PAST EVents

PUBLIC TALKS

2023

February 2. Central European University, Vienna: Guest lecture and seminar on Menstruation & Sustainability for master’s students.

April 21, 1 pm. Webinar: Menstruation & Menopause in the Workplace. A summary of recent research and the new policies emerging in several countries. Q & A.

April 26, 6:30 pm. Bayes Business School, City University, London. Guest speaker at event open to all on fertility, menstruation & menopause and women’s careers.

May 19, 1 pm. Webinar: Her Blood Is Gold 30 years on. An event to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the publication of Her Blood Is Gold.

May 26. Menstruation Research Network Annual Conference, University of St Andrews. Paper: Sustainable menstrual products and the eco-shaming of menstruators in Scotland.

Sept 15, 1 pm. Webinar: Overview of the latest menstrual research across disciplines. A look at the best of the latest research, including five books and twenty-two articles issued 2022-2023, analysis of their contribution to our developing knowledge on menstruation, and discussion on emerging themes.

Oct 13, 1 pm. Webinar: Trauma as a causative factor in menstrual symptoms and syndromes. New data on the relationship between trauma and menstrual health. This is a crucial area of menstrual research, currently getting more attention along with our understanding of trauma more broadly.

Nov 10, 1 pm. Webinar: Update on menstruation and menopause in the workplace. Detailed analysis of new academic papers and new policy initiatives and announcements, including from the British Standards Institution and NHS Scotland.

Dec 8, 1 pm. Webinar: Menstruation & spirituality. Exploring the relationships between indigenous beliefs, nature-based and goddess-oriented practices, the contemporary menstruality movement, and neoliberal and post-feminisms. 

Dec 15, 2 pm. Menstrual Health Hub and Global Menstrual Collective Annual Wrap-up. Lara spoke about highlights of menstrual research around the world in 2023. Video of the event is available free on Youtube.

2021

May 4, University of St Andrews. Lecture: Menstrual organization and embodied sustainability.Part of the inaugural lecture series for STACEES (St Andrews Network for Climate, Energy, Environment and Sustainability).

June 30-July 2, University of Kent. Paper:Performative ‘menstruality’: Neoliberal productivity and the recurrent enclosure of the female reproductive bodyGender, Work and Organization Conference.

July 5-6, Copenhagen Business School. Paper: Organizing different blood differently: Uptake of the menstrual cup in urban young women. Standing Conference on Organizational Symbolism (SCOS).

2020

August 22, Brazil. Q & A, translated into Portugese. Recording available here on Youtube.

Nov 18 – Dec 9, Brazil. Weekly 2 hour class: Menstruation, women and the world: A course for menstrual educators and health professionals.(Translated into Portugese.)

December 9, University of Bedfordshire: Webinar on menstruation, miscarriage and menopause in the workplace. University of Bedfordshire Business School.

December 11, Universities of Bath and Essex. Body of Work series (funded by the Wellcome Trust). Talk and Q & A: Menstruation and embodied sustainability. 

2019

May 31, University of St. Andrews. Paper: Menstrual cup use in urban young women: The simultaneous disruption and reproduction of menstrual stigma. Menstruation Research Network Conference.

June 27-29, Open University, Milton Keynes. Two papers: Menstrual activism as redistributive remedy and The ‘permission field’: Changing norms surrounding menstruating at work. International Critical Management Studies Conference.

2018

January 17, University of St. Andrews. Paper: Menstrual materiality: Changing the permission field in the workplaceMenstruation Symposium. 

June 13-16, Macquarie University, Sydney. Two papers: Menstrual activism and the sisterhood and When words flowWriting the PhD differentlyGender, Work, and Organization Conference.

2017

July 10-13, La Sapienza University, Rome. Paper: Towards a menstrual commons: Acknowledged female cyclicity as a disruptor of patriarchal capitalism. Standing Conference on Organizational Symbolism (SCOS).

August 17, University of Melbourne. Presentation: Red tents: A brief history of menstrual activism and thoughts for the future. Science Gallery event on The future of menstruation.

August 23-27, Vancouver Island. Keynote lecture: Menstruation, capitalism, and the sisterhood. Justisse Fertility Awareness Educators Conference. 

August 23-27, Vancouver Island. Co-taught workshop with Dr. Geraldine Matus on internalised misogyny. Justisse Fertility Awareness Educators Conference.

OTHER EVENTS

January 2024: Special event on Saturday, January 13, 10–11:30 am. Lara in conversation about menstrual activism and politics with Kitty Maguire, leading Irish menstrual activist. 

December 2023: On Friday, Dec 15, I’ll be speaking about menstrual research around the world in 2023 for the Menstrual Health Hub’s annual wrap. It’s free and to register go to http://bit.ly/RSVPFiresideChat2023Wrap

September 2022: Two new podcasts on my past work and current thoughts and activities, on the Fertility Friday and Menstruality podcasts.

August 2022: I was interviewed by Bloomberg News on the cost of living crisis and the accompanying rise in the prices of menstrual products. A good time to change to reusables if you can afford the intial outlay. It’s also really important that period poverty initiatives offer free reusables as well as disposables.

July 2022: New academic paper by myself and Prof. Bettina Bildhauer on menstrual stigma and environmentalism published in Women’s Reproductive Health.

June 2022: I was on Woman’s Hour (BBC Radio 4) on June 14, interviewed by Emma Barnett on the new menopause policy in the UK Houses of Parliament. See my Twitter feed (@laraowen) for the video clip and go here for the full audio.

May 2022: I was interviewed for this piece in Spain’s El Periódico de España on the proposed Spanish legislation for menstrual leave.

February 2022. I’ve had two new academic papers published this month, on the impact of menstrual stigma on menstrual researchers, and on the uptake of menstrual cups. More details on the recent articles page.

October 2021: This month I was interviewed by Fortune magazine in the US on menstrual policies for workplaces, and by Healthy Woman, also in the US, on menopause at work.

September 2021: A four-page profile on my long-term work on menstruation was recently published in the German magazine, Stern, and a longer piece was featured over 6 pages in Geo Wissen. A 10 page article on menstrual cycle awareness including an interview with me was published in D2 in Norway.

August 2021: I just completed my Scottish Funding Council Research Fellowship at St Andrews on menstrual stigma and sustainability (articles to be published in 2022). 

May 2021: With colleagues at Resource Futures, I wrote this article in Circular, the recycling/waste management professionals magazine, on confronting the role of menstrual stigma in product choice and period management.

December 2020: New podcast! Menstrual stigma, menstrual awareness, the body and psychological development. Great interviewing by psychotherapist Jodie Gale at The Soul Centre in Sydney. 

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