Hope Lafferty - Our Bodies Our Shelves

What Are Your Women Students Not Saying?

1 in 10 college students cannot afford menstrual products*

Imagine how this affects your students' education, health, mental health, attendance and graduation rates.

When I've performed this show, I am amazed at how uncomfortable—even scared—the younger women in the audience appear to even think about going to the gynecologist. This doesn't account for actual health concerns, their sexual experience (or lack thereof), or worries about pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections.

Consider your students. Many share this anxiety and hesitancy about simply taking care of themselves. I invite you to make their lives easier and much less scary by opening the conversation about basic women's health by bringing Our Bodies, Our Shelves to your campus.

*Cardoso LF et al. BMC Womens Health. 2021;21(1):14.

Sound interesting? Click the button below to book a time on my calendar to discuss how we can create an event at your school.

I Want To Help My Students

And This Is a Comedy...?

I believe that the fastest ways to get people to take themselves less seriously is through laughter.

Yes, Our Bodies, Our Shelves is funny. How can it not be? Pelvic exams are just plain weird. Teaching them is even weirder. This show tells the story of that weird experience—in order to make it less weird for everyone else.

So perhaps this might be a funny weird and not always a funny haha—but Our Bodies, Our Shelves is a light-hearted story about a young woman (me) finding a way to understand her body and her self. This show embodies the old adage “We teach what we have to learn.”

By now, you're curious. Learn more

Yes, I bring props! (for showing, not for blowing...)

More Than a Show...This Is a Conversation

Our Students, Our Conversation

I open each event with the short staged monologue of Our Bodies, Our Shelves. The rest of the event runs as a talk-back session to answer questions, facilitate conversation, and frankly, lighten up.

Every event is different. Depending on the size of the audience, this can be run from the stage or broken into smaller discussion groups where I’d roam the room and check-in. Depending on the makeup of the audience, we could discuss modern medical care, explore societal or personal issues, or even talk theater craft about how to create and tour a solo show.

My job is to create a safe space to open and guide a fruitful exchange of ideas.

Our Conversation, Our Community

Yes, this is a show about women's health—or at least women's healthcare. The goal of this event is to have a robust discussion about what this means for today's college students. Having as much diversity in the audience as reflective of your campus—including gender, race, class, ethnicity, politics and age—gives us that much more insight about how women's health is understood right now. Everyone is welcome!

Interested? Let's talk!

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