含羞草研究所

Meika Loe

Back to Directory
mloe

Meika Loe

Professor of Sociology and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Department/Office Information

Sociology and Anthropology, Women's Studies
424 Alumni Hall

Meika Loe is Professor of Sociology and Women鈥檚 Studies at 含羞草研究所 in New York, where she teaches courses on aging, gender, culture and medicine. She is the author of The Rise of Viagra: How the Little Blue Pill Changed Sex in America and Aging our Way: Lessons for Living from 85 and Beyond.

Professor Loe has been featured on National Public Radio (NPR), O Magazine, BBC, The Washington Post, London Sunday Times, Psychology Today, Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA), The New England Journal of Medicine, and Mother Jones.

She has been a featured speaker at international sociology conferences, community meetings on aging, continuing education forums, and on various college campuses.

To write Aging our Way, Professor Loe spent three years following and interviewing 30 individuals aged 85-102 who were living in rural, suburban, and urban Upstate New York. The 13 lessons she learned from these inspirational elders provide the framework for her book.

She is currently engaged in a 5-year qualitative research project on young adulthood in uncertain times.

  • Read my new research on in flux, published in August 2024.
  • See my
  • for my senior thesis in sociology in the 1990s. Read about it
  • My second book, , was published by Oxford University Press in October 2011.
  •  Students involved in the read about and discussed aging               and design with me.
  • Listen to my interview from on December 11.
  • Listen to my interview on with Alice (age 94) and Lene (caretaker).
  • See my
  • I have spoken about my first book with numerous media outlets including National Public Radio (NPR), BBC, Mother Jones, The New York Times. Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, and the London Sunday Times.
  • Listen to my about women's research clubs. I also wrote a about the clubs that appeared in the 含羞草研究所 Scene.
  • Members of my Women, Health, Medicine class appear in the documentary
  • BA, University of California, San Diego 1995
  • MA, University of California, Santa Barbara 1998
  • PhD, University of California, Santa Barbara 2002

Introduction to Sociology; Death, Dying and Grieving; Women, Health and Medicine; Sociology of the Life Course; Introduction to Women's Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Sociology of Gender; Gender, Sexuality and Society; Ethnography and Participant Action Research; Senior Seminar

Meika Loe teaching a class for alumni during Reunion

Books:

  • Aging Our Way: Lessons for Living from 85 and Beyond. (New York: Oxford University Press, October 2011). Note: The second print has the subtitle Independent Elders, Interdependent Lives.
  • The Rise of Viagra: How The Little Blue Pill Changed Sex in America (New York: New York University Press, October 2004). (Paperback 2006.)
  • Technogenarians: Studying Health and Illness Through an Aging, Science, and Technology Lens, Eds Kelly Joyce and Meika Loe, (London: Wiley-Blackwell Monographs, 2010).

 

Journal Articles:

