The science of menstruation, something that over half the world does for months and years on end, has come a long way. At one point, scientists were dismissive, assuming that periods had no purpose to the body. Even today, misinformation abounds, and some doctors still believe that it鈥檚 unsafe to wear a tampon in the ocean. In this video from PUP Speaks speaker Kate Clancy, author of Period: The Real Story of Menstruation, we can begin to appreciate the systems of oppression that have kept us in the dark about this natural function. Scientific understanding in this important field will, as Clancy puts it, 鈥渢ake the mysteries out of menstruation without losing the magic.鈥�
For more information about engaging our speakers, please email our PUP Speaks team at pupspeaks@press.princeton.edu
Kate Clancy is a feminist scientist who specialises in how environmental stressors affect menstrual cycles. She is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois, where her research and policy advocacy work also focus on sexual harassment in science and academia, racial and LGBTQ harassment, and underexplored topics like how vaccine and drug treatment trials ignore the menstrual cycle. She has addressed Congress on the sexual harassment of women in STEM as well as consulted on two bills on sexual harassment in science. Her book The Real Story of Menstruation blends history, personal experience and science to challenge many of the myths and false assumptions that have defined the study of the uterus.