The Obstetrician Who Cried “White Privilege”
In December of 2016, I wrote an essay for Nursing Clio called Nurse-Midwives are With Women, Walking a Middle Path to a Safe and...
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Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
Nov 17, 2017
Let’s Question All Versions of the Myth of Perfect Motherhood
I would call it a “pet peeve,” but the stakes are higher: I can’t stand policy arguments based on inaccurate or misrepresented historical...
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Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
Sep 22, 2017
Face to Face with Sharrona Pearl
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Sharrona Pearl about her new book, Face/On: Transplants and the Ethics of the Other. Below...
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Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
Aug 2, 2017
Eighth-Grade Innovator Helps Girls Focus on Class Periods, Not Menstrual Periods
“If men could menstruate,” Gloria Steinem observed wryly in an iconic 1978 essay for Ms. magazine, “[s]anitary supplies would be...
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Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
Jun 10, 2017
I May Not Heal, But I Will Live Better Thanks to Occupational Therapy
Last year I learned how to chop a carrot with my eyes closed. While being filmed. Sounds like one of those crazy reality cooking shows,...
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Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
Feb 13, 2017
That Time of the Month in Victorian America
The National Museum of Civil War Medicine asked me to write a blog post about how women handled menstruation in the nineteenth century,...
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Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
Feb 8, 2017
Referendum on a Life in the Woods
For three decades, my dad’s brothers framed houses. The three of them had a small construction business in rural Connecticut. The eldest...
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Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
Dec 23, 2016
Nurse-Midwives are With Women, Walking a Middle Path to a Safe and Rewarding Birth
In childbirth politics as in all politics, extreme viewpoints make the news, and sensible centrists are ignored. A couple of years ago,...
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Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
Nov 30, 2016
Is Your Doctor Experimenting On You?
My friend’s father is in the hospital, and it’s been rough. His cancer treatment did not go as expected. “He’s suffering so much!” my...
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Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
Aug 25, 2016
Playwright Alice Eve Cohen Asks Us to Reconsider What We Think We Know about Pregnancy and Motherhoo
“What makes a mother real?” asks writer and performer Alice Eve Cohen in her newly-published play, What I Thought I Knew. In 1999, Cohen...
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Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
Jul 13, 2016
The Problem with Fat-Talk at the Pediatrician’s Office
“His BMI is on the high side of normal. See?” The pediatrician showed me a chart. “This is something we need to keep an eye on.” I had...
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Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
May 26, 2016
I Could Wrestle with my Disability, but I Think I’ll Dance Instead
A year and a half ago, I gained a permanent dance partner. That’s what I’ve decided. That’s how I need to think about the damage to my...
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Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
May 3, 2016
Sorry, I’m Disabled. Oh, Wait, I’m Not Sorry, Just Disabled.
“Sorry,” I say, “Sorry, but would you mind giving me the directions again a little slower? I have a visual impairment and I didn’t see...
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Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
Apr 15, 2016
Enforcing Death Rituals after Miscarriage is Just Plain Cruel
The Indiana legislature claims it wants to protect unborn children and their parents. Last week Governor Mike Pence gave his blessing to...
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Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
Mar 3, 2016
Clio Talks: An Interview with Historian Jessica Martucci
This week I had the pleasure of interviewing historian Jessica Martucci at length about her new book, Back to the Breast: Natural...
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Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
Sep 3, 2015
If You’re Not a Jerk, Then I’m Not Disabled
This is my fantasy: I’m standing at the Main Street corner in my little New Jersey suburban downtown, waiting to cross the street. As...
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Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
Jan 20, 2015
Can a Gluten-Free Diet, Qi Gong, or Ballet Barre Cure my MS? Only a Randomized Controlled Trial Can
“You have multiple sclerosis? My cousin cured her MS with a gluten-free diet and qi gong — you should really try it!” Since I was...
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Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)
Sep 19, 2014
Review: Positively Negative: Love, Pregnancy, and Science’s Surprising Victory over HIV
What would you do if you desperately wanted to have a baby, and your spouse had HIV? In the mid-1990s, the introduction of...
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