Research

I research race/ethnicity, gender, and sexuality in pop culture, focusing on masculinity and Jewish identity. For example, think of Drake, Zac Efron, or Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer's" masculine" comedy in Broad City. 

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Book Project

Masculinity, Race & Jewish Stardom. Will submit proposal to Oxford, NYU, Rutgers, Texas, and Indiana University Presses, summer 2020.

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Academic Articles & Conference Panels

Please see CV.

 

Teaching

Courses Taught

  • Intro to Gender Studies

  • Intro to Film & Media Studies

  • Masculinity, Race & Nation

  • Women in Hollywood Film

  • TV News Satire

  • TV's New Jews

  • Racial & Gender "Passing" Onscreen

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Student Films: My students create "oppositional media" to apply class concepts, challenge inequality, and join today's web media conversation. Their films are clever, fun, and certified click-worthy:
 

Imitation of White: Departing from "passing" films like Imitation of  Life and White Chicks, this group created a racial passing tale that never villainizes its passing  protagonist, nor credits any white saviors with her success.

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Fistful of Dining Dollars: This group researched the Western genre, then flipped its conventions with a more racially diverse ensemble, an agentic woman, and a resolution that defuses macho violence. 

 

In 2013, I co-founded a holistic sex-ed and rape-prevention program at the Ohio State University with my colleague MacRorie Dean. The program now serves 2,000 students per year in Greek chapters, first-year orientations, and classrooms. This program destigmatizes sex and makes sex-ed a great time (yes, really!) by using the feminist pedagogy of laughter. See my TEDx Talk for more.

 

You Be You! The Kid's Guide to Gender, Sexuality & Family

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Order here.

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School Library Journal: "This inclusive and respectful guide should be part of all curricula about family, gender and sexuality."

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Publisher's weekly: "Writing in warm, assuring prose...Branfman urges readers to think about identity as ever-evolving."

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21 translated editions include Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, and Russian.

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I wrote "You Be You!" to make feminist education more accessible beyond the classroom.  This illustrated children's book makes gender identity, sexual orientation and family diversity easy to explain for ages 7 and up. It also covers privilege, discrimination, intersectionality, and allyship.