Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
49th out of 580 books
—
753 voters
Our Bodies, Ourselves for the New Century
The essential resource on women's health and sexuality comes of age in this newly revised and updated edition of a long-loved classic. "Our Bodies, Ourselves for the New Century" reflects the vital health concerns of women of diverse ages, ethnic and racial backgrounds, and sexual orientations. In these pages, women will find new information, resources (including web sites...more
Paperback, 784 pages
Published
May 4th 1998
by Touchstone Books
(first published May 4th 1970)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
This is a required textbook for a counseling course I am taking for school.
I was actually quite excited to read it as I thought it might hold the answers to some of my own health problems and would help me understand more of the more difficult topics I have to know for both my nutrition and counseling classes.
Though the information within was well presented and there was a lot of really interesting things for the most part it was all stuff I already knew from other books.
This is the newest editi...more
I was actually quite excited to read it as I thought it might hold the answers to some of my own health problems and would help me understand more of the more difficult topics I have to know for both my nutrition and counseling classes.
Though the information within was well presented and there was a lot of really interesting things for the most part it was all stuff I already knew from other books.
This is the newest editi...more
3 likes · like · see review
view all 5 comments
This book taught me why I have hair in all these new places...
*edit*
Liz wrote this review for me last night while I was napping on the couch. I think she's trying to teach me some kind of lesson about leaving myself logged in to websites when I use her laptop.
I've actually never read Our Bodies, Ourselves.
Changing Bodies, Changing Lives was my jam in high school. That was the book that taught me why I had hair in new places. It failed to teach me, however, why I couldn't grow a mustache ... a my...more
*edit*
Liz wrote this review for me last night while I was napping on the couch. I think she's trying to teach me some kind of lesson about leaving myself logged in to websites when I use her laptop.
I've actually never read Our Bodies, Ourselves.
Changing Bodies, Changing Lives was my jam in high school. That was the book that taught me why I had hair in new places. It failed to teach me, however, why I couldn't grow a mustache ... a my...more
2 likes · like · see review
I wish I knew where my copy is. I'd like to have this out, visible, on a shelf where the girls can peruse it at their leisure.
I actually have no idea when I first read this book--a couple to a few years ago, I guess. And yes, I read it cover to cover. It's a great reference to go back to again and again, and the companion website (www.ourbodiesourselves.org) is rather helpful too. It has links to all kinds of resources that might otherwise be hardish to find. The reason I thought to mention and review it now is just that I had a few questions that I just kept googling and re-googling only to find no answers at all. The...more
I bought my first copy of Our Bodies, Ourselves when I was purchasing the books for my first semester's classes in college, and the then-new edition (ca. 1986) was on display for a women's studies class. Part comprehensive reference manual, part DIY health guide, part feminist manifesto (talk about the personal being political!), the book is loaded with useful information about women's physical, psychological, and emotional health issues, interwoven with personal anecdotes. The writers encourage...more
When I first encountered an earlier edition this book at the apartment of a friend I was staying at over break in 1984, it was earth-shattering. Birth control! Lesbians! but most importantly, reinforcement of my nascent notions that I as a woman had worth beyond my womb, and that I deserved to control my own body, my own fate. Now I'm looking to it for information on perimenopause and later-life health issues, and it is still an excellent resource.
Mar 20, 2008
Carrie O'Dell
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
everyone
Shelves:
absolute-favorites,
gender-cultural-studies
Not exactly something you sit down and read cover to cover, but a vital source of information not just on sexulaity and reproductive rights, but on relationships, nutrition, pregnancy, mental health. All my nieces (current and to come) get a copy on turning 13.
When I was in the 5th grade my brother and I repeatedly snuck this book outside and had our minds GREATLY expanded. I have to give some credit to my current ability with and deep and abiding love for the topic in question to this book ;) Many times this knowledge has been found useful to my partners as well for more than just anatomy trivia. Sure it may not be perfect, and I believe the edition I had wasn't quite as large, but ANY book that allows one to try and understand the reality and viewpo...more
I've had this book forever, or at least what feels like it: the mid-'80s, at least. When I pulled it off the shelf today to add it here, I was greatly amused to discover, tucked in the back, the syllabus from my 1988 Human Sexuality class in college.
Although I am sure that there are more modern, more up-to-date, references on women's health out there, this title remains for me a (no pun intended) seminal work. Because I discovered it when I was coming of age both sexually and emotionally, and b...more
Although I am sure that there are more modern, more up-to-date, references on women's health out there, this title remains for me a (no pun intended) seminal work. Because I discovered it when I was coming of age both sexually and emotionally, and b...more
Best book on women's health that I've read. Great resource to have on hand.
While this is a classic reference book, I find myself a little concerned about the presentation of some medical information in the book. While I understand wanting to present readers with a variety of treatment options for their maladies, I don't feel the book did a good job separating or discussing the efficacy of different treatments. Women should obviously have the ability to make decisions about their own medical treatments, but they should be provided with sufficient information to make rat...more
Our Bodies, Ourselves by The Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, claims to have “served as a way for women, across ethnic, racial, religious and geographical boundaries, to start examining their health from a perspective that will bring about change”. This may ring true through most of the chapters in this text. However, on the topic of abortion, a political firestorm against religious fundamentalists and anti-abortion groups is unleashed.
Unplanned pregnancies follow birth control methods, a...more
Unplanned pregnancies follow birth control methods, a...more
This was a classic reference book among my young adult women friends in the 1970's. When my niece started college in the 1990's, I gave her the revised edition. What was so significant about the book in the 1970's is that it predates the Internet. Back then, the authors' provided current factual information on a range of women's health topics that was not readily available from "mom" or older sisters.
