History

The Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality officially opened (see photos) on January 30, 2004. The Center’s founder, Dr. Deborah Tolman, joined the Human Sexuality Studies Program in 2004, with the express mission of creating a community of social science faculty members at SFSU whose research focuses on sexuality. Current Director Dr. Colleen Hoff joined The Center in 2008. SFSU has been generous and visionary in its support of our new research center.

The CRGS embodies several innovative approaches to the study of sexuality in one location. First, we embrace a model of sexuality as an anticipated, healthy developmental process of the human condition. As our mission states, we understand sexuality and its study as inextricably intertwined with social justice; that is, one’s sexuality is never acceptable grounds for discrimination or denial of human rights. And third, we realize that to conduct research that takes to heart these two principles, we need to utilize and develop innovative methodologies and creative combinations of methods to bring into view the many dimensions of people’s lived experience that constitute sexuality. We embrace an understanding of gender and sexuality as always constituted through race, class, ethnicity, age, and ableness.

Our logo conveys key principles about sexuality and gender that are at the heart of the CRGS philosophy. Our logo symbolizes our assertion that sexuality and gender reside in the heart, the mind and the body. There is more to sexuality than sexual behavior; there is more to gender than specific body parts. Both sexuality and gender are nuanced in ways that can be confusing and liberating, scary and joyful. All of the researchers at the CRGS explore, challenge, and reconsider the notion that there is a single healthy trajectory of sexual development.

The CRGS is part of the Human Sexuality Studies Program at SFSU. Our immediate goal is for all of our faculty associates to head research projects supported by external funding from federal and foundation grants. As you can discover on our website, we are well on our way. Through attracting undergraduate and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral research fellows and a growing number of faculty associates to research on sexuality, the CRGS is fortunate to have many varied and diverse perspectives and voices that enhance the quality of our work.

The founding of the CRGS coincided with the 50th Anniversary of Dr. Kinsey’s book on women’s sexuality, “Sexual Behavior in the Human Female.” This was serendipitous for Dr. Tolman was able to introduce our newborn organization to the public under the venerable auspices of the Kinsey Institute where the innovative study of sexuality in America has its roots. While we owe our very existence to the research institutes and brave individuals that came before us, the mission, methods and even the questions we ask at the CRGS set us apart. We are dedicated to producing exciting and new knowledge about these crucial parts of the human condition.