Niki Fritz

Biography

Niki Fritz is a Wisconsin native and graduate from the UW-Madison School of Journalism. She is currently a doctoral student in the Media School focusing on mass communication effects and sexual health communication. Her research focuses on sexual socialization through the media specifically examining sexual objectification, intrapersonal sexual empowerment, and sexual behaviors. Her research thus far has investigated objectification in video games, mainstream pornography, and feminist pornography. Niki’s current work investigates how mass media impacts sexual empowerment and how college campuses can help increases college students’ level of sexual knowledge, efficacy, and assertive behaviors with sexual consent.

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Fritz, N. & Gonzales, A. (2018). Not the normal trans story: The creation of the trans narrative and the negotiation of privacy while crowdfunding at the margins. International Journal of Communication. v. 12.

Fritz, N. & Paul, B. (2017) From orgasms to spanking: The agentic and objectifying scripts of Feminist and Mainstream pornography. Sex Roles, 77(9), 639-652. DOI: 10.1007/s11199-017-0759-6

Gonzales, A., Know, E., Lynch, T., & Fritz, N. (2016). ‘Better Everyone Should Know Our Business than We Lose Our House’: Costs and Benefits of Medical Crowdfunding for Support, Privacy, and Identity. New Media and Society, 1-18. DOI: 10.1177/1461444816667723.

Lynch, T., Tompkins, J. E., van Driel, I. I., & Fritz, N. (2016). Sexy, strong, and secondary: A content analysis of female characters in video games across 31 years. Journal of Communication, 66(4), 564-584. DOI: 10.1111/jcom.12237.

Selected Conference Papers

Fritz, N., Malic, V., Paul, B., & Zhou, Y. (May 2018). Black Women in Pornography. Paper presented to the annual meeting of International Communication Association, Mass Communication Division, Prauge, Czech Republic.

Almond, A. & Fritz, N. (May 2018). Motivations for sexting: Motivation Activation Measure and Sexual Inhibition/Excitation predict sexting behavior. Paper presented to the annual meeting of International Communication Association, Information Systems Division, Prauge, Czech Republic.

Malic, V. & Fritz, N. (May 2018). What a Successful Body in Porn Looks Like: Implications for Socialization and Women’s Body Image. Paper presented to the annual meeting of International Communication Association, Mass Communication Division, Prauge, Czech Republic.

Fritz, N. & Gonzales, A. (May 2017). Not the Normal Trans Story: the Negotiation of Privacy and Identity while Crowdfunding at the Margins. Paper presented to the annual meeting of International Communication Association, Communication and Technology Division, San Diego, CA.

Fritz, N., Paul, B., Zhang, Y., & Malic, V. (November 2016).  Physical and verbal aggression and its relationships to Mainstream Heterosexual pornography. Paper presented to the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Mass Communication Division, Philadelphia, PA.

Fritz, N., Paul, B., Zhang, Y., & Malic, V. (November 2016).  Beyond condoms: Sexual behaviors, relationships and aggression in Gay pornography. Paper presented to the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Mass Communication Division, Philadelphia, PA.

Fritz, N. (June 2016).  From cum shots to cunnilingus, the agentic and objectifying scripts of Feminist and Mainstream pornography. Paper presented to the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Feminist Scholarship Division, Fukuoka, Japan.

Lynch, T., Tompkins, J. E., van Driel, I. I., & Fritz, N. (February 2015). An analysis of female videogame protagonists from 1985 to 2014. Paper presented to the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Mass Communication Division, Las Vegas, United States.  Rewarded top student paper.

Teaching

Instructor of Record in The Media School, IU (2017-18)

Courses: Social Scientific Perspectives of Gender in Media, Media and Society  (Introduction to Media Literacy) 

Associate Instructor in The Media School, IU (2013-2015)

Courses: Introduction to Media; Electronic Media Advertising 

Selected Service

Chair of Media School Graduate Association

Chair of Common Grounds: the Media School Graduate Conference

Graduate Student Representative for Search Committee for Advertising Faculty Member

Journal Reviewer (Sex Roles, Swiss Journal of Psychology, and ICA)

Awards, Grants, and Fellowships

Media School Travel Award from the Tom and Jay Darragh Fund
School-wide, merit-based $300 award for international travel to a conference

Media School Graduate Service Award
Faculty-nominated $300 award to acknowledge service as the chair of MSGA

Graduate and Professional Student Government Research Grant
A competitive $1,000 grant awarded to promote graduate student research

Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics Graduate Student Travel Award
A competitive $500 award granted to support travel of graduate students interested in social informatics to academic conference.

HASTAC Scholar, Indiana University, Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory
A merit-awarded scholarship, given to selected interdisciplinary graduate students who work in the digital humanities or social science technology

For full CV, see my website.