2023 Winner: Suzanne van Geuns
Dissertation Title: Seductive Methods: Sexual Success in the Computational Imagination
INTERVIEW WITH SUZANNE VAN GEUNS
Interview by Jessica Delgado, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and History, The Ohio State University
About the dissertation:
The selection committee was really impressed by how many different fields this project intersects with and the way that you use religion as a category of analysis to enrich all of those fields. What does the focus on religion do for this project?
What is something that might surprise people who haven’t read your work? What kind of religious discourse do you see on these online forums?
What role does religion play in the “method” espoused by online seduction gurus?
Why do scholars need to turn attention towards “efficacy” as opposed to “meaning-making” in the study of religion?
You approached the question of gender and gender dynamics in a distinctive way, different from how online misogyny has been treated in previous works. Could you talk a little more about that?
How do incels come to believe that they are not human?
What are incels trying to accomplish by committing violent acts?
What kind of world are incels trying to create?
Advice for people working on topics that deal with violence and harm:
Overall message of the dissertation:
Advice for other dissertation writers: