HEB Julia Booms Memorial Lecture: Dr. Kate Clancy

Talk title: Period: The Real Story of Menstruation 

Roughly half the world will spend a large percentage of their lives menstruating. And yet menstruation is poorly understood and often stigmatized, largely erased from public life and polite conversation. Most of us know very little about periods. And what we do know is often wrong. In Period: The Real Story of Menstruation Clancy applies an intersectional feminist lens to shows readers that the biology of menstruation is far more captivating and complex than traditional narratives of feminine passivity have led us to believe. Blending interviews and personal experience with engaging stories from her own research, Clancy challenges a host of myths and false assumptions. In this talk, Clancy offers an unflinching commentary on systems of power in science and medicine, urging the audience to embrace their own power and potential in this moment and the next, to take on unequal systems that constrain reproductive justice.

Kate Clancy, PhD is a biological anthropologist who specializes in reproductive health. She is a Professor at the University of Illinois, in the Department of Anthropology. Her additional research and policy advocacy work focuses on sexual harassment in science and academia.