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Boston Women’s Health Collective #6 Final Reflection

OUR EARLY HISTORY

The history of “Our Bodies, Ourselves” and the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective (BWHBC) began in the spring of 1969 at a women’s liberation conference held in Boston. At a workshop on “Women and Their Bodies,” we discovered that every one of us had a “doctor story,” that we had all experienced feelings of frustration and anger toward the medical maze in general, and toward those doctors who were condescending, paternalistic, judgmental, and uninformative in particular. As we talked and shared our experiences, we realized just how much we had to learn about our bodies, that simply finding a “good doctor” was not the solution to whatever problems we might have. So we decided on a summer project: we would research our questions, share what we learned in our group, and then present the information in the fall as a course “by and for women.” We envisioned an ongoing process that would involve other women who would then go on to teach such a course in other settings. In creating the course, we learned that we were capable of collecting, understanding, and evaluating medical information; that we could open up to one another and find strength and comfort through sharing some of our most private experiences; that what we learned from one another was every bit as important as what we read in medical texts; and that our experiences frequently contradicted medical pronouncements. Over time these facts, feelings, and controversies were intertwined in the various editions of “Our Bodies, Ourselves.” When we began this work, our ages ranged from 23 to 39, and we focused heavily on reproductive health and sexuality, new issues in the second wave of feminism. As we revised subsequent editions of “Our Bodies, Ourselves,” we included more material on such topics as environmental and occupational health, menopause and aging, often at the behest of readers and with outside help. At this writing, those of us in the original group range in age from our late 40s to our mid-60s, and one of our original members, Esther Rome, has died of breast cancer. In the 1970s, we worked together in “cottage industry” mode at home or in libraries, often meeting together around our kitchen tables. In 1980 we consolidated our books, articles, and correspondence in a rented office and began to hire women not part of the original Collective to do cataloging and to help with other tasks. This effort marked the beginning of our Women’s Health Information Center (WHIC) and two decades of networking and information sharing that has extended beyond the publication of “Our Bodies, Ourselves” to a number of women’s health education, activist, and advocacy projects involving us locally, nationally, and internationally. We supported the founding of the National Women’s Health Network — the first national women’s health advocacy membership organization. We were also among the few women’s organizations calling for universal health care in the 1970s, and we supported Congressman Ron Dellums’ National Health Services Act, a visionary bill that included provisions for contraceptive, sexually transmitted disease, and abortion services, and access to midwives and out-of-hospital childbearing options. Internationally, we served on the Advisory Board of ISIS (an information and communication service focused on women in developing countries), distributed packets and books to health workers and groups overseas, attended global women’s health meetings, and ensured, when possible, that women’s groups translating OBOS would be able to reap royalties to support their work. The founders of the BWHBC were all college educated, but a significant number of us were from working class backgrounds and were the first in our families to attend college. Some of us had professional degrees, but none of us were in health fields. Many of us had been active in the social protest movements of the 1960s, particularly the civil rights movement, the antiwar movement, movements for women-centered childbirth and legal abortion.

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African-American Women And Abortion: A Neglected History 5

This article talks about the way that African women were neglected by Many observers mistakenly view the African-American women's struggle for abortion rights and reproductive freedom in the 1990s as a relatively recent phenomenon, rather than placing it in the context of our historical struggle against racism, sexism, and poverty. Our contributions to the birth control and abortion movements in the United States have been disguised by racist and sexist assumptions about us, our sexuality, and our fertility. Distilling fact from myth is difficult because so many accounts of African-American. For example, from the mid-19th century to the present, the growth rate of the African-American population has been more than halved.1 Historians and demographers typically attribute this and other declines in African-American birth rates to poverty, coercive family planning, or other external factors, ignoring the possibility that African-American women were in any way respon- sible for the change.1 Similarly, feminist literature often disappointingly reflects a common view that African-American women's awareness regarding gender equality and abortion rights is underdeveloped. Whether these assumptions come from population experts, feminists, or the African-American community itself, they fail to credit the power of African-American women to make responsible personal and political decisions for ourselves. A historical perspec- tive is necessary to understand and place in context the contemporary views of African-American women on abortion and birth control. Regrettably, African-American women have been reluctant to analyze our history regarding abortion and to speak out collectively and publicly in support of abortion. To do so once seemed to further arguments of black genocide, a charge that was not unreasonable in view of a multitude of attacks on African-Americans.While 83 percent of Af rican-Americans support abortion and birth control4, little of that support translates into membership in a predominantly white feminist organization. The history of African-American women's activism in the reproductive freedom movement is just now being researched, over 100 years after it began. This work is urgent because unless we define for ourselves our own history and our impact, others' descriptions of our contributions will be neither accurate nor authentic. This activism continued after the legalization of abortion by the Supreme Court in 1973, and today more African-American women than ever before are active in the struggle to maintain legal and accessible abortion services. This militancy will probably produce again a tension over the relationship of race and sex from African-American men, a reaction I call "blacklash." However, it will also produce definitions of power, activism and resistance that reconceptualize how our activism is recorded.

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Women and Prison 4

The prison industrial complex in 1970’s economic changes left African-American and Latino communities devastated by unemployment and cuts in social, welfare, educational, and medical provisions. These oppressive conditions were resisted by the blank liberation, Army, black panthers, young Lorda, Chicano power, and the American Indian movement.