I think I have an older edition of this and I value it greatly. At a time when such things were not discussed or explored. Our reproductive system, our bodies and our life cycles were thoroughly treated with graphics. Suggestings for self exploration and preparation for exams were also provided. Boy did I need this. I stil do. If there is an update I aught to aquire it.
I read the original version while sitting in an aisle in the Haymarket bookstore (back when it was still a bookstore) in Northampton, MA, but didn't buy it. Years later I ordered that 70s edition online. I like it more for what it represented at the time than as a reference. (Come to think of it, it's never occurred to me to turn to it as a reference.)
I found a translated copy of this book by pure luck and I read it right away. I wish I could have read it when I was younger and felt so insecure about things. On the other hand, I think that if a teenager would read it, counselling with a parent is a must. This because I felt that some of the information weren't explained in that much detail.
A hefty source of information on a wide variety of topics meant to be usable by women with different backgrounds across different life stages. It gives a feminist perspective on culture and female health-related issues. Parts are relevant to me, other parts are not at all relevant to me, but I found the relevant parts to be interesting.
Dec 08, 2008
Erik Graff
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
everyone
Recommended to Erik by:
Grinnell College
Shelves:
sciences
When I entered Grinnell College a copy of the precursor to what became Our Bodies, Ourselves was placed in front of my door in Loose Hall--and in front of every other dormitory door on campus presumably--along with information about services available from the nearest Planned Parenthood and the Dean of Students' Office. Still a virgin and very, very concerned about sex, I read all the material immediately, finding the booklet more informative than anything I'd ever seen before and appreciating i...more
Mar 05, 2012
Kathryn Jennex
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction-learning-stuff,
health
A must have book for every household that includes women. Delves into the topic of gender, sexuality, sexual practices, rights to health-care and the medicalization of womens natural process.
I have this copy but will definitely be investing in the newest release. .An excellent gift for every female in your life
I have this copy but will definitely be investing in the newest release. .An excellent gift for every female in your life
As a fan of Christiane Northrup’s women’s health writing, you might also find this book to be of interest. It is widely considered to be a classic resource for women’s health issues, and combines scientific information with conversational writing from everyday women.
While I'm glad this book is so informative, comprehensive, detailed, etc., the prose style bothers me. It's a little, I don't know, patronizing? It's so superior it actually prevents me from reading things I don't know about.
I can not thank the Boston collective who wrote these books enough. From the first book I purchased at suburban NY Caldors to learn about my Lesbianism and Feminism - I purchased every update!
Oh, what a classic. I first read this in 1997 and have used these great reference source so many times over the years. Great feminist health resource.
I haven't really read the new version but have the old. some of the people involved in that book came to our college in the 70's to talk with young women about their bodies. They gave out plastic speculums and showed us how to look at our own cervixes (sp). We even looked at one of theirs! Crazy, heady stuff coming out of repression. I can't imagine that happening on a college campus today.
It was a useful handbook for my generation. Many of our mothers taught us about menstruation by passing a b...more
It was a useful handbook for my generation. Many of our mothers taught us about menstruation by passing a b...more
I'm sure I haven't read -every- chapter in this book, but I think that's the idea. It's meant for every stage in a woman's life. I first heard of this book in a collegiate Women's History class and bought my own copy of it over break. While my parents never seem to particularly withhold information from me, I was something of a "late bloomer" and have found this book very useful for filling in the gaps. To this day, I cannot help but pore over the section on Childbirth; I cry every time. What I...more
I first read the origional copy back when it first came out. I was young and it gave me anwsers that I couldn't ask anyone else.
seeing as this was written in the 70s, it's a little out of date. otherwise, this book should be handed to every young woman once she starts asking questions (or should but doesn't because she's too embarrassed, like i was). there was so much valuable information in there that i would like to have had accessible to me at a younger age, as it felt a little odd to be reading this now and thinking "oh! so that's why..." loved the collective vibe; the personal stories and different perspectives help...more
Aug 31, 2009
Sorqaqtani Beki
added it
Our Bodies Ourselves For The New Century (A Touchstone book) by Boston Women's Health Book Collective (1998)
Aug 22, 2007
Alissa
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
women who want to feel empowered in body and soul
i have this one out from the library but i think i'm going to have to buy it and then it will stay forever on my currently reading shelf. it's "progressive" and "liberal" and right now, i think that's wonderful. there's a lot of info in it that felt like 9th grade health class, but there's also a lot of commentary on how our society affects women emotionally and spiritually as well as a lot of practical advice and de-mystification of helpful ways to get out from under that influence. and what ca...more
Jul 04, 2009
Lisa
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Girls ages 11 and up.
This book changed my life because I no longer needed to rely on my mother, or my friends for information. Or, more to the point, MIS-information. This book covers every topic a young woman needs information on about her own body, in a format that's easy to understand. Several years ago I worked at a residential treatment center for teen girls, and during a group a fifteen year old asked: "How would I know if I was pregnant? I wouldn't even know." Fifteen. And it's sad that many people reject and...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Our Bodies Ourselves is a nonprofit education and advocacy organization focused on women's health. We aim to combine women's personal stories with reliable, up-to-date health information, while examining the social and political influences on women's health and well-being.
More about Boston Women's Health Book Collective...
Share This Book
1 trivia question
More quizzes & trivia...
