Faculty of Arts

Jess Leppik

Since graduating with Honours in Women's and Gender Studies, I have been applying my academic background to many different endeavours. Currently, I am a Program Coordinator at Wolseley Family Place where I offer personal support around issues of domestic violence and problematic substance use as well as advocacy work and facilitating workshops. Through my work there, I have presented at the FREDA National Conference on preventing violence against women and girls, and was also one of twenty people chosen from across Canada to participate in a new initiative called Knowledge Leaders in Children's Environmental Health.

In terms of feminist activism, I am on the leadership committee for a grassroots feminist collective called Women Gathering, and I am also a research assistant for the Provincial Council of Women of Manitoba.

While I was at the University of Winnipeg, my area of interest was human sexuality and this too is reflected both in my current work as well as my plans for the future. I am applying to post-graduate studies at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco and I have been working as the Canadian Bookings Manager for Buck Angel Entertainment. I also submitted an essay to an anthology on disability and sexuality titled "Sexual Oppression as a Regulating Tool: Disciplining People with Disabilities through Erotophobia and Othering"; the essay was accepted for publication and the book should be in production as of 2013. When my studies are complete, ultimately I would like to be a sex therapist and educator.