Most women can expect to have hundreds of periods in a lifetime. And yet few are given the too.
ls to understand the science of their own cycle, how it changes over their lifetime, and how it connects to their overall health.
Despite its significance, most education about menstruation focuses either on increasing the chances of pregnancy or preventing it. And while both are crucial, women deserve to know more about their bodies than just what happens in service to reproduction. Instead, the patriarchy has weaponized menstruation through outdated cultural norms, medical dismissal, inadequate menstrual accommodations, and useless products. To distinguish medicine from mythology, people need information. To advocate for ourselves, we need to know how our bodies work. Consequently, many people suffer in silence, thinking their bodies are uniquely broken, or they turn to disreputable sources.
This is the true curse, and the way we break that curse is with knowledge.
At this event, Dr Jen Gunter will be discussing her latest book - Blood: The science, medicine and mythology of menstruation. She’ll talk about what’s typical, what’s concerning, and when to seek care, while also examining the historical and social myths which keep women uninformed and disenfranchised.
DR JEN GUNTER, MD, is an OB/GYN and a pain medicine physician. She writes about sex, science, and social media and is The New York Times bestselling author of The Vagina Bible. She has been called Twitter’s resident gynecologist, the Internet’s OB/GYN, and one of the fiercest advocates for women’s health. She has taken on politicians, celebrities, and the press over misinformation and fake news about women’s health care. Dr. Gunter lives in the San Francisco Bay Area