Carly Thomsen is a feminist and queer studies scholar whose work focuses on the social and political ramifications of ideologies that become commonsensical among those on the political left. She is the author of: Visibility Interrupted: Rural Queer Life and the Politics of Unbecoming (University of Minnesota, 2021), which received awards from the Popular Culture Association and the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender; Feminist Studies: An Introductory Reader, co-edited with Hemangini Gupta, Kelly Sharron, and Abe Weil (Routledge, 2025); and Queer Reproductive Justice (University of California, forthcoming). Thomsen’s work also appears in various journals including Signs: A Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Political Geography, Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, Feminist Studies, Human Geography, Feminist Formations, TSQ*Now, Journal of Lesbian Studies, Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture, and Social Justice, and Films for the Feminist Classroom.

Thomsen is committed to the public humanities. She has shared her insights as a keynote at the Rural LGBT Summit organized by the US Department of Agriculture, in a meeting at the Obama White House on rural LGBTQ issues, and in a related documentary film, In Plain Sight (www.inplainsightdocumentary.com). Additional public-facing work includes a reproductive justice mini golf course, leading Public Feminism Fellowships and curating related art exhibitions, co-founding the Center for Public Feminism, and writing for the public, including The New York Times and Ms. Magazine. Similarly, Thomsen’s pedagogy centers moving academic material beyond the classroom, and students in her classes make board games, put on plays, and generate original media and art.

Thomsen is co-editor for the Reproductive Justice book series at the University of California press. She is currently at work on several additional projects about crisis pregnancy centers, abortion humor, reproductive justice aesthetics, pelvic health care, and how to think about objects in feminist and queer ways. For more information, please visit: https://www.carlythomsen.com/