Explorations in GWS with April HerndonSeptember 27, 2012 at 4:30–5:45 p.m.

"Congratulations! It's an Obesity Time Bomb! Women, Children, and Reproduction in the Obesity Epidemic e/span>

In recent years, we've learned much more about the role the uterine environment may play in future health, and this knowledge has brought new cultural and ethical challenges. Perhaps not surprisingly, then, the uterus is increasingly depicted as an important battleground in the war on obesity, with healthcare experts suggesting that women should carefully monitor and sometimes lose weight during pregnancy and supporting policies that prohibit large women from insurance coverage for infertility treatments. This talk will examine these developing sociomedical discussions about women as the primary transmitters of obesity, arguing that the war against obesity has the potential to become yet another place where women's reproductive rights are challenged and mediated.

Dr. April Herndon is an Associate Professor of English at Winona State University. She also sometimes teaches Women's and Gender Studies classes for the WAGS Program. Some of you may remember that she taught GWS courses at GAC while she was here on a fixed term appointment from 2004-2005. Currently, she's working on her manuscript Fat Kids: Mothering Fat Children in the Midst of the Obesity Epidemic, which is under contract at Kansas University Press. The work she's presenting on campus is a part of that manuscript that's still very much under construction, and she's thrilled to have the opportunity to talk with you about it.