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Reproductive health has fuelled some of the greatest debates and opinions in recent years. Rising inflation and cost of living has led many to speculate about the impact the current economic climate is having on family planning. Reproductive health issues came to political center stage in 2022 with the overturning of federal abortion protections in the United States, and emerging technologies like the male birth control pill and breast cancer vaccine further catapulted reproductive medicine and sexual health into popular consciousness. This working group provides a space for scholars to come together to think about how present-day issues and personal experiences influence our work in reproductive health history. In addition to shining a light on new directions in the field, we invite reflections on the ethics and practices that guide our research as well as on how historical narratives can be better used to advance gender and reproductive rights.
Consortium Respectful Behavior Policy
Participants at Consortium activities will treat each other with respect and consideration to create a collegial, inclusive, and professional environment that is free from any form of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation.
Participants will avoid any inappropriate actions or statements based on individual characteristics such as age, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, nationality, political affiliation, ability status, educational background, or any other characteristic protected by law. Disruptive or harassing behavior of any kind will not be tolerated. Harassment includes but is not limited to inappropriate or intimidating behavior and language, unwelcome jokes or comments, unwanted touching or attention, offensive images, photography without permission, and stalking.
Participants may send reports or concerns about violations of this policy to conduct@chstm.org.
Upcoming Meetings
Thursday, April 17, 2025, 1:00 - 2:30 pm EDT
Thursday, April 17, 2025, 1:00 - 2:30 pm EDT
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Thursday, April 17, 2025, 1:00 - 2:30 pm EDT
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Thursday, April 17, 2025, 1:00 - 2:30 pm EDT
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Thursday, May 15, 2025, 1:00 - 2:30 pm EDT
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Thursday, May 15, 2025, 1:00 - 2:30 pm EDT
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Thursday, May 15, 2025, 1:00 - 2:30 pm EDT
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Thursday, May 15, 2025, 1:00 - 2:30 pm EDT
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Group Conveners
Agnes Arnold-Forster
Agnes is an interdisciplinary historian of science, medicine, healthcare, and the emotions. She is a Chancellor’s Fellow in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh and has researched the history of cancer, the women’s health movement, the emotional dynamics of healthcare labour, surgery and the surgical identity, vaccine hesitancy and public health, the NHS, and patient complaint. She co-runs the Healthy Scepticism project and is a co-investigator on the CIHR-funded project: Pelvic Health & Public Health in Twentieth Century Canada. Her first book, The Cancer Problem was published by OUP in 2021; her co-edited collection, Feelings and Work in Modern History came out with Bloomsbury in 2022; her second monograph, Cold, Hard Steel: The Myth of the Modern Surgeon, is being published by MUP later in 2023; and her third, Nostalgia: A Biography, is forthcoming with Picador in 2024. She is now working on a new project, exploring the recent history of health activism, scepticism, and medical mistrust in the United Kingdom.
Jennifer Fraser
Jennifer is a historian of health, gender and global chronic disease epidemiology who recently completed her PhD at the University of Toronto’s Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology. She is a member of the Wellcome Trust-funded project “Cartographies of Cancer: Epidemiologists and Malignancies in Sub-Saharan Africa” at King’s College London’s Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. She is pursuing a study of the global politics of hyperemesis gravidarm, a condition that affected her profoundly during her first pregnancy. Her work has been featured in Technology and Culture, Science in Context, the Canadian Bulletin for Medical History, the Canadian Medical Association Journal, and History of the Human Sciences, as well as in the edited collection: Historical Explorations of Modern Epidemiology: Patterns, Populations and Pathologies.
Karissa Patton
Karissa is a historian of gender, sexuality, health, and activism in the late 20th century. She’s an interdisciplinary Research Fellow at the Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society at the University of Edinburgh, where she’s studying the comparative history of reproductive activism and healthcare in Canada and the United Kingdom from 1967 to the 1980s. She is a co-investigator on the CIHR-funded project: Pelvic Health & Public Health in Twentieth Century Canada. Her most recent work on the history of the self-exam as a feminist health practice, collaborating with Whitney Wood, can be found in the Canadian Historical Review. Her doctoral work at the University of Saskatchewan and MA work at the University of Lethbridge examined the history of local birth control centres in Southern Alberta. Some of this work is featured in her co-edited collection, Bucking Conservatism (open access). More of her work can be found in the Canadian Journal of Health History and the edited collection Compelled to Act.
Whitney Wood
Dr. Whitney Wood is a historian of gender, health, and the body, in 19th and 20th century Canada, with a focus on cultural and medical representations of obstetric and gynecological pain. Her work has appeared in Social History of Medicine, Medical Humanities, and the Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, in addition to a number of edited collections. She is currently working on a study entitled, Changing Childbirth in Postwar Canada, 1945-2000, funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Insight Development Grant, and is principal investigator of a new multi-year collaborative study, Pelvic Health and Public Health in Twentieth Century Canada, funded by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Project Grant.
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