Dr Karen Cuthbert

  • Lecturer (Sociological & Cultural Studies)

Biography

As a person from a working-class background, the first in my family to go to university, and the beneficiary of a Widening Access and Participation programme, I always have a little moment of disbelief when I am asked to write my university staff profile...

I joined the University as a Lecturer in Sociology in September 2021. This was a bit of a homecoming, as Sociology at Glasgow was the place where my sociological imagination was first nurtured, having completed my undergraduate, MRes and PhD all in the department. My PhD explored how 'nonsexualities' (asexualities, celibacies and sexual abstinence) are gendered - both in terms of how they are discursively constructed, and how they are experienced and ‘lived’ -  as well as thinking more broadly through the theoretical and empirical relationship between gender and sexuality. I also worked for many years as a graduate teaching assistant across the School of Social and Political Sciences.

Prior to joining the University again as a Lecturer, I held a variety of posts, including:

  • A researcher on the Making Space for Queer Religious Youth project, based in Education at the University of Strathclyde
  • A researcher on the Intimate Migrations: Lesbian, gay and bisexual migrants in Scotland project at the University of Glasgow
  • A Research Fellow on the Living Gender in Diverse Times: Young People's Understandings and Practices of Gender in the Contemporary UK project at the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield. I also lectured and supervised whilst in this role.

I also sit on the editorial board of The Sociological Review. 

I work broadly and primarily within the sociology of gender and sexualities, but also have expertise and experience within youth studies, disability studies, and the sociology of religion. I'm also a massive methods nerd, and love talking, thinking and writing about both the practical and philosophical elements of methodology. 

Increasingly I'm beginning to teach and research on autism and neurodiversity. I'm an autistic person myself and believe that autism research should be guided (if not led) by autistic persons themselves, as a matter of epistemological and ethical justice. I'm currently developing some research ideas in this area.

I approach my work - both pedagogy and research - as an intersectional socialist-feminist, with a keen awareness of power and inequalities, and a desire for and commitment to profound societal transformation (including within the academy).

Research interests

My research interests include but are not limited to:

  • Nonsexualities (asexualities, celibacies, sexual abstinence)
  • Sexual agency, desire and subjectivities more broadly 
  • Gender (persisting inequalities under heteropatriarchy but also potentially new shifting gendered terrains)
  • Qualitative methodologies (particularly creative methods) and epistemological questions
  • Feminisms and feminist theory
  • Autism and neurodiversity (and disability more generally)

Research groups

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2020 | 2019 | 2017
Number of items: 13.

2024

Hines, Sally, Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088, Hall, Joseph and Elley, Sharon (2024) Living gender in diverse times. Journal of Gender Studies, 33(5), pp. 491-496. (doi: 10.1080/09589236.2024.2345016)

Hines, Sally, Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088, Hall, Joseph and Elley, Sharon (2024) Living gender in diverse times (Comic). Journal of Gender Studies, 33(5), pp. 725-745. (doi: 10.1080/09589236.2024.2350242)

2023

Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088 (2023) Neither ‘incel’ nor ‘volcel’: Relational accounts of UK women's sexual abstinence. Womens Studies International Forum, 101, 102835. (doi: 10.1016/j.wsif.2023.102835)

2022

Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088 (2022) Researching ‘non-sexualities’ via creative notebooks: epistemology, embodiment and empowerment. Qualitative Research, 22(6), pp. 897-915. (doi: 10.1177/1468794121999011)

Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088 (2022) Asexuality and epistemic injustice: a gendered perspective. Journal of Gender Studies, 31(7), pp. 840-851. (doi: 10.1080/09589236.2021.1966399)

Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088, Hall, Joseph J., Hines, Sally, Allen, Kim and Elley, Sharon (2022) Hearing, policing, and using gender diversity: the role of institutional gatekeepers in researching youth and gender. Sociological Research Online, 27(3), pp. 763-786. (doi: 10.1177/13607804211065053)

Allen, Kim, Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088, Hall, Joseph J., Hines, Sally and Elley, Sharon (2022) Trailblazing the gender revolution? Young people's understandings of gender diversity through generation and social change. Journal of Youth Studies, 25(5), pp. 650-666. (doi: 10.1080/13676261.2021.1923674)

2020

Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088 (2020) Disability and asexuality? In: Shuttleworth, Russell and Mona, Linda (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Disability and Sexuality. Series: Routledge international handbooks. Routledge: London ; New York, pp. 366-377. ISBN 9781138593237 (doi: 10.4324/9780429489570-32)

2019

Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088 (2019) “When we talk about gender we talk about sex”: (a)sexuality and (a)gendered subjectivities. Gender and Society, 33(6), pp. 841-864. (doi: 10.1177/0891243219867916)

Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088 and Tayloe, Yvette (2019) Queer liveability: inclusive church-scenes. Sexualities, 22(5-6), pp. 951-968. (doi: 10.1177/1363460718772759)

Taylor, Yvette and Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088 (2019) Queer religious youth in faith and community schools. Educational Review, 71(3), pp. 382-396. (doi: 10.1080/00131911.2017.1423279)

2017

Stella, Francesca ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2384-0435 and Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088 (2017) Intimate Migrations Final Project Report - Appendix 1: Life Before Migration. Project Report. University of Glasgow, Glasgow.

Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088 (2017) You have to be normal to be abnormal: an empirically grounded exploration of the intersection of asexuality and disability. Sociology, 51(2), pp. 241-257. (doi: 10.1177/0038038515587639)

This list was generated on Tue Jul 8 15:56:31 2025 BST.
Jump to: Articles | Book Sections | Research Reports or Papers
Number of items: 13.

Articles

Hines, Sally, Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088, Hall, Joseph and Elley, Sharon (2024) Living gender in diverse times. Journal of Gender Studies, 33(5), pp. 491-496. (doi: 10.1080/09589236.2024.2345016)

Hines, Sally, Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088, Hall, Joseph and Elley, Sharon (2024) Living gender in diverse times (Comic). Journal of Gender Studies, 33(5), pp. 725-745. (doi: 10.1080/09589236.2024.2350242)

Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088 (2023) Neither ‘incel’ nor ‘volcel’: Relational accounts of UK women's sexual abstinence. Womens Studies International Forum, 101, 102835. (doi: 10.1016/j.wsif.2023.102835)

Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088 (2022) Researching ‘non-sexualities’ via creative notebooks: epistemology, embodiment and empowerment. Qualitative Research, 22(6), pp. 897-915. (doi: 10.1177/1468794121999011)

Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088 (2022) Asexuality and epistemic injustice: a gendered perspective. Journal of Gender Studies, 31(7), pp. 840-851. (doi: 10.1080/09589236.2021.1966399)

Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088, Hall, Joseph J., Hines, Sally, Allen, Kim and Elley, Sharon (2022) Hearing, policing, and using gender diversity: the role of institutional gatekeepers in researching youth and gender. Sociological Research Online, 27(3), pp. 763-786. (doi: 10.1177/13607804211065053)

Allen, Kim, Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088, Hall, Joseph J., Hines, Sally and Elley, Sharon (2022) Trailblazing the gender revolution? Young people's understandings of gender diversity through generation and social change. Journal of Youth Studies, 25(5), pp. 650-666. (doi: 10.1080/13676261.2021.1923674)

Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088 (2019) “When we talk about gender we talk about sex”: (a)sexuality and (a)gendered subjectivities. Gender and Society, 33(6), pp. 841-864. (doi: 10.1177/0891243219867916)

Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088 and Tayloe, Yvette (2019) Queer liveability: inclusive church-scenes. Sexualities, 22(5-6), pp. 951-968. (doi: 10.1177/1363460718772759)

Taylor, Yvette and Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088 (2019) Queer religious youth in faith and community schools. Educational Review, 71(3), pp. 382-396. (doi: 10.1080/00131911.2017.1423279)

Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088 (2017) You have to be normal to be abnormal: an empirically grounded exploration of the intersection of asexuality and disability. Sociology, 51(2), pp. 241-257. (doi: 10.1177/0038038515587639)

Book Sections

Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088 (2020) Disability and asexuality? In: Shuttleworth, Russell and Mona, Linda (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Disability and Sexuality. Series: Routledge international handbooks. Routledge: London ; New York, pp. 366-377. ISBN 9781138593237 (doi: 10.4324/9780429489570-32)

Research Reports or Papers

Stella, Francesca ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2384-0435 and Cuthbert, Karen ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8810-8088 (2017) Intimate Migrations Final Project Report - Appendix 1: Life Before Migration. Project Report. University of Glasgow, Glasgow.

This list was generated on Tue Jul 8 15:56:31 2025 BST.

Supervision

I currently supervise three PhDs.

  • Natalie Moffat on menstruation from a new materialist perspective (ESRC funded)
  • Wren Alvarado Reinoso on autism and relational bonds (College of Social Sciences funded)
  • Carla Matthews on ukulele playing communities, and the role of gender and sexualities 

 

I have very limited capacity for PhD supervision, but I would be really interested in hearing from you if you want to work on non-sexualities (asexuality/celibacy) or autism

 

Teaching

I teach on a number of modules across our undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

 

Professional activities & recognition

Editorial boards

  • 2019 - -: The Sociological Review

Professional & learned societies

  • 2013 - -: Member, British Sociological Association