A little girl in the 1970s

Submitted by: Caitlin Mercer

I feel lucky that I was a little girl in the 1970s.  My mother and her friends had been strongly influence by the movements that spawned the Boston Women’s Health Collective and OBOS.

My mother bought a copy of OBOS and Changing Bodies, Changing Lives in the early 1980s and I kept them both in my room, read them obsessively.  I read about all the mysteries of adult womanhood I was yet to know, and about the concerns that were very present in my life at that age.

The pictures and stories of women who had struggled with illegal abortions informed my political future.  The sex positive, woman positive tenor of the volumes has informed my sense of self.  The language of empowerment is something I have shared with many peers, men and women.

I gave my 1998 era volume to a young friend recently, and have shared a lot with her about how the challenges in women’s health have changed so much.  It saddens me that so many would turn back the clock to the times when the poor and uninformed could more easily be victimized.

In this series, readers tell their stories about their experiences with the book and its impact on their lives. View more stories.