Research Guides: Gender and Sexuality Studies: Background Info

Find Background Info in Reference Sources

Reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks provide background information on a topic. They are especially useful at the beginning of a research project because they can help you:

get a broad overview of a topic
map the field
gather fast facts
define terms, theories, and people in an area
focus your argument
find further readings written by experts in the field

Online Reference Sources

Credo Reference
Credo is an online collection of dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, etc. covering topics from the arts to the sciences and including a large number of reference sources on gender and sexuality.
Black Women in America by Darlene Clark Hine (Editor)

Black Women Radicals Database (BWRD)
A publicly available online resource developed and hosted by the Black feminist advocacy organization Black Women Radicals (BWR). It seeks to historize and visualize Black women’s radical political activism in Africa and in the African Diaspora in efforts to build academic, political, and community engagement, dialogue, knowledge production, research, and education about Black women’s significant legacies as socio-political agents of radical change. This resource is a ongoing project with content that is constantly being updated.

Continuum Complete International Encyclopedia of Sexuality (CCIES) by Robert T. Francoeur (Editor); Raymond J. Noonan (Editor)
Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global Perspectives by Carole McCann (Editor); Seung-kyung Kim (Editor); Emek Ergun (Editor)
The fifth edition of the Feminist Theory Reader assembles readings that present key aspects of the conversations within intersectional US and transnational feminisms and continues to challenge readers to rethink the ways in which gender and its multiple intersections are configured by complex, overlapping, and asymmetrical global-local configurations of power.

Gender Equality Collection from the UN iLibrary
Published by the United Nations, this is a collection of books, articles, chapters, and data-sets related to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes.

Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History by Howard Chiang (Editor)
Handbook of the Sociology of Gender by Barbara Risman (Editor); Carissa M. Froyum (Editor); William J. Scarborough (Editor)
Handbook of the Sociology of Sexualities by John DeLamater (Editor); Rebecca F. Plante (Editor)
Handbook on Gender, Diversity and Federalism by Jill Vickers (Editor); Joan Grace (Editor); Cheryl N. Collier (Editor)
International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality by Patricia Whelehan (Editor); Anne Bolin (Editor)
International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences by N. J. Smelser (Editor-In-Chief); P. B. Baltes (Editor-In-Chief)
Browse the major subject classifications: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender and/or Sexuality.
Encyclopedia of Lesbian Histories and Cultures by Bonnie Zimmerman (Editor)
LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History
Published by the National Park Foundation and the National Park Service, this book provides an extensive and comprehensive look at LGBTQ heritage in the United States. Each chapter provides an expert summary of a particular topic in American LGBTQ history.
SAGE Handbook of Feminist Theory by Mary Evans (Editor); Clare Hemmings (Editor)
Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies by Nancy A. Naples (Editor-In-Chief)

Online Bibliographies

Black American Feminisms: A Multidisciplinary Bibliography
Compiled by Sherri L. Barnes at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library, and last updated January 2024. This is an extensive bibliography of Black American feminist thought from across the disciplines, with references that date back to the nineteenth century. It is an effort to combat the erasure of Black feminist subjectivity and thought through the promotion and use of the literature for the general public, students, scholars and life-long learners seeking information on African American feminism and African American feminist interpretations of a broad range of issues.
Gender Bias in Academe: An Annotated Bibliography of Important Recent Studies
Compiled by Danica Savonick and Cathy N. Davidson, this bibliography aggregates and summarizes existing empirical research on gender bias and discrimination in academia. There is also an open, public Google Doc to which people can add other relevant studies and responsible, careful, fact-checked annotations.
Men's Bibliography
Compiled by Michael Flood and originally published in 1992, the Men's Bibliography, 23rd Edition (2021) is a comprehensive bibliography of writing on men, masculinities, gender, and sexualities that is publicly available on the internet.
MUSE in Focus: Commemorating the 19th Amendment
A curated selection of content from Project MUSE’s publishing partners that offers a broad range of perspectives about the history of the women’s suffrage movement in the U.S. and its continued relevance to the ongoing struggle for political equity and true democracy around the globe.
People with a History: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans* History Sourcebook
Maintained by Paul Halsall and hosted by Fordham University. This is an online project presenting LGBT history through primary sources, secondary discussions, and images. It is part of the Internet History Sourcebooks Project, located at the History Department of Fordham University.

Oxford Bibliographies Online

Here is a select list of relevant bibliographies from Oxford Bibliographies Online, which list core works on a topic in a given discipline.

Critical Approaches to Gender in Higher Education (education)
Digital Gender Diversity (communication)
Families with Gay, Lesbian, or Bisexual Parents (social work)
Feminist and Queer Game Studies (communication)
Feminist Geography (geography)
Feminist Journalism (communication)
Feminist Theory (sociology)
Gay and Lesbian Parents (childhood studies)
Gays and Lesbians in the Media (communication)
Gender (anthropology)
Gender (sociology)
Gender and Childhood (childhood studies)
Gender and Education (sociology)
Gender and the Media (communication)
Gender and Work (sociology)
Gender Stratification (sociology)
Geography of Sexuality (geography)
GLBQT Cinema (media studies)
Housework (sociology)
Intersectionalities (sociology)
LGBTQ People in Prison (criminology)
Masculinity (sociology)
Michel Foucault (sociology)
Motherhood (sociology)
Non-normative Sexuality Studies (sociology)
Pornography (media studies)
Prostitution (criminology)
Queer Jewish Texts in the Americas (Jewish studies)
Queer Migration and Digital Media (communication)
Queer Practices and African American Culture (African American studies)
Queer Television (cinema and media studies)
Queer Theory (media studies)
Queer Theory and Childhood (childhood studies)
Sex and Gender (psychology)
Sex versus Gender (sociology)
Sexual Minority Parenting (psychology)
Sexual Orientation (psychology)
Sexualities (sociology)
Sexuality (anthropology)
Sexuality (childhood studies)
Socialist/Marxist Feminism (literary and critical theory)
The Queer in/of International Relations (international relations)
Trans Studies in Anthropology (anthropology)
Transgender Children (childhood studies)
Transgender Media Studies (communication)
Transnational Feminism (literary and critical theory)
Urban Sexualities (urban studies)
Welfare Policy and Gender (sociology)
Women and Film (media studies)
Women in Music (music)