Watch Our Bodies Ourselves Virtual Events!

Each year, Our Bodies Ourselves participates in various events that feature or celebrate the history, legacy, and ongoing work of OBOS. This past year, due to Covid-19, the events were held virtually. While we’ve missed seeing some of you in person, we’re glad that many of the events were recorded and can now be watched from home!

Below is a list of events available to stream:

In October, OBOS co-founder Wendy Sanford published her powerful new memoir, “These Walls Between Us: A Memoir of Friendship Across Race and Class.” Porter Square Books celebrated the publication with an online book talk. Watch a replay of the event. (Please note: to watch the replay, click on “register” and then enter your email address. This will allow you to see the replay.)

Last month, the Coletivo Feminista Sexualidade e Saúde and Our Bodies Ourselves celebrated the publication of the first volume of “Nossos Corpos por Nós Mesmas,” a Brazilian Portuguese adaptation of “Our Bodies, Ourselves.” The event featured “Nossos Corpos” project coordinator Raquel Pereira and book team member Janine Pimentel, OBOS co-founders Judy Norsigian and Norma Swenson, and pioneering Brazilian researchers on women, health and sexuality, Simone Diniz and Sonia Corrêa. Learn more about the event and watch a replay.

In August, OBOS board members Diana Namumbejja Abwoye and Judy Norsigian were invited to speak at a Virtual Radcliffe Book Talk, organized in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the book’s first edition and in connection with the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective Records housed in Schlesinger Library. The talk, moderated by Wendy Kline, a history of medicine professor at Purdue University, featured OBOS board members Diana Namumbejja Abwoye and Judy Norsigian. Note: For those who asked about how you can support either a reprinting of the Luganda adaptation that Diana spoke about or a new adaptation into Acholi (for women in northern Uganda): you can send earmarked donations via check to Our Bodies Ourselves, PO Box 590403, Newton Center, MA 02459.

In April, the Boston University School of Public Health held an event titled The Women’s Health Movement: Celebrating 50 Years of Our Bodies Ourselves. The panel of experts included Judy Norsigian, co-founder and board chair of Our Bodies Ourselves; Nashira Baril, founder of the Neighborhood Birth Center; Charlie Ruth Castro, co-founder of Fundación Mujeres Con Derechos, and Wendy Chavkin, professor emerita at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health.

In March, Suffolk University Summa Society held a webinar on “The Evolution of Our Bodies Ourselves.” OBOS co-founder and board chair Judy Norsigian, OBOS board member Diana Namumbejja Abwoye, and director of Suffolk University’s Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights Amy Agigian discussed the history of Our Bodies Ourselves and the forthcoming Our Bodies Ourselves Today online platform. Watch a video of the event.

Last November, the Waltham Public Library held an event titled “Then and Now: Our Bodies Ourselves: The Roots of the Women’s Health Movement” that featured interviews with OBOS co-founders Joan Ditzion and Judy Norsigian.

And finally, also in November, the BBC produced a wonderful hour-long radio documentary on the history and impact of Our Bodies Ourselves. Listen to the documentary.