CONFERENCES

Since 1977, SMCR has held biennial conferences which feature presentations about all aspects of the menstrual cycle, including those that involve research, theory, public policy, health care, clinical applications, art and activism related to physiological,sociocultural, psychological, or cross-cultural aspects of the menstrual cycle.

Submissions are welcome from physicians, nurses, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, women’s and gender studies scholars, communications studies scholars, artists, literary and cultural critics, health educators, and menstrual activists. Conference themes vary depending on our conference coordinators’ interests and local resources.

2023 The Period is Political:

Menstrual Research, Policy, and Practice

We invite you to SMCR 2023

20-23 July 2023

Hyatt Regency Bethesda (minutes from Washington DC by metro)

 

It’s not long now till the first post-covid conference of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research. Our location in the Washington, DC metro area has inspired our theme: The Period is Political. We welcome presenters and attendees who share our passion for menstrual cycle research, activism, and advocacy to come and join us at this event, to speak, listen, learn, network, and be inspired.

With the theme of “the period is political,” we embrace interdisciplinary, feminist approach to research and advocacy as we bring together our efforts to improve menstrual and reproductive health and justice as they relate to overall well-being.

We are also thrilled to have received more abstracts than we expected, which suggests that many of you are keen to get back to in-person conferences and you find SMCR as fun and interesting as we do. This will also be the chance to meet old colleagues and to make new ones!  

We look forward to seeing you there!

Mindy Erchull, SMCR President & Jane Ussher SMCR Past-President, 2023 Conference Co-Chairs 

Program Highlights

Keynote Speakers

Omisade Burney-Scott

“For Lucy, Arnacha, and Betsy: Why Reproductive Justice Matters”

 

A close up portrait of Omisade Burney-Scott in a striped multicolor top, glasses, and standing in front of a vibrant blue backdrop

 

 Omisade Burney-Scott (she/her) is a Black southern 7th generation native North Carolinian feminist, social justice advocate and creative with decades of experience in nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, and social justice. Omisade works with leaders who want to strengthen their organizational culture and capacity, adopt a Healing Justice praxis and structural supports, and/or deepen their Reproductive Justice work.

Omisade is a sought after, nationally recognized speaker whose energy and authenticity have captivated listeners and readers from Forbes to Ms Magazine and Good Housekeeping Magazine. She teaches us that menopause is a privilege and that for women of color, menopause is different. She says: “I think menopause is a portal to the next iteration of yourself. We’re still emergent; it doesn’t matter how old you get, there is no shelf life on being emergent. Menopause is one of those portals that we kind of enter into that’s unchartered territory. When we emerge on the other side, we are absolutely transformed.” (Omisade Burney-Scott).

Omisade is the creator and curator of the Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause (BGG2SM). BGG2SM was created to counterbalance prevalent harmful narratives and a lack of resources. BGG2SM is a multidisciplinary initiative focused on cultural organizing, narrative shift work, and advocacy to normalize menopause and aging for Black women-identified and gender-expansive people.

 

 

Margaret E. Johnson

The Period is Political: Menstrual Justice, Abortion Rights & Reproductive Justice

 

A close up portrait of Margaret E. Johnson wearing glasses & a black turtle nek, standing in front of an office-type background

 

Margaret E. Johnson is a Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Center on Applied Feminism at The University of Baltimore School of Law in the United States.

Professor Johnson’s scholarship focuses on the intersection of menstruation, law, and policy, having published numerous law review and other articles, including Menstrual Justice and Title IX and Menstruation. She has participated in advocacy campaigns for period product provision in jails, prisons, and schools in Maryland; accommodations and modifications for menstruating standardized test takers as co-founder of MP and the Bar; and amendments to federal law to include discrimination based on menstruation and menopause as sex discrimination. She is on the expert panel for the new Our Bodies Ourselves Today, Menstruation to Menopause vertical.

She is a 2023 Fulbright Scholar at the University Technology Sydney, Australia researching comparative menstruation-related law and policy.

Professor Johnson has received several awards for her scholarship, teaching, and service, including being named one of the Top 25 Women Professors in Maryland and receiving the USM Board of Regents’ Faculty Award for Public Service. Johnson is a graduate of Wisconsin Law School, cum laude, and Dartmouth College

 

 

Workshops

We will have a series of workshops at the conference. A highlight will be a workshop run by our keynote speaker Omisade Burney-Scott and her colleague Mariah Monsanto (numbers limited to 50).

