'Our Bodies, Ourselves': Going, Going, Gone Global

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http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1989

 

September 23, 2004

 

 

Health & Environment

 

'Our Bodies, Ourselves': Going, Going, Gone Global

Run 09/14/04

By Molly M. Ginty

WeNews correspondent

 

" Our Bodies, Ourselves " is more than ever becoming the basic text for

women across the globe. Translators of the free-thinking U.S. text are

expanding its reach from Argentina to Turkey and adapting it to

cultural boundaries.

 

Our Bodies, Ourselves Senegal

 

(WOMENSENEWS)--In Asia, it teaches Buddhist nuns how to ease muscle

cramps caused by hours of sitting meditation.

 

In Africa, it cautions women not to overeat; a health risk in a region

where being overweight is the standard of feminine beauty.

 

In Latin America, it urges women to rethink the anti-choice stance of

the region's Roman Catholic Church.

 

Across the globe, " Our Bodies, Ourselves, " the pioneering text that

became an underground sensation in the United States after it was

first published here in 1970, is adapting itself to the regional

variations of women's global reality.

 

After coming out in its first foreign-language edition in 1976 in

Spanish, the text is now available in 17 languages and Braille. It has

been published in 15 nations and will soon be released in India, South

Korea and Poland. It has sold millions of U.S. copies and--with global

distribution--garnered 20 million readers worldwide.

 

In addition, it recently inspired the creation of a similar African

health text, " Notre Corps, Notre Sante, " which features original

content in French and is being distributed to women in 21 African

countries.

An Innovative Approach to Women's Health

 

Created by a group of Boston health activists 35 years ago, " OBOS, " as

it is widely known, takes health information that was once exclusively

in the hands of medical experts and places it in the hands of ordinary

women.

 

In all its translations, the book maintains its trademark approach of

presenting medical information in the form of communal feminine

narrative. Testimonials from ordinary women--about everything from

menstruation through menopause and beyond--are interspersed with

articles, charts, graphs and diagrams. Speaking to readers like a

mother or a friend, " OBOS " covers reproduction, contraception,

exercise and nutrition.

 

As it spreads into other languages and other cultures, the text is

sparking a variety of consumer health movements.

 

The Armenia version of OBOS has inspired women's activists there to

open a storefront health center where they distribute pamphlets about

family planning and sexually-transmitted diseases.

 

In Japan, the book spurred its translators to survey 200 clinics and

hospitals about their policies regarding women's health. In Latin

America, the text provided material for an anti-smoking campaign

specifically geared toward women.

 

" Education is the most powerful tool for lifting the plight of women

worldwide, " says Sally Deane, chair of the board for the Our Bodies,

Ourselves collective, the Boston-based non-profit that oversees " OBOS "

publications. " We hope to reach a global audience while maintaining

our core of personal stories and accurate information about health

topics that all women must know. "

 

The creators of OBOS also hope to eradicate health threats that are of

specific concern to women.

 

" We're concerned by the rise of religious fundamentalism, which

impinges on women's ability to control their reproductive lives, " says

Judy Norsigian, the executive director of the Our Bodies, Ourselves

collective. " We're alarmed by government cutbacks in developing

countries that are preventing women from getting basic health care.

We're also concerned that the pharmaceutical industry is blocking the

production of generic drugs so developing countries must pay high

prices to import them from abroad. "

Each Edition is Unique

 

Back in 1976, when they realized their message could benefit women of

all cultures, the creators of " OBOS " translated their original text

into Spanish. That success led to more foreign-language texts and the

OBOS Global Translation/Adaptation Program, which helps health

advocates across the globe amend the book to suit their needs.

 

With a $75,000 annual budget (garnered mostly from foundations), OBOS

administrators transfer the publication rights for the token sum of

one dollar, then provide technical assistance with fundraising,

negotiating publishing contracts, promoting books and distributing

them. Sometimes, health advocates write their own testimonials and use

photographs of women from their own countries. Sometimes, they use

ready-made wording and graphics provided by the OBOS head office.

 

With each new publication of " OBOS, " women's health advocates work to

tell their own stories in their own voices. In their testimonials,

they talk about issues that are universal among women: breastfeeding,

having an abortion, living with a sexually transmitted disease and

going through menopause. They also talk about topics that are unique

to their own cultures, such as struggling to gain access to health

care in a developing country and struggling to recover from a rape

perpetrated by soldiers as an act of war.

 

The unique set of health needs of each group of readers has led to

some surprising spin-offs. In Bulgaria, the shift from Communism to

democracy is taking a somewhat anti-Western form. One aspect of that

is a widespread antipathy toward feminism, which is seen as Western,

anti-male and anti-family. As a result, the Bulgarian translation

emphasizes women's rights as consumers, patients and citizens. It

refrains, however, from discussing the idea that women are an

oppressed or marginalized group.

 

Much of the Serbian adaptation was produced during the prolonged war

in the Balkan region in the 1990s, so the privation of readers there

was a major consideration. " The authors dropped the nutrition

chapter, " says Judy Norsigian. " It just seemed terrible to speak of

food when people in the region were starving. "

 

In Armenia, where a declining birthrate and economic hardship are

causing massive emigration from the country, many people are wary of

contraception and are pro-natalist. Out of cultural deference, the

version published here emphasizes childbirth and gives somewhat

shorter shrift to birth control.

 

Differences like these are reflected in " Our Bodies, Ourselves

Transformed Worldwide, " a collection of selected English translations

of prefaces from international adaptations, which is available on the

collective's Web site.

Future Projects

 

In addition to publishing texts in foreign languages, the Our Bodies,

Ourselves collective also has its hands in health projects worldwide.

It has distributed 300,000 free books--most of them in English or

Spanish--to international groups. It contributes to small-scale

projects such as helping Nigerian activists adapt the OBOS text to

radio public service announcements and to large-scale programs run by

leading health organizations such as the Contraceptive Research and

Development Program, Family Health International, the National Women's

Health Network, and the World Health Organization.

 

By the end of this year, women's health advocates hope to launch three

new international editions of OBOS.

 

For the Tibetan version (to be published in India, home to a vast

community of Tibetan exiles), they are writing about personal hygiene,

which is crucial for women living in monasteries that house more than

500 people.

 

For the Korean version, they are addressing parts of the text to

Russian sex workers and other foreign women who are flooding into the

country in search of employment. For the Polish version, they are

expanding the section on reproductive care since basic sex education

is not available in the country's predominantly Catholic schools.

 

In the United States, the collective is about to publish its eighth

revision of the English-language text. In the Middle East, the

advocates are working to translate and distribute the chapter on

childbearing to women in five Arab countries. In China, Nepal,

Vietnam, Turkey, Kenya and Brazil, activists are meeting with private

funders to drum up financing for new translations.

 

As OBOS international publishing continues to grow, its supporters

hope it will continue to reach thousands of new readers; women who

likely have nowhere else to turn for accurate health information.

 

" Most books about women's health are not woman-positive or designed to

be used by women, " says Mavi Kalem, a health advocate working to

publish " OBOS " in Turkey. " Of all the books we have looked at, 'OBOS'

is the one volume that provides a model that fills these needs. We

want women to say, 'I read this book, and it changed my life!' "

 

Molly M. Ginty is a freelance writer based in New York City.

 

For more information:

 

Our Bodies, Ourselves:

http://www.bwhbc.org

 

Women's eNews--

Our Bodies, Ourselves Turns 35 Today

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1820

 

Women's eNews--

How a Group of Friends Transformed Women's Health:

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/844

 

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