barbaraz@tektools.UUCP (Barbara Zanzig) (04/04/85)
I'd like to recommend a book. It's "The NEW Our Bodies, Our Selves", by the Boston Women's Health Book Collective, pub. Simon & Schuster, and available in many bookstores including B. Dalton. It's been out for about a month. The book is an update and expansion of "Our Bodies, Our Selves", first published in 1971. The new edition is about two-thirds revised, and unlike the first one, includes many social topics in addition to women's sexuality. I include the Table of Contents at the end of this message. WARNING: This book is about *empowering women*. Men are considered, especially as they relate to women's lives, but the book is, as it says on the cover, "By and For Women". If you are a man, it will make you angry. Hell, it makes *me* angry, though not about women per se - more about societal attitudes. It has many references and resources, and although it has a truly feminist perspective, it documents research conclusions, often from some surprising sources (The Journal of Radical Therapy, for example.) It will challenge your assumptions about women, whether you are a man or a woman. It will teach you, however much you want to learn, as long as you want to learn about women and women's relationship to men and society. I love this book - I loved the first one too, and it helped me through some very hard times both for myself, and providing resources to a loved one who was considering abortion (no flames please.) As I said, it makes me angry, and I've already had an argument based on its contents - I've had it two weeks. I look at what is going on in net.singles and net.women, and I want to quote it incessantly. I would like it to be a background text for everyone posting to these newsgroups - a pipe dream, I know, but I can hope...I don't necessarily agree with everything it says, but it provides a well-reasoned context for discussion. I'd be glad to discuss the contents of the book, but I won't respond to flames about it or about women. Barbara Zanzig tektronix!tektools!barbaraz THE NEW OUR BODIES, OUR SELVES The Boston Women's Health Book Collective TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Taking Care of Ourselves Introduction 1. Body Image 2. Food 3. Alcohol, Mood-Altering Drugs and Smoking 4. Women in Motion 5. Health and Healing: Alternatives to Medical Care 6. Psychotherapy 7. Environmental and Occupational Health 8. Violence Against Women II. Relationships and Sexuality 9. Working Toward Mutuality: Our Relationships with Men 10. Loving Women: Lesbian Life and Relationships 11. Sexuality III. Controlling Our Fertility 12. Anatomy and Physiology of Sexuality and Reproduction 13. Birth Control 14. Sexually Transmitted Diseases 15. If You Think You Are Pregnant: Finding Out and Deciding What to Do 16. Abortion 17. New Reproductive Technologies IV. Childbearing 18. Pregnancy 19. Childbirth 20. Postpartum 21. Infertility and Pregnancy Loss V. Women Growing Older 22. Women Growing Older VI. Some Common and Uncommon Health and Medical Problems 23. ditto VII. Women and the Medical System 24. The Politics of Women and Medical Care 25. Organizing for Change: U.S.A. 26. Developing an International Awareness