Greggor Mattson

Professor of Sociology Greggor Mattson gave the keynote "The Queer Cosmopolitanism of Rural Gay Bars" at the Rural Sociological Association in Madison, Wisconsin, the first LGBTQ-themed plenary at the RSS.

Professor of Sociology Greggor Mattson won the gold medal for LGBTQ+ academic titles from the Independent Publisher Book Awards for Who Needs Gay Bars? Bar-Hopping through America's LGBTQ+ Places (Stanford 2023). He was also elected 2025-26 Chair of the Sexualities Section of the American Sociological Association.

Charis Stanek ’18 and Greggor Mattson published the results of her Sociology Honors Project in Deviant Behavior. Her mixed-methods study investigated if individuals in high-resource, low-stigma environments experience any benefits from disclosing their mental illness. Data included a survey (N = 384) and 50 in-depth interviews about stigma on campus, mental illness disclosure, and students’ social capital. Charis is the Clinical Research Coordinator at Nationwide Children's Hospital and is starting the Joint MSW-Ph.D. Program in Social Work at The Ohio State University in the Fall.

Greggor Mattson published the book Who Needs Gay Bars? Bar-Hopping through America's Endangered LGBTQ+ Places (Redwood Press 2023). The book was launched at The Stonewall Inn in New York City on May 30 hosted by Murray Hill, and it received press in The Washington Post, Eater, Passport Magazine, and GayCities.

Associate Professor of Sociology Greggor Mattson was a featured guest on KERA Dallas Public Radio discussing why gay bars matter, how they have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and what their vulnerabilities and resilience tell us about their future.

Associate Professor of Sociology Greggor Mattson recently published an article of research designed and executed by three undergraduates in his Alcohol and Culture senior seminar.

Alexandra Hamada '13, Han Guel Jung '14 , and Karl Orozco '13 conducted interviews and focus groups with Asian and Asian American students about the alcohol flush reaction (AFR). AFR describes the symptoms experienced people with a variant allele for processing alcohol in the body, resulting in symptoms ranging from blushing of the face, neck and chest; to nausea, dizziness, headache, and vomiting. The students found that Asian students had strong meanings attached to the trait, while white students didn't notice it—even when they themselves possessed it. These findings challenged existing research on AFR and revealed deeper insights about anticipated stigma and self racialization.

Metaphor and Symbol published an article by Associate Professor of Sociology Greggor Mattson, "Weaponization: Ubiquity and Metaphorical Meaningfulness."

Associate Professor of Sociology Greggor Mattson published an essay about COVID-19's impact on gay bars for the Conversation. It was picked up by the AP Wire and republished on more than 40 news sites, including the Houston Chronicle, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Business Insider, and the San Francisco Chronicle. 

Associate Professor of Sociology Greggor Mattson published a journal article on his research on small-city gay bars in City & Community, a journal of the American Sociological Association. This research, on which several Oberlin undergraduate research assistants worked, is the first description of the qualities of gay bars outside large-city gay neighborhoods. The paper explores the similarities of 55 lone small‐city gay bars to each other and the challenges they pose to the sexualities and urban literatures.

Associate Professor of Sociology Greggor Mattson gave an invited lecture at the University of Kentucky's Geography Department on February 7, 2020. Titled "Queer Places Without Queer Politics: Small City Gay Bars," the talk drew upon Mattson's research on recent changes in American gay bars, a project that has included several Oberlin undergraduate research assistants.