Media Mentions

“The Virtual Radcliffe Book Talks features a discussion of Our Bodies, Ourselves, first published in 1971. This event was organized in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the book’s first edition and in connection with the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective Records housed in our Schlesinger Library. The discussion reflects on the historical moment while also focusing on the continuing importance and impact of the living text through new translations and distribution around the world.”

Speakers:

Diana Namumbejja Abwoye, family nurse practitioner, Fenway Health

Judy Norsigian, cofounder, Our … More

In this online video, sponsored by Suffolk University, Judy Norsigian, co-founder and board chair of Our Bodies Ourselves, Amy Agigian, executive director of Our Bodies Ourselves Today, and Diana Namumbejja Abwoye, OBOS global partner and board member, discuss the past, present, and future of Our Bodies Ourselves.  The discussion was moderated by Maria Toyoda, Dean of the Suffolk University College of Arts & Sciences.

Watch the video: The Evolution of Our Bodies Ourselves

A wonderful hour-long radio documentary that features interviews with founders of Our Bodies Ourselves alongside vivid recordings from the early feminist movement.

Listen to the full documentary: Our Bodies, Ourselves: A BBC Radio 4 Production

At one point, Sanford remembers, the speaker held up a lifesize picture of a woman, with legs apart, to show the location of the clitoris, and to explain how, contrary to Freudian thinking, it is the major organ of female sexual pleasure. “Who knew this before?” she asked the group, who sat largely blank-faced. “That’s my point,” she told them. “We should know these things. These are our bodies.”

Read the full story: The Clitoris, Pain and Pap Smears: How Our Bodies, Ourselves Redefined Women’s … More

In 1973, Simon & Schuster published the first commercial edition … and by 1976, it was “recognized by the American Library Association’s Young Adult Service Division as one of the best books of the decade,” according to the website.

Carried in many schools and libraries (including the Newton Free Library) across the country, Swenson said “It was the most stolen book they ever had” and was a target for censorship by conservative figures including lawyer Phyllis Schlafly and televangelist Jerry Falwell.

Read the full story: Newton … More

In a time when “wellness” has become synonymous with “health,” it’s not difficult to wonder why a book dedicated to bringing rigorous, collaborative, untainted medical information to women would be phased out. What good is a resource like Our Bodies, Ourselves when the whole Internet—from brand-commissioned “studies” on women’s health to the omnipresence of WebMD to the hugely profitable wellness “space”—exists at our fingertips?

Read the full story: Our Bodies, Ourselves Was a Radical Manual for a Generation of Women. In the Era of Misinformation, We Need … More

Panelists at the May 10, 2019 celebration of Our Bodies Ourselves include, from l – r: Suffolk student Sabrina Dias, Suffolk student Queen-Cheyenne Wade, OBOS board member Mariya Patwa, OBOS founder Norma Swenson, OBOS founder Miriam Hawley, and host and moderation Amy Agigian, founder and director of Suffolk University’s Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights.

On May 10, 2019, three generations of feminists came together to celebrate the legacy of Our Bodies Ourselves (OBOS) and look forward to the future of women’s … More

In this podcast, OBOS cofounder Judy Norsigian talks about the fight for women’s reproductive rights in the United States and how recent court decisions make the struggle to uphold Roe v. Wade particularly important today. 

Listen to the full story: Boston Sunday Review: Judy Norsigian

The June 2019 issue of the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) features reflections by cofounder Judy Norsigian on the women’s health movement and Our Bodies Ourselves, as well as comments from Cynthia Pearson of the National Women’s Health Network, David Sundwall, a physician and public health advocate, and students in the AJPH Think Tank.

The articles are available to read at the AJPH website:

• Our Bodies Ourselves and the Women’s Health Movement in the United States: Some Reflections
• Cynthia Pearson Comments
• David Sundwall Comments
• AJPH … More

This is how movements get started: There’s a little conversation here, and another in another community, and people get connected somehow — it almost happens spontaneously, as different people find themselves asking, “What’s going on here???” and start thinking new things. The time was right for us to be talking about how we were treated as women.

Out of those conversations, in the spring of 1969, we set up the first women’s conference at Emmanuel College. For my contribution, I put together a workshop titled … More