The Latest from Our Bodies Ourselves

On November 8, 2024, Our Bodies Ourselves cofounder Judy Norsigian accepted the Robert Coles Award for Public Service. Her remarks at the event reflected on the five and half decades she has spent as a women’s health activist.

Our Bodies Ourselves founders Miriam Hawley, Judy Norsigian, Jane Pincus, and Norma Swenson joined author Clara Bingham in conversation about Bingham's new book "The Movement."

What has and hasn't changed since the "Our Bodies Our Votes" campaign in 2012? In the October 2024 issue, we feature "Where We Stand" on key issues, talk with mental health chair Dior Vargas, share what two young people think about youth movements, and reflect on our website relaunch celebration.

On 9/26/24, we joyfully celebrated the public launch of our redesigned website! Guests from the Our Bodies Ourselves network, from founders to students, joined together to tour the new site and reflect on its continued importance.

This issue focuses on birth control, with articles about sterilization and over-the-counter birth control pills. We talk with our own content writer Jonese Austin and honor the passing of Our Bodies Ourselves founder Pamela Berger.

This monthʼs newsletter focuses on menopause, including practical help with finding good healthcare; an interview with Nina Coslov; a short documentary about some indigenous women's approaches to menopause; and an opportunity for menopause activism.

We are delighted to announce the launch of our newly designed website! The site has a fresh look, is more accessible, and has an improved search so you can find just what you're looking for.

Program associate Grace Koch spoke at the Boston EmPOWERed Patient Brunch, an event organized in honor of Uterine Fibroid Awareness Month.

Program associate Grace Koch introduces this issue, which includes a resource on abortion pills, an interview with Our Bodies Ourselves Today content expert Candace Bond-Theriault, a feature on the organization Medical Students for Choice, and two powerful abortion stories by A'yen Tran and content expert Dr. Rebekah Rollston.

This issue of our newsletter includes a discussion of the importance of gender-expansive inclusion in the OBOS Today mission, a trans sexualities conversation, content expert Cindy Lee Alves Watley, the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, and a personal story about navigating the healthcare system as a trans woman.

Amy Agigian sheds light on the unjust stigma of menstruation and the fundamental right to menstrual education. The newsletter includes resources on period poverty and interviews with content experts Eva Marie Carney and Arielle Dance.

This newsletter highlights our resources on gender-based violence (GBV), one of the most widespread human rights violations in the world, and explores how GBV is connected to climate change.

Program director Laura Prieto discusses the importance of feminist history in questioning sexism, oppression, and the patriarchy. The issue also features a podcast recounting the history of Black midwifery and historian Lara Freidenfelds' personal experience with pregnancy loss.

Our Bodies Ourselves remembers Dr. Adele E. Clarke, a feminist scholar-activist who made great contributions to both the academic field of women’s health and the women’s health movement.

This newsletter discusses heart health from a feminist perspective and examines how women’s heart health is under-researched and often misdiagnosed due to healthcare bias, fatphobia, and toxic diet culture.

In honor of Cervix Health Awareness Month, this newsletter offers two cervix-related resources: the cervix close-up self exam and the Beautiful Cervix Project. It also features "The Missing Vagina Monologue," Sexuality content expert Bianca Palmisano, the new Moroccan adaptation of "Our Bodies, Ourselves," reproductive health and justice organization SisterLove, and artwork by Jewish feminist and artist Elena Stone.

This newsletter looks back at the many awards, publications, and other accomplishments that our content experts garnered in the past year. Two new content chairs have joined the Our Bodies Ourselves Today team: Nadeeka Karunaratne (gender-based violence) and Dior Vargas (mental health).

Executive Director Amy Agigian and pregnancy and birth content experts examine the current maternal mortality crisis and share their personal stories.

Amy Agigian reflects on the humanitarian crises in Israel/Palestine and Armenia, which are also mental health crises that carry particular burdens for women.

"As an employee of Our Bodies Ourselves Today, I had familiarized myself with the history of Our Bodies Ourselves and the feminist movement. Yet, there was one area where my research continued to come up empty. Where were the Black women who were advocates for women’s health during the earlier feminist movements?"