Where We Stand
Many complex and intertwined factors – from genetics to self-care to access to medical care to laws restricting body autonomy – affect people’s health, sexuality, and well-being. Our Bodies Ourselves’s understanding of and perspective on health and sexuality, and the choices people do and don’t have, is deeply rooted in feminism, intersectionality, and reproductive and social justice.
These values and perspectives shape how we understand and address specific topics, including those listed below:
Women and Ageism
Women and gender-expansive people are especially subject to ageism in social institutions like the healthcare system and the workplace.
What We Mean by Feminism
While feminism gets defined many different ways, there are some fundamental shared views that we believe advance the health and self-sovereignty of us all.
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Why Our Bodies Ourselves Backs Single-Payer Health Care
All of us have the right to high quality, accessible health care.
Mental Health through a Feminist Lens
Our Bodies Ourselves offers a broad critique of the mental health field, as well as resources to help ease suffering from very real mental and emotional pain and disabilities.
Why We Say Women and Gender-Expansive People
Our Bodies Ourselves remains deeply woman-centered, while welcoming people with gender identities or expressions other than “woman” who also use our resources.
"People with Vaginas"? Feminist Critiques of Gender and Language
How does Our Bodies Ourselves address the relationship between gender and anatomy? How is it best to refer to typically female reproduction and sexual anatomy?
Sex, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation
Many people confuse sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Gender identity is about who we are, while sexual orientation is about who attracts us.
Sex Work and Sex Trafficking, and Why the Differences Matter
Many people think of sex work and sex trafficking interchangeably, but there are important differences among them.
Fat Politics and Health at Every Size
We hold to the intersectional feminist view that bodies of all shapes and sizes are valid and have beauty. Body-shaming is actively harmful.
How Our Bodies Ourselves Decides Which Resources to Include
We prioritize empirical validity, personal authenticity, and incisive feminist analysis.
Disability and Chronic Illness through a Feminist Lens
We need to demand societal changes so that fewer disabling conditions exist, and so that those of us who are disabled or chronically ill can live as well as possible.
Healthism Hurts
Healthism -- a harmful overemphasis on keeping healthy -- hits us especially hard as we face toxic cultural demands to conform to gender norms.
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Why Reproductive Justice Is Central to Our Perspective
Our entire site embraces the Reproductive Justice perspective offered by Sister Song. We strive to integrate Reproductive Justice and the larger human rights perspective into all we do.
Government Censorship
We affirm that access to unbiased information about health and sexuality is critical to women and gender-expansive people, especially those who are part of marginalized communities. The free exchange of information is a human right that is central to our ability to live full and free lives, as well as to the promise of democracy.