Your Bodies Your Selves

I'm very proud of the fact that I'm a bro's bro. I'm the definition of dude. Really, a human male can't get any more manly than this (I can bro out on anything from musical equipment to sports to beer). I'm also very proud to be an out feminist. Years ago I came to the conclusion that if as a society we could treat women with equality, fairness and acceptance, then possibly, very possibly, we would have world peace. Just like I went to bro-dude training camp growing up (martial arts, team sports, shows, music etc...) to become the specimen that I am today, I also had to go to bro -dude-feminist training camp. Unfortunately that didn't start until I was about 19-ish.

For a sociology class I had to read "Backlash" by Susan "Hey, grrl, I'm Kriss" Faludi and after that...it was on. I read all the feminist books of the early 90's, I went back and read the classics (Fem Mystique) and I even jumped into the failed Mens Movement (at first it was an attempt to evolve men, but really it ended up being dookie-great original idea tho). The one book I did not read, tho, is having it's 40th anniversary...The super classic...Our Bodies, Ourselves.

If Jerry Falwell of the (not) Moral Majority calls it "obscene trash" then by golly, ya know it must be good. I guess I take for granted that Grrl Power is so prevalent right now and that the right now ladies (I work next to a college) are pretty much in tune with their bodies and themselves. It's hard to imagine that just decades ago this was not the case. The book came out in 1969 and there were still taboos about women's bodies that are all, like, 1950's-ish. Soooo hard to imagine that masturbating was considered a no no. WTF

The book has sold over 4 million copies and is published in hella languages. The first one was 75 cents and the newest and most update one is $26 (which is the average price for a book). Once again it is hard for me to imagine that there was a time when there was no resource for women to learn about their own bodies. Since it's first publishing, many a mother has given a copy to their budding daughters. The publishing of the book has forced medical science to address women's bodies and see the differences between the sexes (there is still that problem today of making drugs specifically for women, but it is better than before), there are now gender studies in college, and for the average female peep, it made the conversation about sex and bodies OK (WTF did people do before, not talk about it. so weirdo).

Well, I guess I have another book to put on my list. I can't believe that I haven't checked it out yet. Perhaps it is the left over residue of my Catholicism. Congrat's ladies.

* Article

* Our Bodies, Ourselves website

* Free O B, OS on Google Book Search.