LOS ANGELES — Adult entertainment star Tasha Reign will be graduating from UCLA on Saturday, June 14, with a degree in Gender Studies.
Reign, who has had her blogs and articles featured on several mainstream websites, says she is now set to take the next step in combining her studies and her work in the adult industry.
“Studying at UCLA and cultivating my humanist viewpoint, particularly in the field of feminism, has allowed my adult performance work to shine with a very personal touch,” Reign said. “I’m looking forward to now concentrating on producing, directing and performance work, as well as continuing to use the education I received at UCLA to share my experiences and perspective with the public. I’m proud to be a Bruin, and even more proud to be a part of the feminist porn movement.”
Commencement ceremonies for UCLA’s Class of 2014 Gender Studies graduates will start at Korn Convocation Hall; Ceremonies are restricted to graduates, faculty, staff and invited guests.
Reign has been featured on the Huffington Post, Al Jazeera America, BroBible.com and OC Weekly, and participated in a recent panel at UCLA, titled “Porn, Prostitution, and Censorship: The Politics of Empowerment.”
"Heartfelt congratulations to Tasha, a thoughtful and inquisitive student who brought a unique perspective to the classroom as an adult actress and filmmaker,” said Jen Moorman, Ph.D., a lecturer in Gender Studies and Cinema and Media Studies at UCLA. “She is already an outspoken advocate for the adult video industry, and I have no doubt that she will bring the insights she has gained as a student at UCLA to her work in new and interesting ways."
UCLA’s Gender Studies department emphasizes analytic and writing skills, qualitative research methods, and a historical and transnational understanding of social inequalities. Its faculty integrates feminist pedagogical approaches and their own research into their teaching, a representative explained.
The department’s core courses address the concepts of gender and the body, gender and power, and gender and knowledge through a range of topics such as freedom and liberty, social movements, masculinities, work and leisure, politics of social justice, colonial and sexual violence, and visual culture and citizenship — topics Reign says she works to incorporate into her editorials, interviews and analysis of the adult film industry.
Earlier in 2014, Reign detailed her university experience as a porn star in an open letter to Belle Knox, the Duke student outed as an adult performer. The letter was published on HuffingtonPost.com. Reign’s time at UCLA has also been profiled in the school’s paper, The Daily Bruin, as well as in LA Weekly.
