What can people who engage in non-normative (“deviant”) practices teach us about gender, sexuality, families, and American culture more generally? How do those who “break the rules” illuminate central features of social life?
These are the questions at the core of my sociological research.
I’m a Professor of Sociology at Lehigh University and, in the 2025-2026 academic year, a Stanley Kelley Jr. Visiting Professor of Distinguished Teaching in Gender & Sexuality Studies at Princeton.
I received my BA in English/Creative Writing from Princeton in 2002, my PhD in Sociology from Columbia in 2010, and I am the author of three books: Dominatrix: Gender, Eroticism, and Control in the Dungeon (University of Chicago Press, 2012), Commuter Spouses: New Families in a Changing World (Cornell University Press, 2019), and True Story: What Reality TV Says about Us (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022).
True Story was listed as a “Best Nonfiction Book of 2022” by Esquire and as one of Behavioral Scientist’s “Notable Books of 2022.” It received positive reviews in The New York Times Book Review, the Chicago Review of Books, The Washington Post, Booklist, Kirkus, The Nation, and Publishers Weekly. An adapted excerpt from the book appeared in The Atlantic. In 2023, the paperback version was listed as one of “Six New Paperbacks to Read This Week” in The New York Times‘s “Paperback Row.”
My research has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report, CNN, USA Today, and Rolling Stone. I’ve been a subject-matter expert on television programs such as Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets (Prime Video), Rewind the 90’s (Nat Geo/Disney+), The Dark Side of Reality TV (VICE), and ABC News, as well as radio shows like NPR’s “It’s Been a Minute.” I’ve written opinion pieces for outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, Newsweek, Salon, Fortune, and Quartz.
I’ve taught courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels, on topics such as gender, sexuality, the family, and popular culture. I have won awards for my teaching and mentorship.
I live in Princeton, NJ with my husband, two daughters, one bearded dragon, and two (updated 7/22/25) goldfish. In my downtime, I’m a fan of crossword puzzles and really, really terrible reality television.
You can follow me on Bluesky and X @djlindee
I’m on Threads @danielle.lindemann
Image: Cyndi Shattuck Photography
Danielle J. Lindemann 