Shelly Grabe, a recipient of the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service award for her research on women’s body objectification, received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia and completed her residency at the University of Washington School of Medicine.  Her research interests involve how cultural objectification of women’s bodies serves to keep women in a position of marginalized status via threats to their psychological well-being.  Shelly’s recent work has been highlighted by the Association of Women in Psychology, the Office of Public Affairs at UW, USA Today, CBS news, and the American Psychological Association Monitor. 
          In Madison, Shelly is frequently involved in public action and organizing that focuses on women’s psychological health, women’s international human rights, and women’s role in peace and war.   She identifies as a scholar-activist and is committed to exploring how the scholarly study of gendered social structures can foster social change that will facilitate women’s psychological well-being.

Shelly Grabe can be reached at grabe@wisc.edu.

Julia Downes is an interdisciplinary scholar based at the Centre of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies at the University of Leeds, UK.  With a BSc in Psychology and experience as a feminist cultural activist, research assistant and musician, Julia was awarded a studentship from the ESRC in 2004, went on to receive her MA in Gender Studies (Research) with distinction and is currently engaged in her third year of her PhD which focuses on riot grrl, contemporary queer feminist music communities and cultural activism in the UK.  Julia has remained active in her music and activist worlds throughout her research as a drummer in Fake Tan, co-founder of the Manifesta collective, and co-organizer of Ladyfest Leeds 2007.  She has recently published a chapter based on cultural activism in Riot Grrl: Revolution Grrl Style Now (Black Dog Publishing) and is a contributing author and co-editor of Bound and Unbound: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Genders and Sexualities to be published in 2008 by Cambridge Scholars Press.

Patricia is a researcher at CREA, the Research Center on Theories and Practices that Overcome Inequalities at the Science Park of Barcelona-University of Barcelona Spain (www.pcb.ub.es/crea), founded by Dr. Ramon Flecha.  The Center conducts European and Spanish studies for the overcoming of inequalities.  Patricia participates in studies on preventive socialization of violence against women, “other women,” women in other cultures, dialogic feminism and new masculinities.  She also participates in the first Spanish study on gender violence in universities.  She has a competitive pre-doctoral fellowship funded by the Catalan Government, participating in her area of research and teaching in the Social Education Program in the University of Barcelona.  Her background is in education and her dissertation focuses on socialization of battered women.  Apart from her professional career at the university, she participates in feminist social movements.