About

Alicia M. Walker, PhD is an Associate Professor of sociology at Missouri State University. Pronouns: she/her/hers

She is also Co-Chair of Council on Contemporary Families and Editor in Chief of the CCF Blog hosted by The Society Pages.

Education

Like many sociologists, her educational background is varied. Before receiving her PhD in sociology at the University of Kentucky, Walker earned a MEd in educational leadership from Texas State University, and a BA in English from the University of Tampa. She appreciates an interdisciplinary focus and collaboration.  

Research

Walker is a microsociologist, whose work focuses on intimate sexual relationships, sexual identity and behavior, and gender. Specifically, her work looks at the social construction of the sexual self, the ways we make sense of ourselves as sexual beings, the ways we navigate our sexual worlds, and our lived experiences as sexual beings.

Walker has particular interest in closeted sexual behaviors and online initiation of sexual relationships. She is credited with creating a sociology of infidelity.

In the Media

Walker’s new book, Bound by BDSM: What Practitioners can teach Everyone about Building a Happier Life, which is coauthored with Arielle Kuperberg, is due in print Fall 2025. The book shows how BDSM is more than just kink. It’s a blueprint for better relationships, deeper connections, and a stronger sense of community. Through trust, communication, and clear boundaries, BDSM practitioners create fulfilling relationships and richer lives. With engaging stories and research, this book reveals unexpected lessons anyone can use to enhance intimacy, self-awareness, and belonging.

Walker’s second book focuses on men's experiences with infidelity called Chasing Masculinity: Men, Validation, and Infidelity published by Palgrave-Macmillan. This book examines men’s experiences with participation in outside partnerships. Chasing Masculinity has been discussed in The Sun, Vice, The Globe and Mail, and Medium, among others.

Her debut monograph, The Secret Life of the Cheating Wife: Power, Pragmatism, and Pleasure in Women's Infidelity, is about women's navigation of outside partnerships alongside primary partnerships, and gives voices to women's lived experiences.  The book has been discussed in articles published in The New York Times and CNN, among others.

Her next solo book project looks at women who self-describe as "highly sexual.” She is also coauthoring a sociology of sexuality textbook with Arielle Kuperberg.

She has a number of research studies in progress.

Personal

In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family with whom she is close, and her beloved rescue dog, Harvey, whom she and her daughter found abandoned at a gas station as a puppy. (Adopt, don’t shop!) She also enjoys traveling, great movies, playing cards, and collecting statues of the goddesses of love, marriage, and fertility of various cultures (as they relate to her work).