These groups were criminalized and identified as threat to the security of the US. Criminalization was/is used to deal with social problems and protest. This shows that many of thousands of women when through this bad situation and they only do this to colors of women because the power people that they think that they are power nobody in this world have power of nothing we all human and we should have the same about rights that white women and men gets. Money in this world is important to pay bills of any kinds and that’s it we should not be divided because government things that money is everything and that’s not true. Since 1980 the number of women in prison has increased at nearly double the rate for men. Women are more likely than men to be incarcerated for a drug offense. The was a study in 2007 that said incarcerated women have experienced a “traumatic event” with 71 percent reporting that they were “ exposed to domestic violence” also 30 percent of women prisoners are African American and 16 percent are Latinas. Black women are incarcerated at 4 Times the rate of whites women.

Victimization of women in prison;

More than 80,000 prisoners are sexually victimized each year but only 8 percent report the victimization. Black women were treated least because of Intersectionality. It not fare of all the bad things that women have to go through on those time in those period and most women are still going thru the same situation. This why now the government is creating help support for those women and men that suffer for psychological trauma and other psychologist cognitive that might happened in their life and they want take it on other people that are inocente.

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Policing of reproductive right 3

The basics Rights of all women to have sex according to their own thoughts and feelings, free from discrimination, coercion, violence, or shame. This express on those time period women were control by men mostly white men and everyone that were minority of women of colors. Those women of colors did not have opportunities to do what they want and what they needed. The only people or women that have benefits to do things with money was the white women, they were more power and had the power to do anything they want cause they had money and with no money they were no good benefition of people or colors.

The freedom to be free from Illnesses or other conditions that may interfere with sex and reproductive. Also the freedom to decide whether or not to have children, how many children, spacing of children. Those people where controlling women to not have too much children to the women of colors because they were not have nobody to help and those women were suffer and most of them are suffering right now into this time since the society and government thinks that have the control to not let other people do thet right thing for their life. Everyone have the equal amount of right to accomplish their dreams. No matter if you are colors or not. And all those benefiting that women were or still getting are not going to last for so long because of white men and whites women things that they can do everything and that’s not true and I don’t agreed with all the things that have been happening in this world with women and also children’s it is very hardful to hear or see bad things that children do or women too.

Even though all these things happens they are problem with variaity with language, most people that comes from another country and gets here in United States we face negative thought by those ignored people that are close mind and do accepted no one to be in there country.

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Gender, status and Power #2

United Nations: in 2008, women made only 18% of members of national parliaments and Congresses worldwide. Men have more wealth and more leisure in virtually every society. It seems that women are treated least then man men and this situation makes it from the society, it affects many women In world wide. Dominant groups will use certain tactics to hold on to power and maintain inequality among groups. Legitimizing myths: attitudes, values, and beliefs that serves to justify hierarchical social practices.

Based on situation like this it makes society more power and make men’s about ever they want to do for their life and also seems women has weak person than strong for example the video that we saw in class based on a men and a women in a court getting interview about a case they saw or did and this vídeos shows many weaknes things that the men did or show and nobody said anything and the women men saw her like she’s not smart or inteligente and she don’t know what she’s saying and that’s is wrong because we all human and we should have the equal amount of opportunities.

Therefore, we should start something new and start helping and not judging women or men of what they do wrong. Also help people and support them at any time and this is how we going to change our negativity and make it positive mind set.

Nobody should feel less than other. And everyone have mouth to speak and Lot ley nobody have control over your own body and mouth. We all learn in society and we do everything that everyone those in this world. We all copy each other because we are afraid of Showing who we really are in this world. We are scared that some men’s or power might do bad things to us. Let’s come to a conclusion and help one another and not let us let treat has we are less or not important we all are important in this world wide society. The race or where you come from it doesn’t matter what matters is the power that you have in you can show it to society and help other in a positive mind set and not judging them.

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Women and ethnicity 1

This article is based on ethnicity against women because when they see a black women human are going to stereotypes that she’s bad person or she looks mean or we should be scare of her because she’s only black. My opinine is that all women with different don’t mean anything black, white, Indian, mulato. Etc.... all this color that we have in our skin is all the same we come from the same generous since we all are human being. There is this part of the article that Talks about “psychologist point out that white people seldom realize the advantages of having white skin (corcoran & Thompson, 2004; ostenson 2008; Rose, 2008.” So this mean that white women things that they have the power to do anything and they would not get in trouble or things that they going to be ok! If the police see them doing something bad. Most of the white people things that they have everything in their life. That’s a sad story when I heard things like that it makes me feel sad for them because of most of white, Hispanic, black, everything’s culture not only one, they believe having light skin color they are better than others. The volt thing that they don’t do is love others and take care of others. We are all normal human being. We should love each other and treat each other like a family member.But women they have been denied by many things because society like to change everything and we don’t have the control any one. However, it only happens depends as normative concept that points out that being white is normal in this culture. Nobody as the power of ruling a country if is not yours. Not even our own country people can’t control. furthermore, we all have the right to feel equal and not feel unequal in this life or in any other parts of the world. We all human and we all going to the same whole. “We die our bodies become duzz.”

Here is a bar graph on most severe for women of color.

@equalnimity @rightsandhumanity @womenpower