Our Bodies, Our Blog is delighted to be included on Forbes magazine’s top 100 websites for women – a list of “the most dynamic, inspiring and helpful websites for women.” We were cited for educating readers on women’s health issues through “topical, newsy content.”

Meghan Casserly and Jenna Goudreau write in the intro: “To determine which sites and blogs made the cut we looked for compelling and decidedly female-oriented content, outstanding design, an active community and frequent updates. In short, sheer clickyness.”

What’s really cool is the number of feminist sites on the list, including Catalyst, Feministing, Feministe, Hello Ladies, Jezebel, Salon’s Broadsheet and Women’s eNews. It’s no surprise to us that these sites provide readers with essential news and analysis, but it’s a real delight to see a  media giant recognize their importance and reach — and to know that this list was created with the help of Forbes readers.

Update: In the excitement over being named to the Forbes list, we failed to note the fairly obvious exclusion of a variety of women’s voices. I agree completely with the response that my co-blogger, Rachel, wrote at Women’s Health News, and I’m re-posting it here:

Finally, Renee at Womanist Musings points out that that Forbes list of top 100 websites for women didn’t do much to be inclusive of women of color, trans women, women with disabilities, or other marginalized communities of women, and I think this is a fair criticism of the list, and of those of us (like me, as Our Bodies Our Blog was on it) who were included but didn’t immediately notice/point out how others were excluded or how the list was focused. It’s certainly a kind of privilege that it was an issue that was too easy for me to overlook in my “omg, we got noticed” glee, and something I should be better about.

Read Womanist Musings for the full critique and suggestions of sites that deserve notice.

When Los Angeles-based artist Joanne Mitchell wrote to us with news of the removal of a gender-oriented work from the Bucharest International Biennale, we asked her to share the information with readers. Joanne’s piece “Our bodies, ourselves – the book, I mean” will be showcased as part of the organization’s 40th-anniversary celebration in 2011.

By Joanne Mitchell

The Bucharest International Biennale opened last week without “Tit for Twat,” a 20-year long, ongoing project made by a former teacher of mine, the artist Kaucyila Brooke.

“Tit for Twat” is a three-part epic that takes the form of photo montage, and re-imagines the creation story from the perspective of two lesbian protagonists (view it here). It is intelligent, challenging work, sweetly sprinkled with just the right touch of humor – exactly the caliber of work I aspire to make as a lesbian-feminist artist.

The work was supposed to have been installed as part of the Biennale at Bucharest’s Institute of Geology but was shockingly pulled at the last minute by the director of that institution.

Kaucyila has consistently challenged conventional thinking on gender and sexuality throughout her long and distinguished career as an artist and as a teacher at California Institute of the Arts. It is troubling that her work is being kept from view during this international event.

Kaucyila was influential in support of my project “Our bodies, ourselves – the book, I mean” while I was a student of hers at CalArts. She contributed a wonderfully engaging story about her experience with “Our Bodies, Ourselves” that I present in a video installation. My project tracks the history of the book “Our Bodies, Ourselves” and offers viewers an opportunity to engage critically with the history and trajectory of the women’s movement. I will be presenting the project as part of the 40th Anniversary Celebration of Our Bodies Ourselves in Boston in 2011.

Here are some statements on Kaucyila’s behalf:

Kaucyila Brooke’s “Tit for Twat” is a challenging piece of artistic literature about some of the most important topics affecting our humanity. It is a deeply thought out and literate investigation into the stability of gender categories and our deep mythopoetic narratives of origin. Some viewers will not like it, some will outright disagree. But these dissenters and others will all find wholly new dimensions of thinking about humanity’s fixed categories of being.

None of that can happen in the face of censorship, a form of silencing cloaked in cowardly evasiveness. The Arts are one of the very few global cultural spaces where repressions of difference may — and indeed must be — freely explored for humanity to find ways to move on, allowing discovery, discussion (however contentious), and progress towards a more tolerant world. It is a grievous blow to that future tolerance that the Bucharest Biennial has allowed Art’s precious freedom to be compromised in the interest of pathetic inoffensiveness.

- Ellen Birrell, Artist, Publisher and Editor, X-TRA, a Quarterly Journal of the Arts

Jacques Rancière claims “a new form of political subjectivity that would accept the point that we start from equality, from the idea that there is a universal competence – that there is a universal capacity that is involved in all those experiments and that we are trying to expand – to expand the field and the capacities of that competence.”

In “Tit for Twat” by Kaucyila Brooke, Madam and Eve are standing on the edge of human evolution, curiously embarking on a journey through space, time and history. Intellectually fascinated by the idea of “nature,” they decide to visit various historic gardens, to question the biblical assumption of heterosexuality (Adam and Eve), and to deal with their relation towards other theories of origin. Especially in a Catholic country, the piece is highly provocative but don’t we need provocative works in order to discuss future ways of living?

In our times of passage, a time that implies a certain chaos, structures are going to disappear and the new is not yet at the horizon. Especially in uncertain times, we have to open our minds, we have to be able to ask questions, we have to show critical works and we have to discuss them — but not to exclude them. No religious or political authority can provide us with a clear definition of meaning, or communicate a socially sanctioned aspiration for the collective implementation of a utopia or a promise of redemption.

Therefore, the act of censoring works (without even discussing it) is against society, is against all that contemporary art stands for today and questions the intent of the Bucharest Biennial as a whole. Believe in your audience and give them the opportunity to decide for themselves.

