Gender and Women's Studies

Sharra Vostral

Sharra Vostral is an Assistant Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and History.  Her research centers upon the history of technology in relation to gender and women’s bodies, as well as the history of sexuality and medicine.  Her forthcoming book, Under Wraps: Menstrual Hygiene and Technologies of Passing is a social history of menstrual hygiene technologies. 

Education

2000   Ph.D., Washington University, History

1994   M.A., Washington University, History

1992  M.A., St. Louis University, American Studies

1990  B.A., English and Comparative Studies in Religion

Academic Employment

2006 -        Assistant Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies and History

2002-2006   Assistant Professor, Science and Technology Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

                  Director, Public Service Internship Program

2001-2002   Adjunct Lecturer, American History, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

2000-2001   Visiting Assistant Professor, History Department, Purdue University

1999-2000    Visiting Scholar, Women’s Studies Program, Purdue University

Publications

 

“Is it a ‘New Freedom’?:  African American Women and Menstrual Hygiene Technologies in Twentieth Century America” in Rayvon Fouché, ed. Race and the Machine:  African Americans and Technological Landscapes.  West Lafayette, IN:  Purdue University Press. (under contract)

 “Masking Menstruation:  Lillian Gilbreth and Menstrual Hygiene” in Andrew Shail, ed.  Menstruation: A Cultural History.  London:  Palgrave, 2005.

 “The Moveable Homefront:  Julia Dent Grant and the Maintenance of a General’s Family,” Gateway 25.4 (Spring 2005): 22-33.

 “Reproduction, Regulation, and Body Politics,” Journal of Women’s History 15 (Summer 2003, no. 2):  197-207.

 “Mary Easton Sibley.”  In In Her Place:  A Guide to Women’s History in St. Louis, Katharine Corbett, ed.  (St. Louis:  Missouri Historical Society Press, 1999):  40-42.

 “Julia Dent Grant.”  In Dictionary of Missouri Biography, Ken Winn, ed.  (Columbia:  University of Missouri Press, 1999):  344-345.

 “A Structure of History:  The National Park Service Restoration of Ulysses S. Grant’s White Haven.”  Gateway Heritage, Magazine of the Missouri Historical Society (Fall 1997):  14-25.

Works in Progress

Under Wraps:  Menstrual Hygiene and Technologies of Passing.  Lexington, A Division of Rowman and Littlefield.

Feminist Technology?  Case Studies in Designing Technologies for Women’s Bodies, edited volume with Linda L. Layne, Sharra Vostral and Kate Boyer.

 “Hidden Assurances:  Tampons, Design, and a Fickle Feminist Technology” in Feminist Technology?  Case Studies in Designing Technologies for Women’s Bodies, edited volume with Linda L. Layne, Sharra Vostral and Kate Boyer.