Christina Bobel

Christina (Chris) Bobel is Professor of Women/Gender/Sexuality Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, located in Wheatley Hall. Her scholarship focuses on how individuals and collectives pursue social change around stigmatized and marginalized issues, with a signature emphasis on critical menstruation studies.

Education

• PhD in Urban Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• MA in Speech Communication, University of Maine
• BA in Speech Communication, Miami University

Research Interests

Bobel’s work spans critical menstruation studies, feminist theory, body studies, and trauma studies. For nearly two decades she has interrogated menstrual stigma, policy, and activism, authoring foundational texts such as New Blood: Third Wave Feminism and the Politics of Menstruation. More recently, she leads an ethnographic project—engaging her own WGS students—that investigates activism emerging from grief and trauma, extending her inquiry into how embodied experiences become catalysts for social movements.

Publication Trends

Across 2020–2022 her articles examine menstrual tracking apps, media representations of menstrual beliefs, policy definitions of menstrual health, and the political economy of data in global health interventions. Collectively, these works advance a critical, intersectional lens on how technology, media, and policy mediate bodily experiences.

Scientific Awards & Honors

• 2020 American Sociological Association Sociology of Development Outstanding Book Award for The Managed Body: Developing Girls & Menstrual Health in the Global South

Editorial & Media Engagement

She serves on the editorial boards of leading journals Signs and Women's Reproductive Health and is regularly consulted by mainstream media for commentary on global menstrual activism.

Teaching & Mentoring

Bobel integrates students into ongoing research, most notably through collaborative ethnographic fieldwork on grief- and trauma-inspired activism. While specific advisee names are not provided, this pedagogical model foregrounds experiential learning and community-engaged scholarship.