Professional Bio
Cora Butcher-Spellman specializes in analysis of queer rhetoric and media with attention to power, race, gender, assimilationism, erasure, capitalism, and consumerism. Butcher-Spellman's recent research examines gay consumer-citizenship and exclusion in gay publications. Her past research has studied how social media algorithms and users’ appeals to such algorithms contribute to the continued erasure of diverse bi/poly/pansexual identities. She has also examined how mainstream queer melodrama further normalizes intersectionally privileged queer identities while further oppressing other queer identities. Known as "Coach Cora" in the classroom, Butcher-Spellman has taught courses in communication and gender studies. Her classes offer students opportunities to critique media they consume in their personal lives and advocate for solutions to social problems about which they are concerned. Dependably, if there is potential for queerness in academia, she will find or create it.
Advisor: Dr. Pamela VanHaitsma
