It was on the bookshelf of every hippie, woman-loving communal house in college

By Marigo — April 19, 2016

When I was ten years old, my childhood best friend read me passages from “Our Bodies, Ourselves” in a bedroom in Park Slope, Brooklyn. It was her mom’s copy. Years later, I saw it on the bookshelf of every hippie, woman-loving communal house in college. It was a cultural icon for my generation, and it harked back to a to a prior era that was inspiring for us.

Each year, when it’s time to decide what to be for Halloween, I think about ways to celebrate my culture. It’s important to me to not culturally appropriate, and this leads me to spend a good amount of time thinking about my own origin stories. Other criteria for my Halloween costume: I want it to be political — or at least consciousness raising — to be unexpected, and to make people laugh.

This year, I landed on the idea of “Our Bodies, Ourselves” as the perfect costume to meet those, and even more criteria (such as a major thumbs up from the queer community). The Halloween before, I was a Diva Cup.

What’s next?

In this series, readers tell their stories about their experiences with the book and its impact on their lives. View more stories.

2 responses to “It was on the bookshelf of every hippie, woman-loving communal house in college”

  1. This was my “bible” in the early years. I also had a young daughter who grew up listening to my rants on equal rights for woman and learning at a very young age some of the challenges we faced as woman. So happy to say she’s very respectful and in-tune with her own body and has turned out to be a wonderful woman. Keep up the good work. Should be mandatory reading.

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