Join us as we welcome author and biological anthropologist Kate Clancy to speak about her new book Period: The Real Story of Menstruation on Tuesday August 1st at 6:30pm at Titcomb's Bookshop. Clancy will be in conversation with Liz Lerner, WCAI producer and announcer.
This is a free event, but registration is required and space is limited. Registration can be completed HERE or by calling the store at 508-888-2331.
Books will be for sale at the event, and Clancy will sign them after her presentation. Those who are unable to attend the event may order signed copies of Period on our website by writing "signed copy" in the order comments or by calling 508-888-2331.
ABOUT THE BOOK
“This book is a revelation.... a soaring, hopeful manifesto for a better culture and a more just science.”—Ed Yong, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of An Immense World
"Period by the biological anthropologist Kate Clancy, hope[s] to draw our attention to menstruation and the often overlooked organ central to it. . . . Clancy hope[s] to encourage us to better appreciate this remarkable muscle. . . . Rather than greeting our periods with disgust, perhaps we should trade our revulsion for awe."—Yasmine AlSayyad, New Yorker
"Give this book to everyone."—Aimee Cunningham, Science News
"An urgent call to reconsider how periods are researched and discussed."—Publishers Weekly
"Period is not only an exquisite work of science writing, it is a life-altering read."—Dr Sarah Richardson, The Lancet
A bold and revolutionary perspective on the science and cultural history of menstruation
Menstruation is something half the world does for a week at a time, for months and years on end, yet it remains largely misunderstood. Scientists once thought of an individual's period as useless, and some doctors still believe it's unsafe for a menstruating person to swim in the ocean wearing a tampon. Period counters the false theories that have long defined the study of the uterus, exposing the eugenic history of gynecology while providing an intersectional feminist perspective on menstruation science.
Blending interviews and personal experience with engaging stories from her own pioneering research, Kate Clancy challenges a host of myths and false assumptions. There is no such a thing as a "normal" menstrual cycle. In fact, menstrual cycles are incredibly variable and highly responsive to environmental and psychological stressors. Clancy takes up a host of timely issues surrounding menstruation, from bodily autonomy, menstrual hygiene, and the COVID-19 vaccine to the ways racism, sexism, and medical betrayal warp public perceptions of menstruation and erase it from public life.
Offering a revelatory new perspective on one of the most captivating biological processes in the human body, Period will change the way you think about the past, present, and future of periods.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kate Clancy is professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where she holds appointments in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies and the Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, and at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. She has written for National Geographic, Scientific American, American Scientist, and the Washington Post.
ABOUT INTERVIEWER, LIZ LERNER
Liz Lerner is a digital producer and announcer for WCAI, the Cape & Island's NPR station. Her background is in multimedia production and film and she spent a decade working in community television where she produced and hosted local news-magazine programming.
She graduated from Stonehill College with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and received her Master’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Liz has received numerous awards for her documentary and television work.
