Work(ing) out

In 1971 the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective published a resource book for women that represented a significant victory in the struggle waged by women for autonomy. The book, Our Bodies, Ourselves, was extremely visible throughout the early 1970s. Its dog-eared, paper-bound cover featuring a photo of banner-waving women could be found in many women’s homes, on the sofa or kitchen counter, where it served as a focal point to rally women’s desire for collective activity, discussion and a full range of ‘consciousness-raising’ pursuits. I mention this book because, seen now in retrospect, it clearly defines an important moment in the women’s movement of this century, one whose political specificity no longer exists, but one that we need to remember in order to understand the problems we must face in the last decade of the twentieth century if the struggle for liberation is to continue.

Duke Scholars

Author Susan Willis Literature