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Maria Rovito

Maria Rovito

Dr. Rovito is a scholar with a PhD in American Studies from The Pennsylvania State University in Harrisburg, specializing in medical humanities, literature, disability studies, and women’s and gender studies. Her dissertation, “Free Woman: An Autotheoretical and Feminist Disability Analysis of Endometriosis Pain in Medicine and Culture,” examines the history and stigmatization of endometriosis, challenging its misrepresentation as primarily an infertility issue rather than a chronic pain disorder. By utilizing autotheory, feminist disability studies, and archival research, Dr. Rovito highlights how gender bias in medical practices has prioritized reproductive roles over patient well-being, particularly affecting women of color and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Analyzing the archival writings of early-20th century gynecologists from the Welch Medical Library at Johns Hopkins University, the Historical Medical Library at the College of Physicians in Philadelphia, and the Center for the History of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, she tied the official recognition of endometriosis to eugenics and the common belief held by physicians that feminism, women’s careers, and education were leading to the decline of the white race in the post-World War II era. She has authored peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, including work on Sylvia Plath, suicide and self-harm, and the representation of mad girls in young adult literature.

Dr. Rovito is also an active public intellectual, contributing to Ms. Magazine and Diva Cup on issues related to endometriosis and medical racism and presenting medical humanities research at public awareness events. Her conference presentations and invited talks address critical topics in feminist disability studies and women’s health. Additionally, she was recognized with the Alumni Association Dissertation Award at Penn State and the Northeast Modern Language Association Summer Fellowship. Dr. Rovito currently serves as the Board Representative for the Women’s and Gender Studies Caucus of the Northeast Modern Language Association.

Education

  • PhD, American Studies, The Pennsylvania State University – Harrisburg, 2024
    • Title: “Free Woman: An Autotheoretical and Feminist Disability Analysis of Endometriosis Pain in Medicine and Culture.”
    • Specializations: American literature, disability studies, medical humanities, women’s and gender studies.
  • MA, English, Millersville University of Pennsylvania
  • BA, English, Millersville University of Pennsylvania

Learn More About Dr. Rovito

“The Bleeding Edge: Cutting, Mad Girls, and the Asylum in Young Adult Literature.” Madwomen in Social Justice Movements, Literatures, and Art, eds. Nicole Crevar and Jessica Lowell Mason, Vernon Press, 2023, pp. 205-217.

“Blood, Verse, and Liberation: Sylvia Plath’s Poetic Exploration of Menstruation.” The New Sylvia Plath Studies, ed. Dorka Tamás, forthcoming from Cambridge University Press.

Organizer/Host. “‘What the Heck Is Wrong with My Period?’: A Dinner Conversation on Endometriosis.” Featuring Dr. Kari Plewniak and Prof. Jenna LeBlanc. Sponsored by Jonathan Phipps and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, ĂŰŃżTV, Albany, NY: March 18, 2025.

