What started as a straightforward reference question at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) provoked an unmistakable volley in […]
A Study of PCOS: Why Are Doctors So Fixated on Fertility?
“The medical industry is always trying to preserve women’s ovaries to have a baby,” lamented Erin Barnett, a woman with […]
Gender-Neutral Sex Toys: Turning Gender Dysphoria in the Bedroom into Gender Euphoria
Nestled amidst Allen Ginsberg’s dildo, some vanilla-flavored underwear that offers sexually-transmitted infection (STI) protection, and a Braille issue of Playboy […]
Trans Pregnancy and TikTok Activism: A Shifting Conversation
“Is society ready for this pregnant husband?” was the subheading of Thomas Beatie’s 2008 essay about his pregnancy. Mr. Beatie […]
Law, Medicine, Women’s Authority, and the History of Troubled Births: Review of Proving Pregnancy
With Roe v Wade upended, the balance of power and authority among lawmakers, medical practitioners, and pregnant and birthing people […]
Men and Women Can (and Should) Be Friends in the Modern Workplace
As a teenager, I loved the film When Harry Met Sally and would watch it whenever I was home sick […]
Eugenics Was Wrong Even When It Got It Right
Ann Leary’s 2022 novel The Foundling follows a young white woman, Mary Engle, who in the 1930s lands a job […]
Her Heroine Mother: Maternity and British Secret Agents in World War II
In the waning months of World War II, news began to circulate that the British had been sending operatives to […]
What Happens Under the Ether: Vaginismus and the Question of Consent in the Nineteenth Century
Content Warning: sexual violence; gynecological and obstetric violence. Vaginismus is having a moment. A sexual disability that is medically classified […]
Better Sight, Better Light: Eyesight and Selling the Farm Wife on Electric Modernity
On a chilly Monday in early February 1940, hundreds of locals had crowded into a “big top” tent in Johnson […]
