2016 2016: Professor Kristen Abatsis to speak on the politics of the pink ribbon

Women’s and Gender Studies Professor Kristen Abatsis, author of ‘The Green Solution to Breast Cancer: A Promise for Prevention’, to speak on breast cancer activism March 30

UMass Dartmouth Women’s and Gender Studies Professor Dr. Kristen Abatsis McHenry will speak on the history of breast cancer activism in the United States tomorrow, March 30, at noon, at the University’s Claire T. Carney Library Stoico/FIRSTFED Charitable Foundation Grand Reading Room. Her talk on The Politics of Pink Ribbon is part of a series events organized by UMass Dartmouth’s Center for Women, Gender & Sexuality (CWGS) to celebrate Women’s History Month.

Dr. McHenry is the author of The Green Solution to Breast Cancer: A Promise for Prevention. The book, published in October 2015, takes a unique, research-based look at the U.S. breast cancer movement. The author compares the "pink" and "green" efforts within one of the largest advocacy movements in the history of the United States. Her critical and revealing text investigates breast cancer activism in its two forms—the "pink movement" that focuses on developing awareness of, coping with, and managing breast cancer; and the "green movement" that strives to determine the possible environmental causes of breast cancer—such as pesticides, chemicals, and water and air pollution—and thereby hopes to prevent breast cancer.

Dr. McHenry is a Full-time Lecturer in UMass Dartmouth’s Women’s and Gender Studies Department. She has taught courses on women's health and environment, women and international politics, and feminist research methods. Her research interests include women's health, environmental justice, motherhood studies, and transnational feminism. She received her B.A. in Women's Studies from Ithaca College and her Master’s degree at the Women's Studies Institute at Georgia State University. She earned her PhD in Political Science from UMass Amherst.