Book Launch: Responsible Pleasure
Thursday 13 June, 6pm-8pm (Online & In-Person)
This June, Broadly Conceived are supporting the book launch for Responsible Pleasure, the Brook Advisory Centres and Youth Sexuality in Postwar Britain by Caroline Rusterholz.
To mark the release of her new book, Responsible Pleasure, the Brook Advisory Centres and Youth Sexuality in Postwar Britain, historian Professor Caroline Rusterholz will be in conversation with:
- Tracey Loughran, Professor of History, University of Essex;
- Alison Hadley, Director of Teenage Pregnancy Knowledge Exchange, University of Bedfordshire, and Chair of the Sex Education Forum. Former Press and Information Officer, then Policy and Media Manager in Brook’s National Office (1986-2000);
- Lisa Hallgarten, Head of Policy and Public Affairs, Brook;
- Samuel Yosef, PhD Student and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Reproductive Justice Initiative.
Together they will explore the role of the Brook Advisory centres in providing sexual and reproductive health services in postwar Britain and the state of sexual and reproductive health services today.
Reception
Following the panel discussion, in-person guests are invited to join us for an informal drinks reception.
Location
This event will be hosted both in-person and online. The in-person event will be held in Room 201 at 373 Euston Road (a Birkbeck, University of London building). Booking is required.
Childfree by Choice
Thursday 30 May 2024, 7-8pm
What is driving the increasing number of people in Western societies who are choosing to be childfree – and how is academia responding to that decision?
This month we’re holding an informal book-club style conversation where we invite scholars from any discipline to discuss what is still potentially the most controversial repro-related decision: to not have children.
As a starting point, we’ll discuss an article and podcast. First, a 2023 Washington Post article: ‘Millennials Aren’t Having Kids: Here’s Why’. The piece touches on lots of interesting points – including the fact that more American millennials are turning away from having children as their rates of home ownership increase.
Secondly, a New Books Network interview with Rachel Chrastil, Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences and a historian at Xavier University in Ohio, USA, about her book How To Be Childless: A History and Philosophy of Life Without Children (Oxford University Press, 2019). The interview covers Rachel’s attempt to marry scholarship with modern cultural study via a history of women choosing to not become mothers from 1500 to the present.
Works also of interest:
- Voicing Voluntary Childlessness: Narratives of Non-Mothering in French by Natalie Edwards (Peter Lang, 2016): introduction available here.
- Ruby Warrington’s Women Without Kids: The Revolutionary Rise of An Unsung Sisterhood (Orion, 2023).
- Sheila Heti’s autofiction Motherhood (Vintage, 2018).
- Emma Gannon’s novel Olive (HarperCollins, 2021)
- Kate Davies’ novel Nuclear Family (The Borough Press, 2024).
Potential talking points might include:
- The terminology of being child-free vs childless
- The depiction of child-free people in culture (literature, film and TV and other media).
- Experiences of applying for funding for child-free-related projects.
- The difficulty of clearly distinguishing between being involuntary and voluntarily child-free.
- Research relating to the emotions that surround being child-free.
Intro to the RCOG & RCM Heritage Collections
Thursday 21 March 2024, 6.30-8pm (Online and In-person)
Join us for this special hybrid event as we explore research resources for the history of obstetrics, gynaecology and midwifery in the Heritage Collections of the RCOG and RCM, guided by Archivist Clare Button and Curator Peter Basham.
Image courtesy of the RCOG and RCM Heritage Collection
Have you ever thought about conducting archival research on the history of obstetrics, gynaecology or midwifery? Do you know about the collections at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Midwives? This month we’re holding a hybrid event – both online and in person, at the Birkbeck University of London School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication – with the RCOG and RCM Heritage Team.
Clare and Peter are responsible for the Heritage Collections, including cataloguing and preservation, outreach and engagement through tours, events and exhibitions, and hosting volunteers and placement students.
About the collections
From its establishment in 1929, the RCOG has worked to improve the health of women and girls globally. The RCM was founded in 1881 to professionalise the role of midwives in the UK and today is the trade union for the specialty. The Heritage Collections include the historic records of the colleges, personal papers, museum objects, artworks and rare books. Highlights include the original obstetrical forceps, designed by the Chamberlen family c.1600, and one of the earliest printed books on gynaecology, dated 1478. The collections are the leading resource for the history of women’s health in the UK.
