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AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: Private Parts: Why Don't We Know More About Women's Bodies?

Tuesday, April 9, 2024 from 1 PM to 2 PM
Virtual
All Ages
Free

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE presents a virtual PAST FORWARD conversation exploring the ways narratives and biases surrounding women's bodies determine and limit our understanding of them. This conversation is inspired in part by the new streaming film "The Cancer Detectives."

Panelists will address the ways in which women's healthcare outcomes can be shaped by existing narratives focused on women's bodies. They will analyze the emotions of shame and concealment that have shrouded the female form, discussing how these perceptions can be informed by the race and class of the women involved.

Featured guests:

Ameenah Shakir: 20th Century U.S. historian of race and medicine at the University of Houston

Cat Bohannon: author of "Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution"

The discussion will be moderated by Pam Belluck, New York Times staff writer whose honors include a Pulitzer Prize and the Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting.

The conversation will also be streamed live on AMERICAN EXPERIENCE's Facebook and YouTube channels.

"The Cancer Detectives" tells the untold story of the first-ever war on cancer and the coalition of people who fought tirelessly to save women from cervical cancer: a Greek immigrant, Dr. George Papanicolaou; his intrepid wife, Mary; Japanese-born artist Hashime Murayama; Dr. Helen Dickens, an African American OBGYN in Philadelphia; and an entirely new class of female scientists.

Dates and times of events are subject to change without notice. Always check the event organizer's website for the most updated schedule before attending.