Valerie Giovanini is a Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at California State University, Northridge, USA. She earned her PhD in Philosophy, Art and Critical thought from The European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, with Judith Butler as her advisor. She has taught at Mt. St. Mary's University and for various colleges in the Los Angeles Community College District. She is the author of numerous peer-reviewed and published journal articles and book reviews. Her work concerns applied ethics, moral philosophy, psychoanalysis, and phenomenology.