Tanya Cheadle is a gender historian based at the University of Glasgow, who specializes in the history of sexually radical and occult subcultures in fin de siecle Scotland. Her current research focuses on masculinity in the Scottish occult revival, and examines the beliefs and practices of male occultists in organizations including the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Theosophical Society.

In a parallel project, Tanya is working with Dr Justine Bakker at Radboud University to analyze whiteness, masculinity and cis-heteronormativity in the modern history of alternative spiritualities. An open-access edited collection is forthcoming with MUP, entitled Esotericism and Normativity: The Regulation of Sex, Race and Gender in Modern Alternative Spiritualities.

Her first monograph, Sexual Progressives: Reimagining Intimacy in Scotland, 1880-1914 (MUP, 2020), was a major new study of the feminists and socialists who campaigned against the moral conservatism of the Victorian period. Widely reviewed in academic journals, it was praised by the Journal of Victorian Culture for its ‘authoritative grasp’ of the subject and ‘outstanding ability to communicate complex ideas.’ The book was Highly Commended in the Women’s History Network first book prize.