Image courtesy of the RCOG and RCM Heritage Collection
Who is this event for?
Whether you are an experienced researcher wishing to identify new research resources, or a newbie wanting to know where to start, this event has you covered!
Talking points will include:
- Highlights from the RCOG and RCM Heritage Collections
- Practical tips for research
- A behind-the-scenes look at the work of an archivist and curator
This event is aimed at anyone interested in archives, museums and medical history.
Reception
Following the presentation, in-person attendees will be invited to attend an informal drinks reception, sponsored by the Birkbeck Centre for Medical Humanities.
Transmasculine Parenthood: Film Screening and Q&A with Director Bea Goddard and Dr. Gillian Love
Monday 26 February 2024, 7-8pm
Join us for a screening of the short film on transmasculine parenthood, M(other)hood (dir. Bea Goddard), followed by an in-conversation between Goddard and trans reproduction scholar, Dr. Gillian Love.
Not only women give birth, and yet many trans and non-binary parents still struggle for social and legal recognition. Today, reproductive trans and non-binary people must still negotiate our repro-normative world: a world where women are expected to be pregnant, and pregnant people are assumed to be women; where reproduction is expected to take place between cis-heterosexual couples, and trans people are assumed to not desire reproduction. We are living in a world where hysterectomies are often a requisite of transmasculine people’s legal recognition and gender-affirming healthcare, and where the stories of transmasculine pregnant people are often tokenized and sensationalized. But there are, as Goddard’s film shows us, many other stories to be told.
Right: Dr. Gillian Love, photo courtesy of author.
In 2021, Bea Goddard released the award-winning short film, ‘M(other)hood’, an intimate portrayal of a transmasculine parent, ex-dancer, and reproduction researcher, Dr. Jack López, who begins hormone treatment at 43. A story told through interviews, cinematography, and his children’s art, M(other)hood offers an unfiltered perspective into Jack’s changing world, and his four young children’s changing understanding of “mummy”.
For our February event, we are delighted to be hosting a private film screening of M(Other)hood (15 mins), followed by an in-conversation between Goddard and repro-scholar, Dr. Gillian Love, whose recent publications include the open-access paper, ‘Trans Reproduction in a Repronormative World’.
Talking points may include:
- Lived experiences of trans parenthood, including narratives which embrace the ordinary and the everyday.
- Trans reproductive law and the ongoing fight for trans parents’ legal recognition.
- Representations of trans people and trans parenting in the media.
- Film-making and storytelling as ways to build a better world.
This session will be an interest to anyone with an interest in the intersection of gender identity and reproduction, trans and queer healthcare, LGBTQ+ legal rights, and trans lived experience.
Pregnancy Testing in the 20th Century with Dr Jesse Olszynko-Gryn and Meg Crane
Monday 29 January 2024, 7-8pm
Join us as we explore the making of the modern-day pregnancy test with historian Dr Jesse Olszynko-Gryn and the inventor of the first at-home pregnancy test, Meg Crane.
Today we might take for granted the relative ease, speed and privacy with which once can take a pregnancy test. But it hasn’t always been this way. In the early-mid 20th century, women had to present a urine sample to their doctor who would send it off to a laboratory for testing and analysis. Some of these tests used animal-based techniques like the Aschheim and Zondek test (or A-Z test) which saw mice injected with a possibly-pregnant woman’s urine to see if the mouse’s ovaries grew and produced eggs. Later on, amphibians were used as living pregnancy tests (something that viewers of the 2023 Apple TV show Lessons in Chemistry may remember).
Within his new book, A Woman’s Right to Know: Pregnancy Testing in Twentieth-Century Britain (2023), Dr Jesse Olszynko-Gryn shares the comprehensive history of the modern-day pregnancy test, one of the most significant and least studied technologies of reproduction. He also describes how pregnancy testing transformed from an obscure laboratory service to an easily accessible tool for every woman. Focusing on Britain circa 1900 to present, Jesse explains how women’s demand was as important as developments in science in bringing about Predictor, the first at-home pregnancy test designed by Meg Crane, and patented under her name by Organon Pharmaceuticals. He argues Predictor merits a place – alongside both the birth control pill and abortion law reform – in histories of health consumerism and reproductive choice in the twentieth century.
