The Ruth Benedict Prize is an award given annually by the American Anthropological Association's "to acknowledge excellence in a scholarly book written from an anthropological perspective about a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender topic". The award was established in 1986 in honor of anthropologist, Ruth Benedict (1887–1948) and is given in two separate categories: a monograph by a single author and an edited volume.

List of winners +Prize winners Year Author Title Category 1986Walter L. Williams The Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Diversity in American Indian CultureMonograph 1987 Gilbert Herdt The Sambia: Ritual and Gender in New GuineaMonograph 1990Serena Nanda Neither Man nor Woman: The Hijras of IndiaMonograph 1990 Kath Weston Families We Choose: Lesbians, Gays, KinshipMonograph 1991 Richard Parker Bodies, Pleasures, and Passions: Sexual Culture in Contemporary BrazilMonograph 1992 Ellen Lewin Lesbian Mothers: Accounts of Gender in American CultureMonograph 1993 Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy and Madeline D. Davis Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian CommunityBook 1993 Roger Lancaster Life is Hard: Machismo, Danger, and the Intimacy of Power in NicaraguaMonograph 1994 Esther Newton Cherry Grove, Fire Island: Sixty Years in America’s First Gay and Lesbian TownMonograph 1995Joseph Carrier De Los Otros: Intimacy and Homosexuality Among Mexican MenMonograph 1996 Carter Wilson Hidden in the Blood: A Personal Investigation of AIDS in the YucatanMonograph 1996 William L. Leap Word’s Out: Gay Men’s English Monograph 1997 Sue-Ellen Jacobs, Wesley Thomas, and Sabine Lang Two-spirit People: Native American Gender Identity, Sexuality, and SpiritualityEdited Volume 1997 Kath Weston Render Me, Gender Me: Lesbians Talk Sex, Class, Color, Nation, Studmuffins Monograph 1998 Jennifer Robertson Takarazuka: Sexual Politics and Popular Culture in Modern Japan Monograph 1999 Evelyn Blackwood and Saskia Wieringa Female Desires: Same Sex Relations and Transgender Practices Across Cultures Edited Volume 2000 Barbara L. Voss and Robert A. Schmidt Archaeologies of Sexuality Edited Volume 2000 Stephen O. Murray Homosexualities Monograph 2000 Esther Newton Margaret Mead Made Me Gay: Personal Essays, Public Ideas Monograph 2001 Arlene Stein The Stranger Next Door: The Story of a Small Community’s Battle over Sex, Faith, and Civil Rights Monograph 2002 Hector Carrillo The Night is Young: Sexuality in Mexico in the Time of AIDS Monograph 2003 Martin F. Manalansan IV Global Divas: Filipino Gay Men in the Diaspora Monograph 2004 Ellen Lewin and William L. Leap Out in Theory: The Emergence of Lesbian and Gay Anthropology Edited Volume 2004 Megan Sinnott Toms and Dees: Transgender Identity and Female Same-Sex Relationships in Thailand Monograph 2005 Tom Boellstorff The Gay Archipelago: Sexuality and Nation in Indonesia Monograph 2006 Tanya Erzen Straight to Jesus: Sexual and Christian Conversions in the Ex-Gay Movement Monograph 2007 Saskia Wieringa, Evelyn Blackwood, and Abha Bhaiya Women’s Sexualities and Masculinities in a Globalizing AsiaEdited Volume 2007 Gloria Wekker The Politics of Passion: Women’s Sexual Culture in the Afro-Surinamese DiasporaMonograph 2007 David Valentine Imagining Transgender: An Ethnography of a CategoryMonograph 2008 Barbara L. Voss The Archaeology of Ethnogenesis: Race and Sexuality in Colonial San FranciscoMonograph 2008 Mark Padilla Caribbean Pleasure Industry: Tourism, Sexuality, and AIDS in the Dominican RepublicMonograph 2009 Ellen Lewin and William L. Leap Out in Public: Reinventing Lesbian/Gay Anthropology in a Globalizing WorldEdited Volume 2009 Mary L. GrayOut in the Country: Youth, Media, and Queer Visibility in Rural America Monograph 2009 Rudolf Pell Gaudio Allah Made Us: Sexual Outlaws in an Islamic City Monograph 2010 David A. B. Murray Homophobias: Lust and Loathing Across Time and Space Edited Volume 2010 Ellen Lewin Gay Fatherhood: Narratives of Family and Citizenship in America Monograph 2010 Deborah Gould Moving Politics: Emotion and ACT UP’s Fight Against AIDS Monograph 2011 Peter A. Jackson Queer Bangkok: 21st Century Markets, Media, and Rights Edited Volume 2011 Roger Lancaster Sex Panic and the Punitive State Monograph 2011 Evelyn Blackwood Falling into the Lesbi World: Desire and Difference in Indonesia Monograph 2012 Gayle Rubin Deviations: A Gayle Rubin ReaderEdited Volume 2012 Margot Weiss Techniques of Pleasure: BDSM and the Circuits of SexualityMonograph 2013 Susan Stryker and Aren Aizura The Transgender Studies Reader 2Edited Volume 2013 Naisargi Dave Queer Activism in India: A Story in the Anthropology of Ethics Monograph 2014 Lal Zimman, Jenny Davis, and Joshua Raclaw Queer Excursions: Retheorizing Binaries in Language, Gender, and SexualityEdited Volume 2014 Noelle M. Stout After Love: Queer Intimacy and Erotic Economies in Post-Soviety Cuba Monograph 2015 Linda Rae Bennett, Sharyn Graham Davies Sex and Sexualities in Contemporary Indonesia: Sexual Politics, Health, Diversity and RepresentationsEdited Volume 2015 Lucinda Ramberg Given to the Goddess: South Indian Devadasis and the Sexuality of ReligionMonograph 2016 Uriel Quesada, Letitia Gomez, Salvador Vidal-Ortiz Queer Brown Voices: Personal Narratives of Latina/o LGBT Activism Edited Volume 2016 David A. B. Murray Real Queer? Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Refugees in the Canadian Refugee ApparatusMonograph 2017 Eric Plemons The Look of a Woman: Facial Feminization Surgery and the Aims of Trans- MedicineMonograph 2018 George Paul Meiu Ethno-erotic Economies: Sexuality, Money and Belonging in Kenya Monograph 2019 Amy Brainer Queer Kinship and Family Change in Taiwan Monograph 2020 Ana-Maurine Lara Queer Freedom: Black Sovereignty Monograph 2020 Sarah Luna Love in the Drug War: Selling Sex & Finding Jesus on the Mexico US Border Monograph 2021 Vaibhav Saria Hijras, Lovers, Brothers: Surviving Sex and Poverty in Rural India Monograph 2022Serena Owusua Dankwa Knowing Women: Same-Sex Intimacy, Gender, and Identity in Postcolonial GhanaMonograph2023Omar KasmaniQueer Companions: Religion, Public Intimacy, and Saintly Affects in PakistanMonograph2024Aslı ZenginViolent Intimacies: The Trans Everyday and the Making of an Urban WorldMonograph2025Tamar R. ShirinianSurvival of a Perverse Nation: Morality and Queer Possibility in ArmeniaMonograph

See also

List of anthropology awards List of LGBTQ literary awards

References