This episode of Theorizing the Web Presents offers medical and experiential perspectives on two somatic phenomena: endometriosis and ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response). Endometriosis is a medical diagnosis, but it is also understudied and poorly understood as a condition. In "'Hysterics' on the Web," Eileen Mary Holowka examines how people living with endometriosis use social media to navigate and manage their experience of living with gendered chronic pain. Conversely, current medical research can neither diagnose nor explain the experience of ASMR. In "ASMR in the Clinic," Nitin K. Ahuja considers whether placebo studies can explain the therapeutic impact of clinically themed ASMR videos -- and what clinicians can learn from such videos about delivering effective telemedicine during a pandemic. The discussion is moderated by Theorizing the Web board member Whitney Boesel.

Watch the recorded event.

Bios:
Eileen Mary Holowka (@derangedpoetess) is a writer, game dev, and PhD student, currently studying feminist social media practices around chronic pain and ‘invisible’ illnesses. In 2018, she created a digital narrative circuits about the difficult act of narrating sexual trauma within institutional spaces, which can be played for free online.

Nitin K. Ahuja (@nitinkahuja) is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Pennsylvania. Hisprimary clinical interest is in motility and functional disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. His secondary research interests are in the history, literature, and culture of medicine.

Whitney Erin Boesel (@weboesel) is an independent researcher and freelance editor whose work focuses primarily on the sociology of health, medicine, and technology. Her writing has appeared in TIME, The New Inquiry, Cyborgology, and Huffington Post; she is also the Producer for Theorizing the Web Presents."