Draft:Shanna Katz Kattari

Shanna Katz Kattari (born December 9, 1985) is an American social work and sexuality scholar and activist, best known for their work on sexuality, disability, transgender/gender diverse affirming healthcare, and inclusive social work education. Kattari is currently an associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work and Department of Women's and Gender Studies.. They are the director of the [Sexuality | Relationships | Gender] Research Collective, and the convener of the Social Work Disability Justice League.

Early Life
Kattari was born Shanna Raquel Katz in Englewood, Colorado, and was raised in Lakewood, Colorado in a white Jewish middle class household. Their father, Sol Katz, was an American computer programmer and software developer for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and has The Sol Katz Award for Geospatial Free and Open Source Software (GFOSS) named after his many contributions to the field. Their mother, Hedy Katz, was a teacher at the junior high, high school, and secondary levels, and two of their grandparents were Holocaust survivors.

Education
Kattari attended Colorado College in Colorado Springs, CO, earning a Bachelor's in Sociology and a minor in German. At 20, to they moved to Philadelphia, PA to work on their Master's of Education in Human Sexuality at Widener University.

Sexuality Education
As they worked on their Master's, they also worked for a feminist pornography site, writing reviews and running the sexual advice column, before switching to a job as the community outreach coordinator for an online sex toy store.

Both during this time, and post their graduation with this degree, they provided sexuality workshops to medical professions, K-12 and college educators, college students, and other adults, including on college campuses, at sex toy stores, at academic and professional conferences, and at kink events.

Their first popular press book Oral Sex That'll Blow Her Mind: An Illustrated Guide to Giving Her Amazing Orgasms  was published by Amorata Press (an imprint of Simon and Schuster ) in 2012, followed by Lesbian Sex Positions: 100 Passionate Positions from Intimate and Sensual to Wild and Naughty in 2014. They also wrote Pleasure Map: A Q&A, Pick-Your-Passion Approach for Hotter, Naughtier, More Adventurous Sex', originally published in 2014, with a second run in 2022.

They are a contributor in anthology books related to sex, sexual violence, identity and intimacy, with works in published in Dear Sister: Letters From Survivors of Sexual Violence in 2014, and Love, Always: Partners of Trans People on Intimacy, Challenge, and Resilience in 2015

Academic Career
After being a practicing sexuality educator for several years in both Colorado and Arizona, Kattari returned to school in 2013 to begin their PhD in social work at the University of Denver, from which they graduated in 2017, concluding with a dissertation focused on evaluating ableist micro aggressions and their impact on mental health. Following this, they began as a transitional post-doc at the University of Michigan School of Social Work in fall 2017, before becoming an assistant professor in fall 2018, and a tenured associate professor in fall 2022.

Kattari's research is community engaged, and uses a variety of approaches, including mixed methods, qualitative interviews and focus groups, secondary data analysis, intervention development, surveys, photovoice, poetic inquiry, and more. They have worked with multiple community partners, including Transcend the Binary, One Colorado , and Detroit Disability Power

Covering topics such as experiences of health care discrimination, harassment and violence; intimate partner violence; sexual health; differential experiences of education; sexual and romantic partner negotiation; reproductive justice; ableism; collective action, and more, their work often features the lived experiences of disabled, neurodivergent, chronically ill, transgender and gender diverse, queer, older, younger, and radicalized individuals and communities. Such work can be found in a variety of academic journals, chapters in both academic and popular press books, as well as through guest visits on podcasts,  and public facing articles.

They are also known for more conceptual and theoretical pieces, such as their 2019 piece "Troubling binaries, boxes, and spectrums: A galactic approach to queerness and crip-ness" and their co-authored article "Defund the police: Moving towards an anti-carceral social work" published in 2020.

The first of Kattari's academic edited editions, Social Work and Health Care Practice with Transgender and Nonbinary Individuals and Communities: Voices for Equity, Inclusion, and Resilience, was published in 2020 by Routledge. It uniquely features trans and gender diverse authors in every chapter, something previously unseen in most academic works about this community.

Kattari's second academic book, Exploring Sexuality and Disability: A Guide for Human Service Professionals, was released in fall 2023. As with their previous book, this new collection features almost exclusively disabled, chronically ill, mad, and neurodivergent authors, which is unique in academic publications on disability.

Awards and Honors
While the Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW), Kattari won the Masters of (Gr)Advocacy Award from the Center for Multicultural Excellent, the Janice Epp Student Scholarship Award from the [Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality], the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)'s Council on Racial, Ethnic and Cultural Diversity First Annual Scholarship Award in 2015, the GSSW 2015 Outstanding Dissertation Proposal Award, the CSWE's Council on Disabilities and Persons with Disabilities Manuscript Award in 2016, and the Excellence in Teaching Award, Adjunct Faculty in 2017.

In 2021, Kattari was awarded the Deborah K. Padgett Early Career Award from the Society for Social Work Research (SSWR). This same year, Kattari was also awarded the CSWE Council on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression Scholarship Award, and UM-SSW Teacher of the Year.

Social Work and Health Care Practice with Transgender and Nonbinary Individuals and Communities: Voices for Equity, Inclusion, and Resilience won the Book Award honorable mention from SSWR in 2022. In this same year, they became a SSWR Fellow, and were also honored with the Vicki Sexual Freedom Award from the Woodhull Freedom Foundation.

Personal Life
While working on their Master's degree, Kattari also played roller derby for Penn Jersey She Devils, and later was a non-skating official for the Philly Roller Girls and the Denver Roller Dolls, under the derby name Essin' Em.

A disabled, chronically ill, neurodivergent (including autistic) nonbinary queer femme, Kattari also identifies as polyamorous, kinky, fat, and Leather. They hold the title of Mx. Michigan Leather Pride 2022, and ran on a platform of accessibility and inclusion.

Kattari lives with one of their partners, and five rescued cats.