Steph Herold

@stephherold

Researcher studying abortion on TV & film. Studying Jewish texts, autism, motherhood whenever I can. Indiscriminate dog lover. She/ her. All views are mine.

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Steph Herold@stephherold· 4d

Eleanor Bergstein, the screenwriter for Dirty Dancing, has spoken at length about the experience of getting the film made, including the pressure to take the abortion out: www.vice.com/en/article/t...

Graphic in a binder image with text from an interview in which Eleanor Bergstein talks about a sponsor backing out over the abortion in the film

Steph Herold@stephherold· 4d

What makes this representation significant is what the film chooses to show and say onscreen. Penny is not punished for choosing abortion. Instead, the film focuses on how she’ll afford the abortion and how she’ll be able to take time off work.

Still of a scene from Dirty Dancing in which a character off screen says, “we can get her an appointment but it costs $250.” Johnny is standing nearby with a drink in hand and Penny is slouching on a red couch.

Four stills from Dirty Dancing with a character telling Baby that Penny can’t take time off work without jeopardizing her job.

Steph Herold@stephherold· 4d

When Dirty Dancing premiered 39 years ago in 1987, audiences may have flocked to theaters for romance, dancing, and (let’s be honest) Patrick Swayze, but they also encountered an unusually direct depiction of illegal abortion.

Screenshot of the scene in Dirty Dancing when Johnny is comforting Penny after her abortion. The screenshot is in an image of an old timey TV.

Steph Herold@stephherold· Jul 23

At Abortion Onscreen, we've tracked 35+ abortion plotlines so far this year, including: 📺 Diana on Tell Me Lies saying, “I am so excited to abort your baby” to her abusive ex-boyfriend. 📺 Blaire on #ted standing up to her anti-abortion family, plus Ted and John helping her pay for the abortion

A dark staticy image with a purple TV from the 90s, pink graffiti-style text says: ABORTION ON TV SO FAR IN 2026.

A picture of Diana from the TV show Tell Me Lies (a young Black teen with a brown sweater on, holding a to-go coffee cup), with a pink call-out box with the name of the show, the episode ("I Don't Cry When I'm Sad Anymore") and a great line: "It's gonna be the highlight of my year, I am so excited to abort your baby."

A picture of Blaire from the TV show Ted (a young white woman with a brown sweater on, staring out of the frame), with a pink call-out box with the name of the show, the episode ("Roe v Weed") and a great line: "My uterus is not a democracy."

A picture of Santita from the TV show Santita (a mid-30s Latina in a wheelchair being pushed by a handsome Gael García Bernal in a busy market), with a pink call-out box with the name of the show, the episode ("Santita's Commandments") and a great line: "I'm sure this is a little scary. But you're in good hands. Everything's going to be fine, Eva. We're going to take good care of you."

Steph Herold@stephherold· Jun 24

Today is the 4th anniversary of the #Dobbs decision, which revoked federal protections for abortion. Has TV caught up w/a post-Dobbs reality? We find that abortion storylines increasingly depict barriers to care; an important shift, but TV still has a long way to go in representing abortion access.

An infographic with a blue background and several white boxes that look crinkly, as if they’re crumpled paper. The graphic reads: abortion on tv: before and after Dobbs and has two boxes with five before and after stats

Steph Herold@stephherold· Jun 16

Totally surreal to watch Hollywood Does Abortion at the Tribeca Film Festival last week. It was a true honor to share abortion onscreen research & analysis with this exceptional documentary team. Congrats to the incredible filmmakers and crew! www.hollywooddoesabortion.com

Dark movie theater with a big screen that reads HOLLYWOOD DOES ABORTIONS IN WHITE LETTERS

A photo of about 15 people on the red carpet at the Tribeca Film Festival

Steph Herold@stephherold· May 31

This amazing documentary premieres at the Tribeca film festival in ONE WEEK! It is so cool to watch filmmakers take your research and craft it into an hour and a half of moving, hilarious, insightful analysis. Can’t wait for everyone to see it!

A poster for a documentary called Hollywood Does Abortion with six film/tv stills from various media: Dirty Dancing, BoJack Horseman, Juno, Scandal, Knocked Up etc

Steph Herold@stephherold· Apr 30

"AI-facilitated information searches are becoming part of how people navigate abortion in restrictive global majority settings," srh.bmj.com/content/earl...

Artificial intelligence pathways to abortion care: a regional analysis of ChatGPT referrals to Women on Web

Steph Herold@stephherold· Apr 28

⭐️ New research from my team! ⭐️ What do people who’ve had abortions think about the abortion storylines we see on TV? www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

A square image with faded stills from TV shows with the text: ‘It made me feel compassion for her as if I was rewatching myself’: an exploratory study of how people who have had abortions respond to three contemporary television abortion plotlines

Steph Herold@stephherold· Apr 18

I thought maybe I was too harsh but then I saw how anti abortion people are clocking this show as a win

Screen shot from anti abortion website that reads: Apple TV’s “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” admits abortion is terminating a life

Screenshot from anti-abortion website praising the show as a pro-life victory

Steph Herold@stephherold· Apr 16

Can we talk about #MargosGotMoneyTroubles and the (spoiler alert) averted abortion storyline because….you know I’ve got thoughts.

