The Body Politic: Dispatches from the Women's Health Revolution

by Barbara Seaman (Editor)

"In 1969, Barbara Seaman proved that women can talk back to doctors-calmly, rationally, and scientifically. For many of us, women's liberation began at that moment."-Barbara Ehrenreich

Science journalist Barbara Seaman triggered a revolution in women's health with the 1969 publication of her book The Doctor's Case Against the Pill, which prompted Senate hearings, exposed the biases of the medical establishment regarding women's health issues, and inspired women around the world to take control of their health.

Here Seaman, whom the Library of Congress names as "the author to raise sexism in healthcare as a worldwide issue," brings together a one-of-a-kind collection of essays, interviews, and commentary by leading activists, writers, doctors, and sociologists that celebrates the progress of the women's health movement. With contributions from the Our Bodies Ourselves collective, Margot Adler, Sojourner Truth, Gloria Steinem, Erica Jong, Dr. Susan Love, Naomi Wolf, Angela Davis, and two hundred others-many of them original to this book. Topics range from the early history of women as healers to contemporary activism, from self-help gynecology in the 1970s to women's health in the twenty-first century.

Barbara Seaman's 1969 book The Doctor's Case Against the Pill (twenty-fifth anniversary edition published in 1995) influenced the FDA to require informational inserts in packages of oral contraceptives and other medicines. Seaman is also the author of Free and Female (1972), Women and the Crisis in Sex Hormones (1977), Lovely Me: The Life of Jacqueline Susann (1987), and The Greatest Experiment Ever Performed on Women (2003).

Paperback

First published March 1, 2008

About the author

One of the most tireless health advocates, Barbara Seaman (1935-2008) was co-founder of the National Women's Health Network, and a pioneer in a new style of health reporting that focused on patient rights. Her groundbreaking investigative book, The Doctors' Case Against the Pill (1969), prompted Senate hearings in 1970 that led to a warning label on oral contraceptives and the drastic lowering of estrogen doses due to dangerous health effects. Well received by a mass audience, Seaman was a columnist and contributing editor at Bride's Magazine, Ladies' Home Journal, Family Circle, and Ms. Magazine. She also contributed to the New York Times, Washington Post, Newsday, and others.

Books

* The Doctor's Case Against the Pill (1969)
* Free and Female (1972)
* Women and the Crisis in Sex Hormones (1977)(with Gideon Seaman, M.D.)
* Lovely Me: The Life of Jacqueline Susann (1987)
* The Greatest Experiment ever Performed on Women: Exploding the Estrogen Myth (2003)
* For Women Only: Your Guide to Health Empowerment with Gary Null (2000).

Contributor to many books, including:

* Career and Motherhood (1979)
* Rooms with No View (1974)
* Women and Men (1975)
* Seizing our Bodies (1978)

Contributor to several plays and documentaries, including:

* I am a Woman (1972)
* Taking Our Bodies Back (1974)
* The American Experience Presents the Pill (2003)