Show notes: The mother of menstrual cycle research is here! I spoke with Dr. Jerilynn Prior, one of my personal heroines, about her early and more recent work on menstrual cycles, perimenopause, and estrogen. Dr. Prior made several important interventions in clinical research on the menstrual cycle, asking: Why are we comparing two groups of women who are so different, then blaming all those differences on physical activity? Why are we acting as though physical activity is so damaging to fertility? And, why do we do so little to translate this work to the menstruators who so desperately need it?
Jerilynn C. Prior BA, MD, FRCPC (former ABIM, ABEM) is a Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. She has spent her career studying menstrual cycle and the effects of the cycle’s changing estrogen and progesterone hormone levels on women’s health. She is the founder (2002) and Scientific Director of the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research (CeMCOR). CeMCOR is actively researching women’s health and has a very accessible, informative website. I especially recommend the pages on several common conditions that affect menstruators, most especially her page on perimenopause as well as heavy or unusual menstrual bleeding.
Dr. Jerilynn Prior
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Show notes: Join me as I nerd out with anthropologist Dr. Elizabeth Miller as we talk about iron stores, iron deficiency, and all the ways menstruators are pathologized for bleeding.
Elizabeth Miller is an associate professor of anthropology
at the University of South Florida. She is interested in how iron metabolism
evolved with women’s reproduction and the health consequences of this for women
around the world.
Dr. Elizabeth Miller
Do you want to be a patron, or is there someone in your life who would want to be? Check out my Patreon page for ways to support this podcast. Help me make beautiful things!
Want a better PERIOD?
Subscribe to PERIOD so you don’t miss an episode! Subscribing, especially on iTunes, helps us a ton with promoting the podcast and getting the word out to more people. So does leaving a review, so please do that too!
Call or write me! I am collecting two things right now: your period questions, and first period stories. Leave me a voicemail with either or both at 262-PERIOD-2 (262-737-4632). Don’t forget to tell me how to contact you if you don’t mind my following up.
Show notes: Join Kate as she talks to Dr. Sharra Vostral, Associate Professor of History at Purdue. Her research centers upon the history of technology, specifically gender, and histories of medical devices and health. Her book, Under Wraps: A History of Menstrual Hygiene Technology examines the social and technological history of sanitary napkins and tampons, and the effects of technology upon women’s experiences of menstruation. Her latest book Toxic Shock: A Social History shows “how TSS became a ‘women’s disease,’ for which women must constantly monitor their own bodies. Further, Vostral discusses the awkward, veiled and vague ways public health officials and the media discussed the risks of contracting TSS through tampon use because of social taboos around discussing menstruation, and how this has hampered regulatory actions and health communication around TSS, tampon use, and product safety.”
I really enjoyed this interview, both the history that Dr. Vostral uncovered and her insights into the cultural meaning of menstrual products. Have a listen!
Dr. Sharra Vostral
Do you want to be a patron, or is there someone in your life who would want to be? Check out my Patreon page for ways to support this podcast. Help me make beautiful things!
Want a better PERIOD?
Subscribe to PERIOD so you don’t miss an episode! Subscribing, especially on iTunes, helps us a ton with promoting the podcast and getting the word out to more people. So does leaving a review, so please do that too!
Call or write me! I am collecting two things right now: your period questions, and first period stories. Leave me a voicemail with either or both at 262-PERIOD-2 (262-737-4632). Don’t forget to tell me how to contact you if you don’t mind my following up.
Kate Clancy is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois. Kate's research has an intersectional feminist biology approach, focusing on topics ranging from gender and racial harassment in science to the effects of environmental stressors on endometrial and ovarian dynamics.
She has additional appointments in the Beckman Center for Advanced Science & Technology, the Program for Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation, and the Women and Gender in Global Perspective Program.
