Our Bodies, Ourselves

Unlike Ariel Levy and some of the other feminist authors we have read throughout the course, the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective (BWHBC) recognizes the relative homogeneity of the group they represent. In doing so, they are overcoming a boundary that many other feminist activists have stumbled over…“In short, we are both a very ordinary and a very special group, as women are everywhere. We are white middle-class women, and as such can describe only what life has been for us.” (p. 355) This understanding that the BWHBC can only generalize their claims across groups of women similar to them is the first step to achieving the truly universal sisterhood that so many authors have spoke of. Moreover, they “realize that poor women and non-white women have suffered far more form the kinds of misinformation and mistreatment that we are describing in this book.” (p. 355) This is a critical realization because it opens the door for all women, regardless of class or race, who feel lost in the ignorance that has been forced upon them by patriarchal oppression. Finally, the BWHBC makes a very poignant claim…“In some ways, learning about our womanhood from the inside out has allowed us to cross over the socially created barriers of race, color, income, and class, and to feel a sense of identity with all women in the experience of being female.” (p. 355) The idea that women are all fundamentally tied together due to anatomy is nothing new, but the perspective that this idea can help individuals and groups overcome issues that have divided women is certainly revolutionary. In class discussions and readings alike, we have seen so many feminist groups fall to destructive nature of class, race, and ethnic conflict. However, the BWHBC takes a brilliant approach in attempting to explain that even though they are a homogenous group and therefore can’t truly understand the plights of other minority groups, they are still able to teach and learn from other women because they are all women at the most significant and fundamental level.