Costello, Cary
costello@uwm.eduBolton Hall 738,

Costello, Cary

Associate Professor & Director, LGBT Studies Program
Sociology

Office Hours

Tuesdays & Thursdays 3:00-4:00pm

Education

PhD, University of California, Berkeley 1999
MA, University of California, Berkeley 1994
JD, Harvard Law School 1990
BA, Yale College 1986

Areas of Specialization

Race/Class/Gender/Sexuality; Sociology of the Body; Social Problems; Science/Medicine/Technology and Sociology of the Professions

Research Interests

Prof. Costello engages in research in embodied experience and interventions into embodied identity. In one line of research, he studies the regulation of sex and gender through medical interventions into the bodies of intersex and transgender people. In another, he examines embodiment in virtual settings. In a longitudinal study of avatar embodiment in the virtual world of Second Life, he studies how identification with the avatar body facilitates experiences of sensation in virtual flesh, and the therapeutic uses to which people put their avatars.

Teaching Schedule

Spring 2023
SOCIOL 102-201: Solving Social Problems
SOCIOL 444-001(U/G): Sociology of The Body

Prior Teaching Schedule

Fall 2022
SOCIOL 102-201: Solving Social Problems
SOCIOL 255-001: Sociology of Sexuality

Summer 2022
SOCIOL 250-201: Sex and Gender

Spring 2022
SOCIOL 102-001: Solving Social Problems
SOCIOL 444-001: Sociology of The Body
SOCIOL 444G-001: Sociology of The Body

Spring 2021
SOCIOL 102-201: Solving Social Problems
SOCIOL 255-201: Sociology of Sexuality

Fall 2020
SOCIOL 102-001: Solving Social Problems
SOCIOL 444-001: Sociology of The Body

Summer 2020
SOCIOL 250-201: Sex and Gender

Spring 2020
SOCIOL 102-401: Social Problems in American Society
SOCIOL 255-001: Sociology of Sexuality

Fall 2019
SOCIOL 102-001: Social Problems in American Society
SOCIOL 928-001: The Sociology of Sex and Gender

Selected Publications

Costello, C. G. (2020, January (1st Quarter/Winter)). Beyond Binary Sex and Gender Ideology. Boreo, N. (Ed.). Oxford Handbook of Body and Embodiment. New York: Oxford University Press.
Costello, C. G. (2019, September). Understanding Intersex Relationship Issues. Brandy L. Simula, J.E. Sumerau and Andrea Miller (Ed.). Expanding the Rainbow, 231-246. Boston: Brill/Sense Publishers.
Costello, C. G. (2016, December). Intersex and Trans* Communities: Commonalities and Tensions. Horlacher, S. (Ed.). Transgender and Intersex in the Arts, Science and Society, 83-113. NYC: Palgrave Macmillan US.
Costello, C. G. (2016, March). “Trans and Intersex Children: Forced Sex Changes, Chemical Castration, and Self-Determination. Gathman, C. (Ed.). Women’s Health: Readings on Social, Economic and Political Issues. Dubuque, IA: KendallHunt Publishing Co.
Costello, C. G. (2014, December). “Not a “Medical Miracle”: Intersex Reproduction and the Medical Enforcement of Binary Sex and Gender”. Gibson, M. F. (Ed.). Queering Maternity and Motherhood: Narrative and Theoretical Perspectives on Queer Conception, Birth and Parenting. Branson, ON: Demeter Press.
Costello, C. G. (2013). Sexuality in a Virtual World. Strombler, M., Baunach, D. M., Simonds, W., Windsor, E. J., & Burgess, E. O. (Eds.). Sex Matters, 4th Ed., 178-185. New Jersey: Pearson Education.
Costello, C. G. (2011, December). The Real Me: Selfhood in the Virtual World. Batchelor, B. (Ed.). Cult Pop Culture: How the Fringe Became Mainstream, V. 3, 187-203. Praeger.
Costello, C. G. (2010, December). Caster Semenya: An Intersex Perspective/ Caster Semenya: Una Perspectiva Intersex. Almeida, A., & Vasquez, E. (Eds.). Different Bodies/ Cuerpos Distintos, 69-72. Manthra Editores.
Costello, C. G. (2006). Professional Identity Crisis: Race, Class, Gender and Success at Professional Schools. , 264. Vanderbilt University Press.
Costello, C. G. (2006). Teratology: ‘Monsters’ and the Professionalization of Obstetrics. Journal of Historical Sociology, 19(1), 1-33.