She knew it would be your decision and yours alone.
In May of 1969, as the women’s movement was gaining momentum and influence in the Boston area and elsewhere around the country, a group of women met during a . In a workshop on “Women and Their Bodies,” they shared their experiences with doctors and their frustration at how little they knew about how their bodies worked.
The discussions were so provocative and fulfilling that they formed the Doctor’s Group, the forerunner to the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, to find out more about their bodies, their lives, their sexuality and relationships, and to talk with each other about what they learned.
They decided to put their knowledge into an accessible format that could be shared and would serve as a model for women to learn about themselves, communicate their findings with doctors, and challenge the medical establishment to change and improve the care that women receive.
In 1970, they worked with the to publish a 193-page course book on stapled newsprint entitled “.” The book was revolutionary for its frank talk about sexuality and abortion, which was then illegal. The cost: 75 cents.
In 1971, they changed the title to “Our Bodies, Ourselves” to emphasize women taking full ownership of their bodies. The book quickly became an underground success, selling 225,000 copies, mainly by word-of-mouth. The cost this time around: 30 cents.
https://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/our-story/
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