Blackstone earns Feminist Activism Award from Sociologists for Women in Society

For her outstanding feminist advocacy and use of sociology to improve conditions for women, Amy Blackstone will receive the Sociologists for Women in Society Feminist Activism Award.

The professor with the University of Maine Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center and Department of Sociology researches childlessness and the childfree choice, workplace harassment and civic engagement.

Her findings have been published in multiple journals, including Gender & Society, American Sociological Review, Law & Society Review and Sociology Compass. She has also written the book “Childfree by Choice: The Movement Redefining Family and Creating a New Age of Independence.”

Blackstone and her work also have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, BuzzFeed, USA Today, HuffPost, “Katie” and on public radio.

Heather McLaughlin, assistant sociology professor at Oklahoma State University, says Blackstone makes a difference in the lives of women beyond scholarship — as a mentor, teacher, administrator and community member.

She has been a positive force in McLaughlin’s life since 2004 when McLaughlin was an undergraduate at UMaine.

“I would soon learn that Amy is a brilliant sociologist and a powerful activist, but she was important to me even before I knew these things about her. She was warm, kind, enthusiastic and patient — qualities that allowed me to open up about my concerns and struggles as a first-generation college student. Amy was incredibly generous with her time and invested in me in a way that no other professor had,” says McLaughlin.

“She was (and continues to be) there to listen, to brainstorm, and to offer expertise. Simply put, Amy’s mentorship has made me a better teacher, researcher, feminist and human. Amy instilled a passion for social science research and activism, but her mentorship also gave me the confidence to believe in myself and pursue a career in academia.”

Susan Gardner, who directs the University of Maine Rising Tide Center, says Blackstone’s scholarship reflects her values as an academic citizen, colleague and collaborator.

“She is devoted to creating change through the work she does and inspires excellence among all with whom she works,” says Gardner.

“As a long-term collaborator of Dr. Blackstone’s, I have found her ability to work across disciplinary boundaries and navigate differences in disciplinary methodologies to be another one of her scholarly gifts. Most important, Dr. Blackstone uses the work she creates in the larger public sphere to foment change and make a difference. To me, this is the pinnacle of academic excellence.”

Andrea Irwin, director of the Mabel Wadsworth Center, appreciates that Blackstone is an exemplary supporter, friend and champion of the not-for-profit center.

She has lent valuable expertise, energy, time and connections to ensure it fulfills its mission of providing health care using a feminist model focused on sexual and reproductive health through education, advocacy and clinical services.

“Amy has leveraged her local reputation and profile to bring awareness to the center and invite others to learn more about our work by speaking publicly about the center or co-hosting events,” says Irwin.

“Most important, while her role at the university and national reputation as a feminist thought leader grows, she continues to hold space for community organizations like ours that are on the ground working to improve the lives of women and girls.”

Blackstone, who will accept the award at the 2019 SWS Awards Reception on Aug. 11 in New York City, has been interested in what motivates people to do good in the world since she was a child.

Growing up in a home where volunteering was expected, Blackstone says as a teenager, she sometimes resented the expectation. But even then, her parents’ compassion and activism were sources of pride — and curiosity — for her.

As a college undergraduate, Blackstone says she fell into the sociology major mostly by accident. And when she left college, she declared she never would set foot on a college campus again.

But several years later, disillusioned with the for-profit business world in which she was working, Blackstone went to graduate school with the hope that she would find her passion.

“I sure did,” she says.

Blackstone found she could study questions she’d had her whole life. She also “discovered a love for teaching and the feeling that I could make a positive difference in students’ lives, and I’ve never looked back.”

She also discovered public sociology — the application of sociological theories and research to matters of public interest.

“I loved this idea and have since been totally jazzed about bringing sociological knowledge to conversations about topics, problems and questions that interest both sociologists and others interested in social problems and their solutions,” Blackstone says.

For her dissertation, she examined how activists and volunteers think about their social change efforts and how their own social locations, particularly their class status and gender, shape opportunities available to them to make change and how they describe their activism.

A bonus of Blackstone’s chosen method of data collection — participant observation — was she got to be an activist/volunteer in movements she studied (breast cancer and anti-rape).

“My involvement in those movements, along with the model my parents had set for me my entire life, planted the seeds to want to use sociological knowledge to help improve women’s lives and circumstances,” she says.

Blackstone will deliver a Feminist Activism Talk at the 2020 SWS Summer Meeting in San Francisco.

Contact: Beth Staples, 207.581.3777