Eric Anderson (born January 18, 1968) is an American sociologist and sexologist specializing in adolescent men's gender and sexualities. He holds the position of Professor of Masculinities, Sexualities and Sport at the University of Winchester, in England. His research has been recognized for excellence by the British Academy of Social Sciences and he is an elected Fellow of the International Academy of Sex Research. Anderson is an advocate for the inclusion of gay men in sport and is America's first openly gay high-school coach, having come out at Huntington Beach High School, the same high-school that produced the nation's first openly gay, professional team sport athlete, Robbie Rogers who recently played for LA Galaxy. Background Eric Anderson earned a B.A. from California State University, Long Beach in 1990; a California State Teaching Credential in 1991; and an M.A. in Sport Psychology in 1993. From the University of California, Irvine, Anderson earned an M.A in Sociology in 2002 and a Ph.D. in 2004 with a dissertation that became his book In the Game: Gay Athletes and the Cult of Masculinity, which the American Library Association recognized as Outstanding Academic Title for that year (2005). Before joining the University of Winchester in 2011, Anderson completed post-doctoral work with Michael Kimmel at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. He then worked as an assistant professor at the University of Bath from 2005 to 2010, as well as a Visiting Professor at the University of California Irvine. He was promoted to Professor in 2011 and given a chair in Masculinities, Sexualities and Sport. Scholarship Anderson is considered a leading figure in multiple academic subfields, including men's studies and men's sexualities. He has written 11 books and over 50 peer-reviewed academic journal articles covering multiple aspects of sexualities and gender, frequently related to male team sport athletes. His autobiography, Trailblazing, documents the story of his coming out as the first openly gay high school coach in the U.S., which Booklist described as, "quite possibly the best coming-out story ever told". Also recognizing this book, the journal, Sociology of Sport Journal, held a symposium on its relevance to understanding decreasing homophobia in sport. His book Inclusive Masculinity: The Changing Nature of Masculinities changed the way masculinity scholars theorized the relationship between masculinity and homophobia. His theory, Inclusive Masculinity Theory, and its embedded notion of homohysteria, explains how homophobia regulates gender. In subsequent works, Anderson