  • 鈥淧andemic Pathways: College Graduates Stalling, Regressing, and Pivoting during COVID-19.鈥 Socius: Sociological Research for the Dynamic World, Pp. 1-24. August, 2024.
  • "Apprehensive about retirement: Women, life transitions, and relationships," with Ariel Sherry, Ariel, Jennifer Tomlinson, D.K. Johnston, & and Brooke C. Feeney.  Journal of Women & Aging. August 2016.
  •  鈥淧rofessional Women 鈥楻ebalancing鈥 in Retirement: Time, Relationships, and Body,鈥 with D. Kay Johnston, Journal of Women & Aging, 28 (5), Summer 2016.
  • 鈥淐omfort and Medical Ambivalence in Old Age鈥 in Technological Forecasting & Social Change, special issue on Science, Technology, and Aging, January 2015.
  • 鈥淪cience, Technology and Ageing,鈥 with Kelly Joyce and Lauren Diamond-Brown, in Routledge Handbook of Cultural Gerontology, 1st Edition, 2015.
  • 鈥淭he Digital Life History Project: Intergenerational Collaborative Research鈥 in Gerontology & Geriatrics Education, 34 (1), January 2013, pages 26-42.
  • 鈥漎es Means Yes: A New Educational Approach to Sexual Assault Prevention,鈥 with Dawn LaFrance and Scott Brown, Journal of Sexuality Education, 7(4), December 2012, pages 445-460.
  • 鈥淔rom Nursing Home to Green House: Changing Contexts and Outcomes of Elder Care in the U.S.鈥 with Crystal Dea Moore, Journal of Applied Gerontology, 31(6), March 2011, 755-63.
  • 鈥淒oing it My Way: Old Women, Technology, and Wellbeing鈥 in Technogenarians: Studying Health and Illness Through an Aging, Science, and Technology Lens, Special Issue of Sociology of Health and Illness, Eds Kelly Joyce and Meika Loe, 32 (2), 2010, pages 319-34.
    •  Reprinted in: The State of Families, Editor Jennifer Reich, Routledge, 2020.
  • 鈥淕rappling with the Medicated Self: The Case of ADHD College Students,鈥 with Leigh Cuttino, Symbolic Interaction, 31(3), 2008, pages 303-323.
    • Revised and reprinted in: Salute e Societ脿 The Medicine of Emotions and Cognitions (in English and Italian), Eds Antonio Maturo and Kristin Barker, 2012.
    • Reprinted in: Drugs and the American Dream, Eds Peter Adler, Patti Adler, and Patrick O鈥橞rien, Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
    • Reprinted in: Everyday Sociology, Editor Karen Sternheimer, Norton, 2010.
  • 鈥淭he New View in Action: College Students Discuss 21st Century Sexuality,鈥 Feminism & Psychology 18 (4), 2008, pages 495-504.
  • 鈥淪ex and the Senior Woman: Pleasure and Danger in the Viagra Era,鈥 Sexualities, 7 (3), August 2004, pages 303-326.
  •  鈥淎 New View of Women鈥檚 Sexual Problems: Why New? Why Now?  (with L. Alperstein, C. Ellison, JR Fishman, M. Hall, L. Handwerker, H. Hartley, E. Kaschak, P. Kleinplatz, L. Mamo, C. Tavris, and L. Tiefer) in Journal of Sex Research, 38, 2001, pages 89-96.
  • 鈥淔ixing Broken Masculinity: Viagra and the Production of Gender and Sexuality鈥 Sexuality & Culture, 5 (3), Summer 2001, pages 97-125.
    • Reprinted in Sex Matters: The Sexuality and Society Reader, 4th Edition, Stombler, Mindy, Dawn M. Baunach, Elisabeth O. Burgess, Denise Donnelly, and Wendy Simonds. Pearson Education, Inc., 2013, chapter 24.
    • Reprinted in Men鈥檚 Lives 8th Edition, Eds Michael Kimmel and Michael Messner. Pearson, 2009, Chapter 23.
  • 鈥淔eminism For Sale: Case Study of a Pro-Sex Feminist Business,鈥 Gender & Society, 13 (3), December 1999, pages 705-732.
  •  鈥淒ildos In Our Toolboxes: The Production of Sexuality at a Pro-Sex Feminist Sex Toy Store,鈥 Berkeley Journal of Sociology, Volume 43, 1998-9, pages 97-133.
  • 鈥淲orking for Men鈥擜t the Intersection of Power, Gender, and Sexuality,鈥 Sociological Inquiry, volume 66 (4), Fall 1996, pages 399-421.
    • Reprinted in Mapping the Social Landscape. Ed. Susan Ferguson, Seventh Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2012, chapter 9.
    • Reprinted in Readings in Sexuality, Gender and Society. Eds. Christine Williams and Arlene Stein. Blackwell Publishers. November, 2001, pages 221-238.