For our January meeting, we will be joined by both Dr Jesse Olszynko-Gryn, head of Oral History and Experimental Media Lab at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, and Meg Crane, best known as the inventor of the first at home pregnancy test in 1967.
We will learn about:
- The lead up to the Predictor pregnancy test as told by Dr Jesse Olszynko-Gryn.
- Insights into the social and cultural backdrop of these changes, and the ‘disruptive potential’ at-home pregnancy testing held.
- The story of the invention of the test, as told by Meg Crane herself.
- How this history is narrated in Jesse’s new book, A Woman’s Right to Know: Pregnancy Testing in the Twentieth Century (2023).
You can buy Jesse’s book now! Or it is available to freely download, open access from the MIT Press Direct Website.
This session will be of interest to anyone with an interest in the history of science, technology and medicine, and the intersections with the history of women’s liberation.
Cosy Catch-up with Broadly Conceived
Tuesday 19 December, 7-8pm
For our last event of the year we’re winding down, reflecting on our busy year and revealing exciting plans for 2024…
Whether you’ve never met us and want an opportunity to say hi, or you’re a BC regular and want to hang out with a hot drink – join us for a cosy catch-up! This December we’ll be having an online social:
- Chill out in a friendly online space with other repro-researchers.
- Test your knowledge with a fun quiz.
- Tell us what you enjoyed in the 2023 BC event calendar and what you’re hoping for in 2024.
- Find out the #BConceived24 Conference theme with the launch of our call for papers!
This is event it totally informal, so bring a drink, bring a craft, bring a pet. See you there!
Maria Tomlinson & New Directions in Critical Menstruation Studies
Tuesday 28 November, 7-8pm
Join one of the UK’s leading menstrual research scholars, Maria Tomlinson, in conversation with Broadly Conceived’s Jemma Walton.
Critical Menstruation Studies is one of the most dynamic and truly interdisciplinary fields, which is reflected in the career of one of its foremost practitioners: Maria Tomlinson.
After a PhD in French studies analysing the representation of the female fertility cycle – menstruation, birth and menopause – in Algerian, Mauritian and French literature, Maria changed disciplines and is now a lecturer in public communication and gender in the University of Sheffield’s School of Journalism, Media, and Communication.
Maria will be joining us to talk about her current research, which focuses on the impact of the menstrual movement on young people’s knowledge and perceptions of menstruation and related health and social issues. The stigma that surrounds menstruation negatively impacts young people’s ability to communicate their menstrual experiences as well as inhibiting their access to period products, education, and medical treatment. Maria’s research combines the analysis of British newspapers, social media (Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok), focus groups with seventy-seven 16–19- year-old students across nine schools, colleges and universities in Yorkshire, and interviews with 32 menstrual advocates. Topics include menstrual stigma, period poverty, misinformation, the experiences of transgender people who menstruate, environmental activism, endometriosis and PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder). She has also recently contributed to the development of the British Standards Institute’s Guide to Menstruation, Menstrual Health and Menopause in the Workplace.
She will be discussing her work with Jemma, who has just published an article, They are Not All Wolves: Menstruation, Young Adult Fiction and Nuancing the Teenage Boy, in the BMJ’s Medical Humanities journal.
Maria’s first monograph (a reworking of her PhD) is From Menstruation to the Menopause: The Female Fertility Cycle in Contemporary Women’s Writing in French (2021, Liverpool University Press). A review of the book, by Jemma, is available to read on The Polyphony. Maria’s second monograph, The Menstrual Movement in the Media: Reducing Stigma and Tackling Social Inequalities (2024), is forthcoming with Palgrave and will be published open access. In collaboration with expert menstrual advocator and educator Acushla Young, some of the findings from this book have been turned into guidelines for activists and NGOs. This document offers advice on how to effectively communicate about menstruation with young people on social media. Both The Polyphony review and activist guidelines are recommended readings for this meeting.
This event will be of interest to researchers interested in representations of the menstruating body in literature, social media and culture; critical menstruation studies; and scholars keen to develop their knowledge of how to engage with a broad variety of audiences on health-related matters.
