OCR Text |
Show An 04 awareness and feelings. The technical discussions are interspersed with accounts of personal experiences we've collected .on a truly comprehensive range of subjects." The book gives practical domestic hints such as: "Use cast-iro- n skillets or whenever are an cooking they pans important source of iron, which is needed especially by women." The discussion may elsewhere be thoroughly medical: "Nursing mothers should not take the birth control pill for two reasons. First, it tends to dry up the mother's milk supply. Second and more important, it's suspected that some estrogen will come through into the milk. As estrogen has the effect of inhibiting bone growth, it would be dangerous for the infant to take in any started with a kind of "feminine" a feeling that told you he'd be there when you got off the train, told you just what he'd whisper in your ear. And suddenly you have a new awareness as a woman, and you're sure of your role, whatever you believe it to be. It intuition, You've also come to a new acceptance of your body and its functions, an understanding of the menstrual cycle, for example. And the knowledge that you can depend on Tampax tampons for ... protection, for freedom, for comfort and confidence. estrogen." Tampax tampons are easy to insert, comfortable to wear, easy to remove and discreetly disposable you can almost forget about your period. Being a woman has never been better than now, when you understand yourself and know the kind of protection you need, the kind of protection you can be sure of. Tampax tampons. The group members found that with each other's help they could both decipher medical jargon and also fit facts into their personal experience. They decided to use their research to give a it course on women and their bodies at a local university. non-cred- Surprising success Here are 10 of 12 women who got together, compared notes, read medical journals and, with no prior intent to do so, wrote a book about women. The classes were a success and were repeated at the YWCA and several other Boston institutions. Those who attended these seminars contributed to the course material, and a course guide was printed by New England Free Press, firm. To the women's a small non-proamazement over 200,000 copies were sold. Letters poured in from all over the fit country. by llene Barth BOSTON, MASS. ! n Shat makes a woman I Boston women set out to ex- I plore this question in a funda- I mental way, focusing on the female body and how it works. To do this they depended not only on medical research but also on their own experience and that of dozens of other women who volunteered information. The result: Our Bodies, Ourselves, a 250-pabook covering myriad topics, including nutrition, exercise, rape and sexuality, birth control, and childbearing. Each chapter includes factual information along with drawings, photographs and descriptions of individual experiences. The compilers of this unusual manual, ranging in age from 26 to 43, are all members of the Boston Women's Health Collective, which was formed as a spontaneous offshoot of a 1969 Women's Liberation conference. The group includes a sex education coune houseselor, an art historian, a a social a cellist All but worker, wife, one of the 12 is or has been married, eight have 13 children among them. When the women first met they had I I & ge self-defen- Th Internal pretecttoa kt woin tnwt full-tim- MADE ONLY K TAMPAX INCOAPOftATCO, PAkMCft, tick? Twelve no idea of writing a book. Some sought specific information, like Esther Rome who wanted to draw up a list of good doctors, particularly gynecologists. Others looked for different assistance. Nancy Hawley, for instance, wanted to learn to evaluate medical advice. She says, "How does a woman know that a pill she is taking is the best one for her? I never felt comfortable asking doctors questions because I didn't know what to ask." Says Wendy Sanford: "I joined the group when my son was 9 months old, and I was at the end of a severe postpartum (following birth) depression. I wanted to find out if it was my peculiar problem or if other women had had the same feelings." Compare notes The women compared notes and decided to research these and other questions. With a medical dictionary by their side, they pored over scholarly journals. They also read popular material and solicited comments from women friends. "That's what is unique in our book," says Wilma Diskin. "It talks about facts A California woman wrote that the manual prompted the first really frank conversation she and her four daughters had ever had. A young Kentucky mother said: "I'm glad to see that other women have had the same concerns as I." Two high school girls reported that the book was the first sex education they'd received. There was criticism, too. "The doctors who read it corrected very few of ou' facts, but some criticized our book for its attitude of not accepting medical opinion without question," reports Ruth Bell. Other readers complained that the manual's explicitness prevented them from sharing it with their children. Royalties to causes The real test, however, will come this month when Simon & Schuster publishes Our Bodies, Ourselves and distributes it nationally. But neither success nor controversy is likely to rock the collective's members, who have become close friends. They have arranged for their royalties to go founcTation so the money to a tax-frworthwhile causes. for can be used The most important reward, the women agree, is knowledge. Judy sums up her group's shared eis your xperience saying, "Your body it, you understand home and when you feel better about yourself." n MAW. PARADE MARCH 11, W M |