 

Chapters in Edited Volumes:

  • 鈥淏eloved Community as Practice: Grounding Practices, Care Teams and Redefining Success,鈥 in Contemplative Practices and Acts of Resistance in Higher Education: Narratives Toward Wholeness, editors Karolyn Kinane and Lee Ray Costa Michelle, David. November, 2024.
  • 鈥淐omfortable Aging: Lessons for Living from 85 and Beyond,鈥 Successful Aging: A 21st Century Obsession, edited by Sarah Lamb, Rutgers University Press, 2017.
  • "Feminist Parenting Online: Community, Contestation, and Change," with Tess Cumpstone and Susan Miller, Taking the Village Online: Mothers, Motherhood, and Social Media, Eds Lorin Arnold and Bettyann Martin, Demeter Press, 2016, pages 180-195.
  • 鈥淎geism: Stereotypes, Causes, Effects, and Countermovements,鈥 with Evan Chartier and Ariel Sherry, Gerontology: Changes, Challenges, Solutions, Eds. Madonna Harrington  Meyer and Elizabeth A. Daniele, Praeger, 2016, pages 57-82.
  •  鈥淭echnology and Aging,鈥 with Kelly Joyce and Lauren Diamond-Brown, Handbook on Cultural Gerontology. Eds Julia Twigg and Wendy Martin, July 2015, pages 157-164.
  • 鈥淧ippi and Lisbeth: Fictional Heroes Across Generations,鈥 in Men Who Hate Women and Women Who Kick Their Asses: Stieg Larsson鈥檚 Millennium Trilogy in Feminist Perspective, Eds Carrie Smith and Donna King, July 2012, pages 170-180.
  • 鈥淧leasure in Old Age鈥 in Sex For Life: From Virginity to Viagra, How Sexuality Changes Throughout Our Lives, Eds. Laura Carpenter and John DeLamater, NYU Press, February 2012, pages 278-298.
  • 鈥淭heorising Technogenarians: A Sociological Appproach to Aging, Technology and Health,鈥 (with Kelly Joyce) in Technogenarians: Studying Health and Illness Through an Aging, Science, and Technology Lens, Special Issue of Sociology of Health and Illness, Eds Kelly Joyce and Meika Loe, 32(2) 2010, pages 171-80.
  • 鈥淪exuality and Women: The Experts Speak,鈥 with A. Katz, B. Davis, C. Fogel, B. Johnson, S. Kellog-Spadt, and L. Martinez). Nursing for Women's Health, 11(1), 2007, pages 38-43.
  • 鈥淟essons from Sociology of the Body,鈥 in Anderson, Erin K. and Susan J. Ferguson (editors). 2007. Teaching the Sociology of the Body: A Collection of Syllabi, Assignments, and Other Resources. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association.
  • 鈥淪ociology of Viagra鈥 Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, George Ritzer, Editor,  Blackwell, 2006, pages 5188-9.
  • 鈥淪ex and the Senior Woman,鈥 in Introducing the New Sexuality Studies, Eds. Steven Seidman, Chet Meeks, and Nancy Fraser, Routledge, 2006, pages 96-101.
  • 鈥淭he Viagra Blues: Embracing or Resisting the Viagra Body,鈥 in Medicalized Masculinities, eds. Dana Rosenfeld and Christopher Faircloth, Temple University Press, 2005, pages 21-44.
  • 鈥淭he Feminist Classroom as Community: A Discussion of Pedagogy,鈥 (published with Panagakos, A. et.al.), Voices, 3 (1), June 1999, pages 1-5.

 

Public Sociology Articles:

  • 鈥淟essons in Living (and Dying)鈥 in 含羞草研究所 Magazine. Fall 2019.
  • 鈥淎 New Vision for Elder Care鈥 (A Review of Age of Dignity by Ai-Jen Poo) Stanford Social Innovation Review, Summer 2015.
  •  鈥淎sking for Help as we Age Actually Fosters Autonomy鈥 Aging Today, American Society on Aging (ASA), June 2013
  • "Aging at home, but not alone: Building Caring Communities in the Capital Region," Capital Commons Quarterly: The Dynamics of Aging and Our Community, January 2013.
  • 鈥淎lice Hastings Murphy: Managing a Remarkable Life with Grace, to the End,鈥 Capital Commons Quarterly: The Dynamics of Aging and Our Community, 1:6 April 2012, pages 7-10.
  • 鈥淎ging and Sexuality: Pleasure in Old Age鈥 Our Bodies Ourselves (40th anniversary edition), Simon and Schuster, October 2011, page 561.
  • 鈥淭he Prescription of a New Generation,鈥 Contexts 7 (2), 2008, pages 46-9.