Megan Carroll

Megan Carroll (she/her) is a sociologist of LGBTQ+ Families with expertise in the sociology of gender, families, sexualities, and social movements. Her research projects include a mixed-methods, community engaged study of asexualities and an ethnographic and interview study of gay fatherhood. Before joining CSUSB in 2019, Professor Carroll earned a PhD in Sociology with a graduate certificate in Gender Studies from the University of Southern California. 

Professor Carroll's Asexual Intimacies project examines LGBTQ+ families from the perspective of asexual individuals who experience little to no sexual attraction to people of any gender. Survey data and interviews with a diverse pool of asexual individuals reveal how social systems are organized around compulsory sexuality and amatonormativity. Professor Carroll argues that asexual people's families/relationships can serve as models of new pathways for support and joy. 

In her research on gay fatherhood networks in California, Texas, and Utah, Professor Carroll examines how inequalities of race, place, and class are tied to gay fathers' pathways to parenthood, creating hierarchies between gay fathers who had children in heterosexual unions and those who had children via adoption or surrogacy, after coming out. She argues that the construction of a Normal Gay Father, fueled by the respectability politics of the marriage equality movement, left many vulnerable families' needs unmet, especially those who had children in heterosexual unions. 

Professor Carroll is currently serving as the Coordinator of the Gender Studies program and the Faculty Associate for the Office of Community Engaged Learning at CSUSB. She is also on the editorial board for the Journal of Marriage and Family and has held leadership positions with the American Sociological Association's Sexualities Section since 2022. In 2020, Professor Carroll founded the Ace/Aro Scholar Support Network (AASSN), a mentorship organization to support collaboration among scholars of asexualities and aromanticism. Scholars of asexualities or aromanticism who wish to join the AASSN discord server are encouraged to reach out over email. 

Professor Carroll is the CSUSB chapter representative for Alpha Kappa Delta, the International Sociology Honor Society. Students interested in becoming members can access more information and fill out the online application via the sociology website. 

Recent Publications

Feel free to reach out over email to request a free copy of any publications.

• Carroll, Megan and Maya Wenzel. 2025. “New Dimensions, New Directions: Asexualities and Aromanticism in the 21st Century.” Sex & Sexualities 1(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/3033371251332285  
• Carroll, Megan. Forthcoming. "The Demography of Asexuality and Aromanticism.” Second International Handbook on the Demography of Sexuality, edited by Amanda Baumle and Zelma Tuthill.
• Carroll, Megan. 2024. “What Does Asexuality Offer Sociology? Insights from the Asexual Community Survey.” Pp. 240-254 in Outskirts: Queer Experiences on the Fringe, edited by Amy Stone and D’Lane Compton. NYU Press.
• Carroll, Megan. 2024. “Asexuality.” In The Sage Encyclopedia of LGBTQ+ Studies [Second Edition], edited by Abbie E. Goldberg. Sage Publications.
• Randles, Jennifer and Megan Carroll. 2023. “Marginalize or Valorize: A Two-Case Study of Parental Essentialism and Fathers' Social Location.” Men and Masculinities 26(3): 335-355. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X231182623
• Winer, Canton, Megan Carroll, Yuchen Yang, Katherine Linder, and Brittney Miles. 2022. "'I Didn't Know Ace Was a Thing': Bisexuality and Pansexuality as Identity Pathways in Asexual Identity Formation." Sexualities. Online First. https://doi.org/10.1177/13634607221085485 

In the News

• Inside CSUSB, "Discovering the transformational power of mentorship at CSUSB," https://www.csusb.edu/inside/article/586256/discovering-transformational-power-mentorship-csusb 
• Scientific American, "Asexuality Is Finally Breaking Free from Medical Stigma," https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/asexuality-is-finally-breaking-free-from-medical-stigma/ 
• Rowan Ellis (YouTuber), "The chronically online state of asexual discourse," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plz9VKx6SoU&t=2801s
• LAist, "At Local Universities, An Effort To Better Understand Love In All Its Forms," https://laist.com/news/education/valentines-day-expanding-idea-of-love
• Free From Desire (Podcast), Episodes 1 and 2, https://linktr.ee/freefromdesire
• Asexual Visibility and Education Network, AceCon 2024 Research Panel, https://www.youtube.com/live/j9B-cQmOBQQ