  • “Laboratories of Empire: Reproductive Injustice in Puerto Rico, Colonial Legacies, and Decolonial Futures.” Moderator and panel organizer. Reproductive Justice Interest Group Sponsored Session. National Women’s Studies Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico: November 14, 2025.
  • “Literary Landscapes of Women’s Pain: The Language of Suffering.” Chair and panel organizer. Northeast Modern Language Association, Philadelphia, PA: March 7, 2025.
  • “Sick, Sad Girls: Experiences of Chronic Illness in Women’s Poetry.” Chair and panel organizer. Modern Language Association, New Orleans, LA: January 11, 2025.
  • “‘It’s All in Your Head’: Cultural Representations of Medical Misogyny in the Americas.” Cochair and panel organizer with April Knupp. Northeast Modern Language Association, Boston, MA: March 7, 2024.
  • “The Wandering Womb: Writing Menstrual Pain.” Chair and panel organizer. Modern Language Association, Philadelphia, PA: January 7, 2024
  • “Battle for Your Life: Rethinking the Endometriosis Warrior and Female Empowerment.” Modern Language Association, Philadelphia, PA: January 3-7, 2024.
  • “A Manifesto of Pain; or, Can Disability Studies Be Used to Heal?” National Women’s Studies Association, Baltimore, MD: October 25-29, 2023.
  • “Faulty Bodies, Faulty Women: Joe Vincent Meigs and the Rise of Endometriosis, 1861-1949.” Society of Menstrual Cycle Research, Bethesda, MD: July 22, 2023.
  • “‘A Negative, Painful Experience’: The Omission of Chronic Illnesses in Disability Studies.” Chair and panel organizer. Northeast Modern Language Association, Niagara Falls, NY: March 24, 2023.
  • “‘When Will My Case Be Considered an Emergency?’: The Problem of Misogynoir in Endometriosis Care and Activism.” National Women’s Studies Association, Minneapolis, MI: November 12, 2022.
  • “Rage Against the Machine: Navigating the Abolition of Systems of Care.” Chair and panel organizer. National Women’s Studies Association, Minneapolis, MI: November 12, 2022. Sponsored by the Disability Studies Interest Group.
  • “When My Uterus Fights Back: Speaking My Endometriosis Pain.” Health Humanities Consortium: March 27, 2022.
  • “Interdisciplinary Analyses of Medicalized Human Bodies and Parts.” Chair. Northeast Modern Language Association, Baltimore, MD: March 11, 2022.
  • “Mentorship as Intersectional Feminist Practice (WGSC Session).” Chair. Northeast Modern Language Association, Baltimore, MD: March 12, 2022.
  • “I Want to Kill Myself: A Mad Reckoning of PMDD.” American Studies Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico: October 9, 2021.
  • “Shed Walls, Don’t Build Them: Developing Critical Menstruation Studies.” Panel organizer. American Studies Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico: October 9, 2021.
  • “On Being a Borderline Instructor: Thoughts on a Mad Border Pedagogy.” Society for Disability Studies: April 20, 2021.
  • “The Lunatic Upstairs: Virginia Woolf and the Ethics of Institutionalization.” Co-chair and panel organizer with Jessica Lowell Mason. Northeast Modern Language Association, online conference due to COVID-19: March 11-14, 2021.
  • “Institutionalization in the Era of #MeToo: Reckoning Sexual Assault in Virginia Woolf’s Life and Work.” Northeast Modern Language Association: March 11, 2021.
  • “Shed Walls, Don’t Build Them: Developing Critical Menstruation Studies.” Panel organizer. American Studies Association, Baltimore, MD: November 12-15, 2020. Rescheduled due to COVID-19.
  • “The Future of Feminist Disability Studies.” Chair and panel organizer. Northeast Modern Language Association, Boston, MA: March 8, 2020.
  • “Sylvia Plath and Disabled Women’s Life-writing as a Tool of Resistance.” Chair and panel organizer. Northeast Modern Language Association, Boston, MA: March 7, 2020.
  • “From Bertha Mason to Girl, Interrupted: Reclaiming the Literary ‘Sad Queen.’” Northeast Modern Language Association, Boston, MA: March 6, 2020.

  • Endometriosis Research Center Golden Scholar, 2025.
  • Winner of the Alumni Association Dissertation Award, The Pennsylvania State University, Spring 2024.
  • Northeast Modern Language Association Summer Fellowship, Harvard Medical School, July 2022.

Moderator and Introducer. “Down Syndrome Culture: A Talk by Benjamin Fraser.” Opening Address, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA), Philadelphia, PA, March 7, 2025.

  • Invited Presidential Session Panelist, “35 Years after the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Disability Justice as Feminist Practice.” National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference. San Juan, Puerto Rico, November 15, 2025. (Session with Heidi R. Lewis, Sami Schalk, Nirmala Erevelles, and Kristina Gupta.)
  • “When Pain Is Proof and Still Ignored: Endometriosis, Medical Gaslighting, and the Dangers of Not Being Believed.” Grand Rounds, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Peoria, IL: May 22, 2025.
  • “Pathologies of Privilege: The Racial Politics of Endometriosis in Modern Gynecology.” Grand Rounds, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Montefiore Medical Center, New York, NY: May 6, 2025.
  • “Bewitched, Unbothered, and Childfree: A Proud Spinsterhood of Hormonal Heresy.” The Endometriosis Summit, Orlando, FL: March 28, 2025.
  • “Endometriosis and the Problem of Curing Disability.” HNUH228U—A Life Worth Living: The Legacy of Eugenics in Genetics, University of Maryland at College Park: March 14, 2024.
  • “The Patriarchal Underpinnings of Endometriosis.” The Endometriosis Summit, Orlando, FL: March 10, 2024.
  • “Mad Feminist Dialogues.” Seneca Falls Biannual Convention, online meeting: October 23, 2020.