A still of two women on a couch: an older white mom and a young white woman laying her head in her lap with the text SPOILER ALERT: ABORTION ON MARGO’S GOT MONEY TROUBLES overlayed in white

Steph Herold@stephherold· Mar 10

This is how we #celebrateabortionproviders at Abortion Onscreen - by sharing analysis of how tv has represented abortion provision across genres, and what we'd love to see more of on our shows. Sending love, strength, and appreciation to all abortion providers, from clinic staff to clinicians.

Light brown background with text about how medical dramas portray abortion providers, with three iPads that have images from three shows

Light brown background with text about how historical dramas portray abortion providers, with two iPads with stills from two shows

Light brown background with text about how comedies portray abortion providers, iPhones with three screen grabs of shows

A list of what we’d like to see more of in terms of onscreen representation of abortion provision

Steph Herold@stephherold· Oct 10

Quite a contrast to Hollywood's liberal reputation. Anyway, if you want to read more, our paper is open access and has a lot more (shocking! fascinating!) detail: academic.oup.com/ccc/article/...

Steph Herold@stephherold· Oct 6

Love it! Here’s our very modest NYC backyard sukkah #zmansimchateinu

Steph Herold@stephherold· Sep 27

In my continued search to understand this parsha and this part in particular, I found this passage in Talmud - mascheket Chagigah 5a18 that seems to be saying - if you haven’t experienced God’s hiddenness, you aren’t really Jewish?? Which tracks but also 🤯 #parshachat

Steph Herold@stephherold· Sep 7

Finally reading Loretta Ross’s book on calling in, and thinking deeply about all the call outs I’ve instigated or participated in over the last decade+. Feeling deeply remorseful — not sure any of it led to positive change, and was absolutely from a place of pain/anger. Grateful for this framework.

A photo of an orange hardback book with black and white writing on it. The book is Calling In: how to start making change with those you’d rather cancel by Loretta Ross

Steph Herold@stephherold· Jul 23

I maintain than bullying Jews on the internet, or anywhere, will not free Palestine. This cruelty is not “collective liberation.” It’s antisemitism.

Screenshot of an email from an anonymous email address. Text reads: “Centering your white rich lady feelings when millions of people are being forcibly starved is disgusting. You should go cry about it in your million dollar house with your kids you hate and emotionally abuse, Steph.”

Steph Herold@stephherold· Jun 30

Closing out pride month with some gay Talmud. Thanks My Jewish Learning and happy pride to emperor Antoninus and Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi!

A screenshot of an email about a section of Talmud in Masechet Avodah Zara that has some gay adjacent shenanigans between Emperor Antoninus and Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi

Steph Herold@stephherold· Jan 9

It's hard to explain structural abortion stigma (esp in a way nonacademics can understand) -- @andreabeckerphd.bsky.social, @ushma.bsky.social, @leahrkoenig.bsky.social & colleagues don't just explain it, but share an intervention to disrupt it: telehealth! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Screen shot of the front of an academic article with the title, authors, and abstract. The title is: “It Was So Easy in a Situation That’s So Hard”: Structural Stigma and Telehealth Abortion

Abstract: For decades, sociological research has examined the role of stigma in contributing to health disparities, yet such research seldom grapples with the interplay between individuals and structures. There is a particular paucity of research on abortion that concurrently examines individual experiences with stigma and structural barriers. In this article, we use telehealth abortion as a case, which now accounts for one in five abortions in the United States. We conducted 30 interviews and approach the data using a structural stigma framework in tandem with conceptualizations of felt, internalized, and enacted stigma. Findings advance a sociological theory of structural abortion stigma: a combination of structural barriers, internalized beliefs, and interpersonal shame. Telehealth reduces structural barriers to abortion and mitigates internal and interpersonal experiences of stigma. The latter is achieved by the ability to avoid the traditional abortion clinic, which many interviewees view as the site where stigma is produced and experienced.

Steph Herold@stephherold· Nov 17

Love this book (Subway by Christoph Niemann) for many reasons including this hilarious 1 train shade.

Illustrated page of a children’s book: black background d with a red subway line depicting the 1 NYC subway train. Three white stick figures yawn while looking at the train, saying “Boring!” The “o” in “boring” is the 1 red subway circle.

Steph Herold@stephherold· Nov 15

Still thinking about this delicious piece of Talmud that I saw on the other website a few days ago, in which the Rabbis say: no dude, you’re not entitled to sex with anyone. Please go die.

Text from the Talmud, Sanhedrin 75a:
§ Apropos the discussion of the obligation to allow oneself to be killed rather than engage in forbidden sexual intercourse, the Gemara notes that Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: There was an incident involving a certain man who set his eyes upon a certain woman and passion rose in his heart, to the point that he became deathly ill. And they came and asked doctors what was to be done with him. And the doctors said: He will have no cure until she engages in sexual intercourse with him. The Sages said: Let him die, and she may not engage in sexual intercourse with him. The doctors said: She should at least stand naked before him. The Sages said: Let him die, and she may not stand naked before him. The doctors suggested: The woman should at least converse with him behind a fence in a secluded area, so that he should derive a small amount of pleasure from the encounter. The Sages insisted: Let him die, and she may not converse with him behind a fence.

Steph Herold@stephherold· Nov 11

Relatable on every level. My sisters and I joke that this is us: