Patrizia Gentile
Professor
- PhD (History), Queen鈥檚 University; MA (杏吧原创 University), Canadian Studies; BA (History/Political Science) McGill University
- Email Patrizia Gentile
Patrizia Gentile (she/her) is a Professor in the Feminist Institute of Social Transformation (FIST) and the Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies (IIS) teaching in the Sexuality Studies (FIST) and Human Rights & Social Justice programs (IIS). Professor Gentile鈥檚 research is co-author of (2010) with Dr. Gary Kinsman and the author of the (2020) which was nominated for the Canadian Historical Association Best Scholarly Book in Canadian History Prize 2021. She is co-editor of two anthologies, (2016) and ) (2014) that feature chapters on sexuality, gender, nation, and bodies. Her current projects include a history of boxing, race, and sexuality in Canada, a digital archive hosting posters and pamphlets of the Ottawa-based Beaver Boxing Club, and a history of the leather and kink communities in Canada (1930s to 2010).
Research Interests:
History of Sexuality; Queer History; Critical Sexuality Studies; Queer Theory; Critical Security and Surveillance Studies; history of the body and nation (beauty contests); history of sport (focus on boxing); digital archives; history of leather and kink communities
Current Projects:
- Beaver Boxing Club (Ottawa based club founded in 1943) Digital archive of posters and pamphlets (SSHRC-funded project-in progress)
- A history of leather and kink communities in Canada from 1930s to 2010 including a history of motorcycle organizations (manuscript)
Titles and Affiliations:
- Co-coordinator (with Steven Maynard), Canadian Committee of the History of Sexuality (Canadian Historical Association professional committee)
- Chair, Canadian Committee of Women鈥檚 and Gender History (Canadian Historical Association professional committee)
Publications:
- Patrizia Gentile. (forthcoming). 鈥淩ethinking inclusion and erasure of the leather and drag communities in the Canadian gay and lesbian movement during the 1970s,鈥 in Bloombury Handbook of the History of World Sexualities, eds. Nina Kushner and Nicole von Germeten (London: Bloomsbury Press).
- Patrizia Gentile. (forthcoming). 鈥淢a vafanculo!: Killjoys, Epistemologies, and Writing Cultural History,鈥 in Feminist Provocateur: Franca Iacovetta ed. by C. Carstairs et al. (University of Toronto Press)
- Patrizia Gentle. (2022). 鈥淭ears and Tiaras: Affect, Beauty Pageants, and Protest,鈥 in Feeling Feminism: Activism, Affect, and Canada鈥檚 Second Wave, eds. Lara Campbell, Michael Dawson, and Catherine Gidney, 120-138. (Vancouver: UBC Press).
- Patrizia Gentile. (2020). 聽 (UBC Press).
- Patrizia Gentile, Gary Kinsman, and L.Pauline Rankin, eds. (2016)聽(Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press).
- Patrizia Gentile and Gary Kinsman. (2015). 鈥,鈥 in聽Queer Kaleidoscopes: Disturbing Canadian聽Homonationalisms, eds. OmiSoore H. Dryden & Suzanne Lenon, (Vancouver: UBC Press)
- Patrizia Gentile and Jane Nicholas, eds. (2014) 聽(Toronto: University of Toronto Press)
- Gary Kinsman and Patrizia Gentile. (2010)聽.聽(Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press).
Books authored:

Patrizia Gentile, (UBC Press,October 2020). Queen of the Maple of Leaf was nominated for the Canadian Historical Association Best Scholarly Book in Canadian History Prize 2021.
Gary Kinsman and Patrizia Gentile. . (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2010).
Books edited:
Patrizia Gentile, Gary Kinsman, and L.Pauline Rankin, eds. (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2016)
Patrizia Gentile and Jane Nicholas, eds. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014)
Journal Articles:
Patrizia Gentile, 鈥Gli Italiani non hanno paura鈥: Italian-language Newspapers and the 1970 October Crisis,鈥&苍产蝉辫;Quebec Studies 55 (Summer 2013): 135-150.
Patrizia Gentile, 鈥,鈥&苍产蝉辫;Archivaria 68 (December 2009): 137-158.
Patrizia Gentile and Gary Kinsman, “S没ret茅, risque et r茅sistance: Le Programme canadien de surveillance des homosexuels durant la Guerre froide,鈥 Bulletin d鈥檋istoire politique 16, no. 3 (2008): 43-58.
Chapters in Collections:
Patrizia Gentile and Gary Kinsman, 鈥,鈥 in Queer Kaleidoscopes: Disturbing Canadian Homonationalisms, eds. OmiSoore H. Dryden & Suzanne Lenon, (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015)
Patrizia Gentile, 鈥溾樏 Bas la r茅pression contre les homosexuels!鈥 R茅sistance et surveillance des gais 脿 Montr茅al, 1971-1976,鈥 in Histoires de la sexualit茅 au Qu茅bec, edited by Jean-Philippe Warren (VLB 茅diteur, 2013).
Jane Nicholas and Patrizia Gentile, 鈥淚ntroduction: Contesting Bodies, Nation, and Canadian History,鈥 in , edited by Patrizia Gentile and Jane Nicholas (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014)
Patrizia Gentile, 鈥淐apital Queer: Social Memory and Queer Place(s) in Cold War Ottawa,鈥&苍产蝉辫;in , edited by James Opp and John Walsh (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010).
Patrizia Gentile, 鈥溾楪overnment Girls,鈥 鈥極ttawa Men鈥: Cold War Management of Gender Relations in the Civil Service鈥, in Dieter Buse, Gary Kinsman, and Mercedes Steedman (eds), , eds. (Toronto: Between the Lines: 2000): 131-141.
Selected Press Appearances:
- CBC- All in a Day with Alan Neal, August 15, 2025.
- The Conversation, March 20, 2023.
Courses Taught:
SXST 2101 Introduction to Critical Sexuality Studies; SXST/HRSJ 2102 Sexuality, Gender and Security; SXST/HIST 3106 Queer(ing) Archives; SXST 4102/WGST 5102 Queer Theory