The Making of “Our Bodies, Ourselves”: How Feminism Travels Across Borders

“Based on interviews with members of the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, as well as responses to the book from readers, and discussions with translators from Latin America, Egypt, Thailand, China, Eastern Europe, Francophone Africa, and many other countries and regions, Davis shows why "Our Bodies, Ourselves" could never have been so influential if it had been just a popular manual on women’s health. It was precisely the book’s distinctive epistemology, inviting women to use their own experiences as resources for producing situated, critical knowledge about their bodies and health, that allowed the book to speak to so many women within and outside the United States.”

The book has garnered numerous awards, including the 2008 American Sociological Association Section Sex and Gender Distinguished Book Award; 2008 Eileen Basker Memorial Prize, presented by the Society of Medical Anthropology; and the 2009 Joan Kelly Memorial Prize, from the American Historical Association. Chapter 7 is available online: “Transnational Knowledges, Transnational Politics.”

The book contains the main historical record of Our Bodies Ourselves (formerly the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective) written to date. Perhaps inevitably with a project of such scope, the book contains some errors related to key aspects of the group’s history. The founders have made suggested corrections; you can read them here.