Lauren Jade Martin is a user experience (UX) researcher and applied sociologist with experience conducting qualitative research on the impact of technologies on individuals, health, and society. Her first book, Reproductive Tourism in the United States: Creating Family in the Mother Country, published by Routledge, is a study of the United States fertility industry as a global destination for people seeking out sex selection, surrogacy, egg donation, and other fertility treatments that are illegal or inaccessible in their home countries.

Dr. Martin is formerly Associate Professor of Sociology and coordinator of the Women’s Studies minor at Penn State University, Berks, in Reading, PA.

In the 2018-2019 academic year, Dr. Martin was Visiting Scholar at the Alice Paul Center for Research on Gender, Sexuality, and Women at the University of Pennsylvania, where she worked on a book project about the procreative decision-making of childless women.

She received her Ph.D. in Sociology with a Women’s Studies Certificate from the CUNY Graduate Center.

Prior to becoming an academic, Dr. Martin worked as an advocate, activist, and consultant in the anti-domestic and sexual violence movement, and was a member of the Incite! network.

Dr. Martin is an ex-riot grrrl and zinester, and produced dozens of zines now in the collections of numerous libraries and archives throughout North America and beyond. She currently serves on the board of The Soapbox Community Print Shop and Zine Library in Philadelphia.