Researching UK Abortion Law with Sally Sheldon and Rachel Arkell
Tuesday 24 October, 7pm-8pm
Join us for a stimulating conversation between Professor Sally Sheldon and Rachel Arkell as they discuss Sally’s notable career in UK abortion law, the longevity of her research and the role academics can have in legal reform.
Since publishing her ground-breaking monograph Beyond-Control: Medical Power and Abortion Law, Professor Sally Sheldon has become one of the leading legal researchers writing on the history of Abortion Law in the UK. Throughout her career she has expanded her historical approach to the law, publishing the first comprehensive “biography” of the Abortion Act (1967). She joined the largest research project on Abortion in the UK – the SACHA Study – as part of a wide-reaching multi-disciplinary team. And she was previously a trustee of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, the UK’s leading independent abortion provider.
A common thread throughout Sally’s writing has been to recognise abortion as healthcare, emphasising the need to remove the procedure from the criminal law. Currently terminations of pregnancy are governed by the Abortion Act 1967, which carved out a limited number of ‘exceptional situations’ where abortion is permitted with the approval of two doctors. Any procedures falling outside these conditions are prosecutable under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, where both pregnant people and their doctors can face imprisonment. Most recently, Sally co-authored an extremely compelling and empathetic commentary on the recent significant rise in the number of women investigated for illegal abortion in England (increasing to 11 in 2021 from 2 in 2018) with Dr Jonathan Lord, Medical Director of MSI Reproductive Choices and NHS Consultant Gynaecologist.
In this wide-ranging conversation, Sally will discuss:
- Her career in abortion law.
- The longevity and enduring urgency of abortion research.
- How continuity and change in abortion law could be recorded through biography and using other mixed-methods research.
- The role of academic research in influencing policy and law.
Sally, who is currently a Professor of Law at the University of Bristol will be in conversation with Rachel Arkell, the newest member of the Broadly Conceived Team. Rachel is a PhD Researcher working on her SeNSS (ESRC) funded project ‘Communicating Risk to (potentially) Pregnant Women post- Montgomery: A socio-legal exploration’ under the expert supervision of Sally herself. Her project explores how HCPs navigate competing interests in the case of sodium valproate, a highly effective anti-seizure medication which poses risk to foetal development if taken during pregnancy.
This session will be of interest to anyone with an interest in abortion, legal reform and the possibilities of research influencing policy and law.
Claire Horn on the Threats and Benefits of the Artificial Womb: Sept Meeting
Updated date in-line with UCU strike action – this event will now take place on Tuesday 3 October, 7pm-8pm
Join us as we discuss one of the most urgent and controversial topics in contemporary reproductive studies: what are the social, legal and ethical implications of gestating humans using artificial wombs?
In May 2021 Israeli researchers announced that they had successfully grown mice from embryos into fully formed fetuses. At the same time, scientists working in neonatology have made significant strides toward creating total liquid life-support systems for preterm babies born as early as 22 weeks. We may be five to ten years from the creation of an artificial womb which will be able to sustain a human for nearly half of its gestation. In the more distant future, could babies be grown entirely without the involvement of a human womb, through a process known as ectogenesis?
Legal scholar, and Birkbeck PhD graduate, Claire Horn has recently published Eve: The Disobedient Future of Birth (Wellcome Collection) which explores what ectogenesis could mean for the future of humanity. Claire’s monograph broaches questions such as:
- Could ectogenesis allow for redistribution of the work of gestating?
- How do we protect abortion rights?
- Could this technology be used in eugenic ways by those in power?
- What impact could this technology have in our vastly unequal world?
Claire, who is a Killam postdoctoral research fellow at the Health Law Institute of Canada’s Dalhousie University, will be in conversation with her PhD co-supervisor, Dr Elena Loizidou. Dr Loizidou is Reader in Law and Political Theory at the School of Law at Birkbeck. Her research holds a sustained interest in critical theory and, more particularly, in the interrelation between law, ethics and politics. Her most recent book is Anarchism: An Art of Living Without Law (Routledge, 2022).
To familiarise yourself with Claire’s work, please see this extract from Eve, which traces how care for preterm babies has developed over the past 200 years.
This conversation will conclude with an audience Q&A, and will be of interest to anyone concerned with issues relating to the wide spectrum of reproductive rights, reproductive technologies and feminism.