
Juan Carlos Mezo González, PhD
Academic Title: Assistant Professor
Office: EA3178Email: jmezogonzalez@mtroyal.ca
Phone: 403.440.6459
Education
Ph.D. History
Collaborative Specialization in Sexual Diversity Studies
University of Toronto
M.A. History
Collaborative Specialization in Sexual Diversity Studies
University of Toronto
B.A. (Honours) History
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Scholarly Interests
My research examines the relationship between print culture, visual culture, and the histories of
gender, sexuality, race, and social movements in Mexican and transnational contexts. My first
book, Gay Print Culture: A Transnational History of North America (Duke University Press,
2026) investigates the relationship between transnational gay liberation politics, periodicals, and
images in Mexico, the United States, and Canada from the early 1970s through the mid-1990s.
Drawing on oral interviews and on a variety of printed sources, the book studies the production,
textual and visual content, circulation, and reception of leading gay periodicals published in
these countries, including community-based gay liberation publications and commercially
oriented gay lifestyle and erotic magazines. My deep interest in understanding the relationship
between cultural production and the histories of gender, race, and sexuality in Mexico has now
led me to a second book project tentatively titled “Evil Seduction: A Queer History of the Devil
in Mexican Popular Culture.” The project examines how artists and activists in modern Mexico
have used the figure of the devil to grapple with the legacies of colonialism, imperialism, and
state violence, as well as to denounce a range of issues, including social inequality, sexism,
and homophobia.
Teaching
Like my research, my teaching has focused on the study of gender, sexuality, and visual culture
across the Americas. Before coming to Mount Royal University, I taught various undergraduate courses
on Latin American history, social movements, and LGBTQ+ history at the University of Toronto. At
MRU, I teach courses on gender, sexuality, race, and popular culture. My teaching approach is
interdisciplinary, intersectional, and transnational, and it centers active learning.
Selected Publications
Mezo González, Juan Carlos. Gay Print Culture: A Transnational History of North America
(Duke University Press, 2026).
Mezo González, Juan Carlos. “La prensa de liberación homosexual en la Ciudad de México: una
lectura transnacional (1979-1983).” Historia Mexicana 74, no. 3 (January-March, 2025): 1317-
1360.
Mezo González, Juan Carlos. “Consuming the Mexican Body: Gender, Race, and the Nation in
Macho Tips, 1985-1989.” Hispanic American Historical Review 100, no. 4 (2020): 655-687.
Awarded Honorable Mention by the Research Society for American Periodicals
Mezo González, Juan Carlos. “Desnudos sudamericanos: masculinidad, homoerotismo, y el trazo
de una identidad queer a través del cuerpo del hombre.” In Nuevas Cartografías de la
Sexualidad, Carmen Gregorio Gil, Ana Alcázar Campos, and José María Valcuende Del Río,
eds., 351-364. Granada, Spain: Universidad de Granada, 2020.
Mezo González, Juan Carlos. “Contested Images: Debating Nudity, Sexism, and Porn in The
Body Politic, 1971-1987.” Left History 23, no. 1 (2019): 28-61.