Rebecca Herzig
{{Short description|American academic}}
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| name = Rebecca Herzig
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| title = Professor
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| website = https://www.bates.edu/faculty-expertise/profile/rebecca-herzig/
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| alma_mater = MIT{{cite web |title=PROGRAM IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY |url=https://web.mit.edu/annualreports/pres98/11.15.html |website=MIT Annual Reports |access-date=13 September 2024}}
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| influences = Leo Marx{{cite web |title=Symposium marks 50th anniversary of ‘The Machine in the Garden’ |url=https://news.mit.edu/2013/symposium-honors-50th-anniversary-of-qthe-machine-in-the-gardenq |website=MIT News}}
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| discipline = Gender and Sexuality Studies
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| notable_ideas = History of Hair removal
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Rebecca Herzig is a writer and professor. She is chair of the program in Gender and Sexuality Studies at Bates College in Maine.{{cite web |title=Rebecca Herzig Faculty Expertise |date=31 August 2015 |url=https://www.bates.edu/faculty-expertise/profile/rebecca-herzig/ |access-date=27 August 2024}}{{cite web |last1=Muir |first1=Ellie |title=Women with body hair remain a cultural taboo, and I can't see it changing |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/body-hair-removal-women-romans-b2345768.html |website=Independent |access-date=27 August 2024}}
Career
Herzig is the author of Suffering for Science: Reason and Sacrifice in Modern America,{{Cite web |last=Ayoub |first=Nina C. |date=January 13, 2006 |title=‘Suffering for Science: Reason and Sacrifice in Modern America’ |url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/suffering-for-science-reason-and-sacrifice-in-modern-america/ |website=chronicle.com}} The Nature of Difference: Sciences of Race from Jefferson to Genomics, and Plucked: A History of Hair Removal.{{cite web |title=Rutgers University Press |url=https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/suffering-for-science/9780813539515/}}{{cite web |title=MIT Press |url=https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262582759/the-nature-of-difference/}}{{cite web |title=The Casualties of Women's War on Body Hair |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/02/the-casualties-of-womens-war-on-body-hair/514983/ |website=The Atlantic |date=8 February 2017 |access-date=27 August 2024}} Herzig’s work on hair removal examines how changing social norms have influenced the “voluntary” pursuit of beauty.{{cite web |last1=Salam |first1=Reihan |title=Hair Raising |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/hair-raising-reihan-salam/ |website=National Review |date=18 September 2015 |access-date=27 August 2024}} Plucked was named best book of the year by The Economist.{{cite magazine |title=Shelf Life |url=https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2015/12/05/shelf-life |website=Economist |access-date=27 August 2024}}
Herzig has been on the executive councils of the Society for the Social Studies of Science, the Society for the History of Technology, and the International Committee for the History of Technology.{{cite web |title=Rebecca Herzig Faculty Expertise |date=31 August 2015 |url=https://www.bates.edu/faculty-expertise/profile/rebecca-herzig/ |access-date=27 August 2024}} She has received MIT’s Kristen E. Finnegan Prize and Bate’s Kroepsch Award for her teaching.{{cite web |title=Kroepsch Award |date=16 July 2014 |url=https://www.bates.edu/dof/kroepsch-award/ |access-date=27 August 2024}}{{cite web |title=Convocation honors accomplishments of many |url=https://news.mit.edu/1998/convo-0603 |website=MIT News |date=3 June 1998 |access-date=27 August 2024}}
Herzig is also a regular media commentator.{{cite web |title=Adam Ruins Everything |url=https://www.trutv.com/shows/adam-ruins-everything/season-3/episode-6/adam-ruins-a-night-out |website=TruTV |access-date=27 August 2024}}{{cite web |title=Podchaser |url=https://www.podchaser.com/creators/rebecca-herzig-107tVK8tve}}
Reception
Plucked was well received by both academic and popular media.{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Katelyn |title=Review of Herzig, Rebecca M., Plucked: A History of Hair Removal |url=https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=44927 |website=H Net |publisher=H-Sci-Med-Tech, H-Net Reviews}}{{cite web |last1=Ajaka |first1=Nadine |title=The Casualties of Women's War on Body Hair |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/02/the-casualties-of-womens-war-on-body-hair/514983/ |website=The Atlantic |access-date=13 September 2024}}{{cite web |last1=Bethune |first1=Brain |title=The strange history of hair removal |url=https://macleans.ca/culture/the-strange-history-of-hair-removal/ |website=Maclean's |access-date=13 September 2024}} It was named one of Science Friday's best science books of 2015.{{cite web |title=The Best Science Books of 2015 |url=https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/the-best-science-books-of-2015/ |website=Science Friday |access-date=13 September 2024}} The Economist called Plucked a “delightful history of hair removal in America,”{{cite web |title=Hair-erasing |url=https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2015/02/05/hair-erasing |website=The Economist |access-date=13 September 2024}} and The Journal of American History said the book was an “interesting, serious, and meticulously researched contribution to American history.”{{cite journal |title=Plucked: A History of Hair Removal |journal=Journal of American History |date=September 2015 |volume=102 |issue=2 |page=518-519 |doi=10.1093/jahist/jav487 |url=https://academic.oup.com/jah/article-abstract/102/2/518/748828?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=true|url-access=subscription }}
Publications
Books
- R. Herzig, Suffering for Science: Reason and Sacrifice in Modern America (Rutgers University Press 2005).
- R. Herzig, Plucked: A History of Hair Removal (NYU Press 2015).
Edited works
- E. Hammonds, R. Herzig, ed. The Nature of Difference: Sciences of Race in the United States from Jefferson to Genomics (MIT Press 2009).
- B. Subramaniam, R. Herzig, eg. Feminist Technosciences (University of Washington Press)
References
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Bates College faculty
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni