|
''Our Bodies, Ourselves'' is a book about women's health and sexuality produced by the nonprofit organization Our Bodies Ourselves (originally called the Boston Women's Health Book Collective). First published in 1971, it contains information related to many aspects of women's health and sexuality, including sexual health, sexual orientation, gender identity, birth control, abortion, pregnancy and childbirth, violence and abuse and menopause. The most recent edition of the book was published in 2011. This informational book about women’s health advised women to claim their sexuality for their own pleasure, and included chapters about reproductive health and rights, and lesbian sexuality and independence. This was revolutionary because the move toward women’s active engagement with their actual sexual desires was contradicting the popular gendered myth of 〔Feminist Theory Reader〕 “women as docile, and passive,” and “men as active and aggressive” in a sexual relationship. The book has been translated and adapted by women's groups around the world and is available in 29 languages. Sales for all the books exceed four million copies.〔 Judy Norsigian, Vilunya Diskin, Paula Doress-Worters, Jane Pincus, Wendy Sanford, and Norma Swenson. "BWHBC and 'Our Bodies, Ourselves': A Brief History and Reflection. Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association, Winter 1999.〕 The ''New York Times'' has called the seminal book "America's best-selling book on all aspects of women's health" and a "feminist classic".〔Back cover.〕 The organization has also created two single-topic books. ''Our Bodies, Ourselves: Menopause'' was published in 2006, and ''Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth'' in 2008. The Boston Women's Health Book Collective earlier produced ''Changing Bodies, Changing Lives: A Book For Teens on Sex and Relationships'' and ''The New Ourselves, Growing Older: Women Aging with Knowledge and Power''. ==History== The book arose out of a 35-cent, 136-page booklet called ''Women and Their Bodies'', published in 1970 by the New England Free Press, and written by twelve Boston feminist activists. The booklet was originally intended as the basis for a women's health course, the first to be written for women by women. The health seminar that inspired the booklet was organized in 1969 by Nancy Miriam Hawley at Boston's Emmanuel College. "We weren't encouraged to ask questions, but to depend on the so-called experts," Hawley told ''Women's eNews''. "Not having a say in our own health care frustrated and angered us. We didn't have the information we needed, so we decided to find it on our own." As a result of this goal, the book contained information intended to guide women on "how to maneuver the American health care system, with subsections called 'The Power and Role of Male Doctors,' 'The Profit Motive in Health Care,'" 'Women as Health Care Workers,' and 'Hospitals.'〔 Schneir, Miriam. "Boston Women's Health Book Collective." Feminism in Our Time: The Essential Writings, World War II to the Present. New York: Vintage, 1994. 352. Print. 〕 The original writers of the book stated four main reasons for creating it. First, that personal experiences provide a valuable way to understand one's own body beyond the mere facts that experts can provide, creating an empowering learning experience. Second, this kind of learning meant that they were "better prepared to evaluate that institutions that are supposed to meet our health needs . . .". Third, the historical lack of self-knowledge about the female body "had had one major consequence - pregnancy" and through greater information, women will have more ability to make proactive choices about when to get pregnant. Fourth, information about one's body is perhaps the most essential kind of education, because "bodies are the physical bases from which we move out into the world". Without this basic information, women are alienated from their own body and necessarily on unequal footing with men.〔 Schneir, Miriam. "Boston Women's Health Book Collective." Feminism in Our Time: The Essential Writings, World War II to the Present. New York: Vintage, 1994. 352. Print. 〕 The women researched and wrote up the information themselves. Wendy Sanford wrote about abortion, Jane Pincus and Ruth Bell about pregnancy, and Paula Doress and Esther Rome about postpartum depression. The booklet sold 250,000 copies in New England without any formal advertising.〔 As a result of their success, the women formed the non-profit Boston Women's Health Book Collective (which now goes by the name Our Bodies Ourselves) and published the first 276-page ''Our Bodies, Ourselves'' in 1973. The collective published it with the major publisher Simon & Schuster only on the condition that they would have complete editorial control and that nonprofit health centers could purchase copies at a significant discount.〔 Schneir, Miriam. "Boston Women's Health Book Collective." ''Feminism in Our Time: The Essential Writings, World War II to the Present''. New York: Vintage, 1994. 352. Print. 〕 It featured first-person stories from women, and tackled many topics then regarded as taboo. Since then, over four million copies have been sold. Simon & Schuster remains the current publisher. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Our Bodies, Ourselves」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|