Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America
In her recent book, Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America, Beth Linker tells the incredible story of 20th-century America’s largely forgotten posture panic. During this decades-long episode, it was widely accepted as scientific fact that Americans were suffering from an epidemic of bad posture, with potentially catastrophic health consequences.
Tracing the rise and fall of this socially manufactured epidemic, Slouch also tells how this period continues to feed today’s widespread anxieties about posture.
Come early in person and visit our renovated museum on opening day! The galleries will be open until 6pm.
Pardon our appearance while our lobby remains under construction. Please enter through our 3rd Street entrance (the black gated parking lot).
Agenda
- 6pm–7pm | Lecture
- 7pm-8pm | Reception
About Beth Linker
Beth Linker, a former physical therapist, is the Samuel H. Preston Endowed Term Professor at the University of Pennsylvania in the Department of the History and Sociology of Science. Her teaching interests include the history of science, disability, and medicine, and her writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, Time, Psyche, The New England Journal of Medicine, and USA Today.
About Science and Society
Our Science and Society speaker series explores the history of science embedded in our everyday lives. We invite scientists, historians, policymakers, and educators for engaging, in-depth conversations that expand our perspectives. Program formats include lectures, interviews, roundtables, and book launches. Science and Society events are curated for an adult audience, fostering curiosity, conversation, and interactivity. Each evening concludes with a free reception with the speakers.
Featured image: Detail of the cover of Beth Linker’s book, Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America.
More events
Fall 2025 Meeting of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry
Invited speakers will present on topics ranging from medieval medicine to modern climate science.
School Lunch Tour
This interactive drop-in tour reveals how food scientists, the government, and the public have shaped in-school nutrition.
Stories of Science: Spooky Science
Join us in our museum EVERY SATURDAY for a family-friendly program that highlights strange and surprising stories from the history of science!