024), I challenge the assumption that romantic and sexual orientations are necessarily “aligned.” Using 77 interviews with asexual individuals, I examine the “split attraction model.” I highlight complex identity construction (e.g., “bisexual asexual”) and recommends designs that accommodate split attraction outside asexual contexts.
  4. The Freedom Not to Be Sexual
    In The Freedom Not to be Sexual: Asexuality, Compulsory Sexuality, and Sex Positivity (Journal of Positive Sexuality, 2025), I argue that sex positive research and advocacy has not adequately theorized around asexuality. Drawing on interviews with 17 asexual individuals from conservative Christian upbringings, I demonstrate how sexuality can be compelled—not just repressed—within sex-negative “purity culture.” I argue that the marginalization of asexuality in sex positive work has led many sex positive advocates to inadvertently reproduce compulsory sexuality, a sex-negative idea that marginalzies people who do not experience sexual attraction. I offer five recommendations for reconciling asexuality and sex positive frameworks.
  5. Uncertain Belonging and Queer Nightlife Drawing on interviews with 23 asexual individuals, Uncertain Belonging: Asexuality and Queer Nightlife (The Sociological Quarterly, 2025) explores how asexual people navigate queer nightlife. My findings reveal three distinct experiences: 1) uncertain belonging, in which asexuals in queer spaces feel neither clearly welcome nor explicitly excluded; 2) abstention, where some asexuals find queer nightlife spaces don’t meet their needs; and 3) expanding the party, where suggestions emerged on how to include asexuals in queer venues.