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Error processing SSI fileWomen's health book marks its 35th anniversary
Publication continues direct talk about such subjects as abortion, contraception, safe sex.
"Our Bodies, Ourselves" has been a "rock-solid, stable resource" for women, says Carol Tucker Trelease, the former longtime president of Planned Parenthood of New Mexico.
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Martha Edmands was 15 years old and living in a small town in Oklahoma when she first saw a copy of "Our Bodies, Ourselves," the groundbreaking book on women's health care that celebrates its 35th anniversary this year.
"There was no Internet then, and I remember it was a place where you could get questions answered that you couldn't -- or wouldn't -- dare ask anyone," says Edmands, director of public and government affairs for Planned Parenthood of New Mexico.
"It was frank information that just wasn't available elsewhere."
The eighth edition, released this summer, continues the direct but accessible talk about subjects like contraception, abortion and orgasms, and adds new material -- on safe sex, gender identity and navigating complex health-care systems, to name a few.
With more than 4 million copies sold over the years, "Our Bodies, Ourselves" has been a "rock-solid, stable resource" for women, says Carol Tucker Trelease, the former longtime president of Planned Parenthood of New Mexico.
"It was always just there for people," says Tucker Trelease, who retired in 1998 after 23 years with the organization.
"It's exciting to see what it did in terms of empowering women, and it's exciting to see it's still around."
Yet in 1971, when Judy Norsigian, at age 23, joined a group of Boston-area women who had recently published a booklet called "Women and Their Bodies," she didn't even think the subject was all that critical.
"I had no idea of the importance of the work at the time," Norsigian says.
"I was not somebody who even understood what feminism was about. And I didn't have any appreciation at all for the kinds of sexism women faced."
Norsigian, at 57, has gone through her own evolution. She's no longer a dewy-eyed naif but a nationally recognized advocate for women's health concerns.
After three decades of involvement with the book, in 2001 she assumed the position of executive director of the Boston Women's Health Book Collective, the nonprofit organization that oversees the publication.
Her own greater awareness reflects the increased knowledge of women in general about their bodies today, but Norsigian believes there is still a great need for the book some have called "the women's bible."
"What's happened is there's much more information today, but some of it is very bad," says Norsigian, who sees the Internet as both a boon and a curse.
"You have to be more sophisticated about discerning the good from the junk."
To that end, the collective initiated a companion Web site ( www.ourbodiesourselves.org) to direct women to informational links.
Many of the concerns that were foremost to the founders of the book have improved, Norsigian says.
Abortion is now legal (it wasn't when the book was first published); birth-control options are greater and more available; there is more awareness of the need for safe sex, and gay and lesbian lifestyles are more visible and accepted.
"In general, we don't face a system that is as obviously sexist and condescending as it used to be," Norsigian says. "There are more women in medicine and many of the men do not behave in paternalistic ways."
But there are new dangers, she believes. Among them:
• The growing "medicalization" of women's health, which focuses on drug and surgical treatment rather than preventive care and health management.
"Too many unnecessary Caesareans, lowering rates of breastfeeding and more medical interventions without better outcomes," Norsigian explains.
• The pharmaceutical industry's undue influence on public policy.
"Sometimes, it's not letting something reach women, like the morning-after pill. Sometimes, it's reaching them without adequate scientific data, like silicone implants," she says.
• The phenomenon of direct-to-consumer advertising by pharmaceutical companies.
"It's part of a larger picture of 'selling sickness,' " she says. "The likelihood of taking a drug that will do more harm than benefit is much greater now."
• Growing pressure on women to have unhealthy body types.
"The narrow norms for female body types have generated a whole slew of unhealthy decisions, from bulimia to the increase in cosmetic surgery," she says.
The book's original two-dozen founders have seen each other through marriages, divorces, coming out and grandparenthood to become "like family." Quite a few of them had a hand in this edition.
Now mostly in their 60s, they are bequeathing the crusade to a younger group, including 35-year-old Heather Stephenson, the book's new managing editor.
"With this edition, we are passing the torch," says Norsigian, who will limit her activities to fund-raising.
It hasn't always been easy, she says.
"None of us get paid very much. We work long hours. We're always struggling financially, and there's always too much to do," she says.
But she doesn't regret a minute of devoting her life to this cause. She realizes what initially eluded her -- that this was a book that could change lives.
"So many women have benefited from this book and the advocacy work," she says.
"The thing that kept us going is the incredible feedback. It certainly has made it all worthwhile."
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The Detroit News.
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