  • “Learning About Language: An In-Class Activity” JSTOR Daily, https://daily.jstor.org/learning-about-language-an-in-class-activity/. October 10, 2025.
  • “From Isolation to Connection—Maria Rovito’s Journey with JSTOR.” JSTOR Educator Spotlight, https://about.jstor.org/case-study-educator-spotlight-maria-rovito/?utm_campaign=faculty_engagement&utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_content=case_study. September 15, 2025.
  • “Doctors Dismissed Her Pain. Here’s How She Fought Back.” WebMD, https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/news/20250715/doctors-dismissed-her-pain-heres-how-she-fought-back. July 19, 2025.
  • “Medical Gaslighting in Endometriosis: A Historical Deep Dive with Maria Rovito.” Podcast with Dr. Ginger Garner, YouTube, https://youtu.be/zxWoVLvr4Qo?si=kS8qqvxfUpURfgtl. January 28, 2025.

Reimagining Endometriosis: The History, Politics, and Rhetoric of Women’s Pain. Springer Nature/Palgrave, 2026.

“Toward a New Madwoman Theory: Reckoning the Pathologization of Sylvia Plath.” Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies, vol. 13, issue 4, 2020, pp. 317-332.

  • “Rogue Tissue, Rogue Self: A Monstrous-Feminine Manifesto from the Land of Blood and Steel.” Modern Language Association, Toronto, ON: January 2026.
  • “‘All I Ever Wanted Was Love’: Lady Gaga’s Chromatica as a Feminist-Crip Manifesto of Queer Joy and Resistance.” National Women’s Studies Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico: November 15, 2025.
  • “Healing Beyond the Operating Table: Endometriosis, Feminist Disability Justice, and Collective Care.” Medical Herstory’s Feminist Health Conference, online conference: November 8, 2025.
  • “Sick, Tired, and Speaking Anyway: Autotheory, Endometriosis, Reproductive Worth, and the Refusal to be Silenced.” Cripping Reproductive Justice Symposium, Barcelona, Spain: October 14, 2025.
  • “Writing the ‘Female Condition’: Harriet Martineau’s Life in the Sick-Room, Catamenia, and the Failures of 19th-Century Medicine.” Narrative, online conference: April 4, 2025.
  • “I Still Bleed: On Pain, Endometriosis, a Hysterectomy, and Learning to Love Myself Again.” Northeast Modern Language Association, Philadelphia, PA: March 8, 2025.
  • “Whispers in Wounds: A Feminist Dialogue on Self-Harm, Reclaiming Language, and Bodily Autonomy.” Northeast Modern Language Association, Philadelphia, PA: March 7, 2025.
  • “Blood, Verse, and Liberation: Sylvia Plath’s Poetic Exploration of Menstruation.” Modern Language Association, New Orleans, LA: January 11, 2025.
  • “Hazardous Histories and Reproductive Wrongs: Gynecology’s Misogynoir, Environmental Racism, and its Impact on Black Women with Endometriosis.” National Women’s Studies Association, Detroit, MI: November 15, 2024.
  • “My Vagina Will Grow Thorns: Monstrous Wombs in Television Portrayals of Endometriosis.” Northeast Modern Language Association, Boston, MA: March 8, 2024.
  • “HystHERia.” Northeast Modern Language Association, Boston, MA: March 7, 2024.

  • “‘Women’s Pain Is Less Important’: Documentary ‘Below the Belt’ Shows Why Endometriosis Is a Feminist Issue.” Ms. Magazine, https://msmagazine.com/2023/06/28/below-the-belt-reviewendometriosis-documentary/. June 28, 2023.
  • “Medical Racism in Endometriosis Diagnosis & Care.” Diva Cup, https://divacup.com/endometriosis-research-study-medical-racism/. March 6, 2023.

  • Member-at-Large, National Women’s Studies Association, 2026.
  • Member of the Access and Inclusion Committee for the National Women’s Studies Association, 2025-Present.
  • Reproductive Justice Interest Group Chair for the National Women’s Studies Association, 2024-Present.
  • Reviewer for Feminist Frontiers, 2025-Present.
  • Reviewer for the International Journal of TV Serial Narratives, 2024-Present.
  • Reviewer for the Journal of Literary Studies, 2024-Present.
  • Mentor for the Women’s and Gender Studies Caucus Mentorship Program of the Northeast Modern Language Association, 2025.
  • Board Representative for the Women’s and Gender Studies Caucus for the Northeast Modern Language Association, 2023-2026.
  • President for the Women’s and Gender Studies Caucus of the Northeast Modern Language Association, 2021-2022.

  • Faculty Advisor, Sexuality and Gender Alliance

  • “No, I Will Not ‘Push Through’: A Crip Uprising Against Conference Norms.” Workshop Leader/Facilitator, National Women’s Studies Association, online: October 28, 2025.
  • “Mapping the Crip Body: Autotheory and Narratives of Feminism, Illness, and Disability.” Workshop Leader/Facilitator, Feminist Perspectives on Body, Disability, and Health, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA: March 5, 2025.