From Menarche to Menopause: An intergenerational exchange about the changes our bodies experience and how we can normalize conversations about menstruation, menopause, and aging through storytelling!

Conference Events

Welcome Reception
An opportunity to network with colleagues and friends at the opening of the 2023 Conference. Canapes and refreshments will be offered during the Conference’s dedicated Poster Session. Included in registration fee, extra tickets for your guests are $20 each. 5:30pm Thursday July 20th

  

Red Moon Howl
Our Saturday night social event and red moon howl will happen again this year – featuring conference delegate performances of menstrual poetry, dance, stories, songs and much more. Let your creative imagination flow and celebrate menstruation, menopause and women’s reproductive lives in the company of menstrual cycle researchers and activists. Included in registration fee, extra tickets for your guests are $20 each. 6:30pm Saturday July 22nd

 

Book Slam
Have you published a book since the last conference? Bring a copy of your book and/or flyers about the book and prepare a 30 second book plug to entice conference delegates to buy your book.

Smithsonian Visit
Taking advantage of the wonderful museums Washington, D.C. has to offer, please join the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research on the morning of July 20 for an exclusive tour of the National Museum of American History’s collection of menstrual materials, products, and objects. Curators from the Museum will present about their work and the history of the collection, and attendees will have the opportunity to examine the menstrual objects up close. Afterwards, we will gather for a short discussion and Q&A with the curators about the process of archiving menstrual material and objects. This is an exciting opportunity to view holdings from the Museum that are not usually displayed to the public! Registration is required and available on a first-come, first-serve basis with a nominal registration fee of $10.

The Smithsonian visit will take place 10am-2pm on Thursday July 20th. Departures from the Conference site at 8:45am (self-purchase of metro ticket required).

Conference Overview

Registration

All attendees need to register in advance.  If you are a presenter of a paper or poster, you must register by 30 April 2023 or your presentation(s) will be removed from the program.

An unfortunate reality is that conferences cost money to both host and attend.  To allow as many as possible to attend, we have set three different registration levels.  Please select the highest Tier you can afford so that you can help prevent SMCR from losing money on this event and support those attendees with more limited means to be able to attend.

For the greatest savings, register early, and if you’re not a member, join to get the discounted rate. If you are not a member you can join when you register and receive discounted registration fee.

Registration includes entry to SMCR sessions, workshops (some may require pre-registration) and displays; Thursday Welcome Reception, Saturday Red Moon Howl, Fri and Sat lunches and light catering.

Cancellation Policy
Cancellations must be made in writing to the SMCR Conference Organizing Committee at smcr2023@westernsydney.edu.au.

Cancellations received prior to 01 June 2023 will be refunded less an administration fee of $110.00. Cancellations made after this date will not be eligible for a refund.

Payment of Fees

All prices are quoted in US dollars.

Payment options – online via PayPal with credit card (PayPal guest feature – does not require a PayPal account).

Acknowledgement
Receipts are issued upon payment online via PayPal. If you do not receive a receipt within 5 business days, contact smcr2023@westernsydney.edu.au

Accommodations

SMCR have secured very favorable room rates for the conference (all rates are before taxes and fees) 

Single / Twin occupancy $139 per room per night

Triple occupancy $164 per room per night ($55 each)

Quad occupancy $189/ per room per night ($48 each)

Book early to ensure that you receive these discounted rates!

If you can’t book a room, or a room for the dates desired, through the web portal, please contact us so we can help resolve the problem.

To receive the discounted rates, book directly using the conference accommodation booking site here:

Transportation

There are three airports that serve the Washington, DC metro area (which includes Bethesda, Maryland where the conference hotel is located):

Baltimore (BWI)
Reagan National (DCA)
Dulles (IAD)

For those traveling by train, you can take Amtrak to Union Station in Washington, DC.

Here is some information about how to get to the conference hotel from each airport or the train station:

• from BWI to the conference hotel
• 
from DCA to the conference hotel
• 
from IAD to the conference hotel
• from Union Station to the conference hotel

If you are driving or renting a car, here is information about parking at the hotel.

CONFERENCE 2019: COLORADO

2019 Traversing The Ridge:

Connecting Menstrual Research And Advocacy

Many of the spectacular mountains in the beautiful Colorado Rockies range are linked by high traverses. These will provide the backdrop and inspiration for SMCR’s next conference, which will focus on enabling scholarly and advocacy-based menstrual health and justice work to mutually inform one another. Join us at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA June 6-8, 2019 for “Traversing the Ridge: Connecting Menstrual Research and Advocacy.”
– Tomi-Ann Roberts, SMCR President and 2019 Conference Chair

Conference Documents

Conference Program can be downloaded here.
The Abstract Program can be downloaded here.

Conference ConverSketches

Click images above to enlarge

ConverSketches provided by
Karina Branson of ConverSketch

2017 Menstrual Health:

Research, Representation, and Re-Education

2017 Conference Program
-click image to download pdf-

2015 Menstrual Health and Reproductive Justice:

Human Rights Across The Lifespan

Menstrual Health and Reproductive Justice: Human Rights Across the Life Span

People

from

Countries

The 2015 Menstrual Health and Reproductive Justice Conference, June 4-6, was the largest in SMCR history! More than 200 people from 26 countries participated in a memorable multidisciplinary, international array of panels, presentations, and events. A more detailed conference report is forthcoming in The Periodical, the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research Newsletter.

Those who missed the conference and would like to learn more about individual sessions can view the complete conference program here (with undying gratitude to Jax Gonzalez). We encourage you to contact individual scholars for more information about their work.

Selected highlights from the Poetry Open Mic and Raffle have been posted throughout the summer at SMCR’s blog, Menstruation Matters.

Thanks to our sponsors and conference organizers.

2013 Making Menstruation Matter

The New York conference featured 24 panels, workshops, and paper sessions; 17 poster presentations; two plenary sessions; two artist displays; and a keynote address by Jane Ussher.
The Society for Menstrual Cycle Research also hosted our first poetry slam, Red Moon Howl, emceed by Karina Billini. It was initially thought to be the world’s first, or at least the first in North America, but the New York City planners were quickly corrected by our Canadian colleagues.
At our 20th biennial meeting in New York, at Marymount Manhattan College, the first “Making Menstruation Matter” award was bestowed on Gloria Steinem, author of the classic piece, “If Men Could Menstruate.” Ms. Steinem not only received an award and delivered an address at the conference, she autographed a menstrual pad for S.H.E. (Sustainable Health Enterprises)
Chella Quint, comedian, artist, teacher, zinestress, poet, jill of trades, presented Adventures in Menstruating: This Time It’s Personal after the Saturday luncheon. We learned almost as much as her grade 8 students.

2011 Embodied Consciousness, Informed Choices

Archived Video Streams of 2011 Conference @ Chatham University

 

Friday morning, June 3

In 2011, meetings of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research were available on live video feed. Those videos have been archived, and can now be viewed here. The videos are divided over three pages for faster downloading; this page contains presentations from the morning of Friday, June 3.

To locate particular presentations or speakers, or to identify the speakers in the videos, the conference program is available as a PDF file.

Friday, June 3, Eddy Theatre 06:59 AM

Friday, June 3, Woodland 08:11AM

Friday, June 3, Sanger, 10:30 AM

Friday, June 3, Eddy Theatre 06:30 AM

Friday, June 3,Woodland 08:49 AM

Conference Publications

Articles from past conferences appear in the following journals:
Conference papers have also been published in the following edited books:

1980 The Menstrual Cycle, Volume I: A Synthesis of Interdisciplinary Research edited by Alice J. Dan, Effie A. Graham & Carol P. Beecher

1980 The Menstrual Cycle, Volume II: Research and Implications for Women’s Health edited by Pauline Komnenich, S.N. Elder, M. McSweeney & J.A. Novak

1982 Changing Perspectives on Menopause edited by Ann M. Voda, Myra Dinnerstein & Sheryl R. O’Donnell

1983 Menarche: The Transition from Girl to Woman edited by Sharon Golub

1986 Culture, Society and Menstruation edited by Virginia L. Oleson and Nancy Fugate Woods 1986

1991 Menstruation, Health and Illness edited by Diana L. Taylor and Nancy Fugate Woods 

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