- Bettina Steinbrügge, Co-curator of Forum Expanded/Berlin International Film Festival, Associate curator of La Kunsthalle, Mulhouse

“Tit for Twat” will not be seen at the Biennale, but you can view images and text from dialogue balloons online at http://www.kaucyilabrooke.com. Please share this with anyone interested in feminist art and censorship.

On April 1, Our Bodies Ourselves asked, “Who’s your women’s health hero?“

Dozens of you responded enthusiastically, sending in essays and videos describing the heroes who most inspire you.

Among them: a women’s studies professor who is a role model for her students; midwives and doulas who empower women to trust themselves and their bodies; activists and legislators pressing for real health care reform; numerous individuals and organizations advocating for reproductive rights and justice; a friend who provides a safe space for discussion; a mother “who cares for others whenever they are alone and in need”; community health workers who share information with their neighbors; and doctors who volunteer their time and expertise in other countries.

We couldn’t be more thrilled with all the nominees and the passionate submissions. A big thank you to everyone who participated!

Without further ado, Our Bodies Ourselves is excited to introduce the 20 newest inductees into the Women’s Health Heroes Hall of Fame and the two special mentions:

Audience Choice Award: Margaret Flowers, MD, health care reform activist and congressional fellow at Physicians for a National Health Program. Flowers received a whopping 891 votes. Go, progressive health activists!

Our Bodies Ourselves Honoree: Lynn Jackson, intake director at the Texas Equal Access Fund and national case manager for the National Network of Abortion Funds. Thank you for your compassion — and for inspiring the women you work with and serve!

Congratulations to the 2010 inductees and to all the nominees — all of whom are heroes.

UPDATE: Interview got bumped for breaking news. It is scheduled to air Monday.

Our Bodies Ourselves Executive Director Judy Norsigian will be on “The Emily Rooney Show” on WGBH-FM (89.7 in Boston) today at 12 noon, discussing the 50th anniversary of the pill. You can listen live online.

Elaine Tyler May, a professor of American studies and history at the University of Minnesota and the author of “America and the Pill: A History of Promise, Peril and Liberation,” will also be on the program. Here’s an op-ed May wrote that appeared in the Washington Post this past Sunday: “The Pill: Making Motherhood Better for 50 Years,” and an interview she did recently at Feministing.

We’ll post more birth control-related stories, with comments from Judy, later today.

Just a quick reminder that today, May 7, is the last day to nominate a Women’s Health Hero.

We’re generous with deadlines, so if something comes in late tonight after we’ve all gone to bed, don’t worry — you’ll still be included.

Here’s the info page explaining how everything works and the submission form.

You can view all the nominees submitted so far — remember, voting is open through May 14. Good luck!

This Sunday, more than 150 million Mother’s Day cards will be exchanged in the United States. Most of these cards cost between $4 and $5.

Now imagine what would happen if you donate that $5 to your favorite nonprofit in honor of Mom. We could change the world.

But wait, you may be wondering how $5 can change anything. Five dollars ensures that future generations of girls grow up with reliable health information. Five dollars helps create a community of support and a place to turn for questions. Five dollars gives us the ability to provide tools that enable girls and women to become better health advocates. Five dollars changes everything.

Consider making a gift to Our Bodies Ourselves in honor of all the moms in your life. And if you’re thinking a $5 donation doesn’t make a difference, think again. If every one of our blog readers and Facebook supporters made a $5 donation in honor of their mom or loved one this Mother’s Day, we’d raise more than $75,000. That’s right — $75,000.

We all know the value of accurate health information, and I know that you care deeply about women’s health issues. So this Mother’s Day, when you’re contemplating which card to buy, honor your mom with a gift to Our Bodies Ourselves.

With every $5 donation, we’re on our way to changing the world.

When Our Bodies Ourselves launched the Women’s Health Heroes Awards in 2009, we didn’t anticipate the outpouring of essays and videos we received (from seven countries!) or how incredibly difficult it would be to select two honorees from the close to 100 submissions.

We circumvented the second issue by selecting 20 Women’s Health Heroes — and addressed the first part by making it an annual event.

By making these changes, we are able to direct more attention to the challenging and rewarding work done around the world to improve the health and well-being of women. And, within five years, our Women’s Health Heroes Hall of Fame will include 100 people who have made a difference.

So without further ado, I’m delighted to announce the launch of the 2010 Women’s Health Heroes Awards.

If you have a favorite doctor, midwife, doula, blogger, activist, educator, family member, neighbor or friend who has made a difference in the lives of women, now is your chance to tell the world about her or his  impact. Submission guidelines and details can be found at http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/heroes.asp

Here are the important deadlines:
* Nominations open: April 1
* Submissions deadline: May 7
* Voting opens: May 7
* Voting closes: May 14
* Winners announced: May 26

Submissions will be posted at OurBodiesOurBlog.org. Readers will determine which nominee receives the Audience Choice Award, and OBOS staff will select one nominee for special recognition.

Those two selections — and the people who nominated them — will receive a set of “Our Bodies, Ourselves” titles, including “Our Bodies, Ourselves”; “Our Bodies, Ourselves: Menopause”; and “Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth” — all of which will be signed by organizational co-founders, book editors and contributors. In addition, these health heroes will receive an engraved award for display.

Then, because we can’t stop there, we’ll select 18 more nominees, for a total of 20 new inductees into the Women’s Health Heroes Hall of Fame.

Please feel free to share this information on blogs, listservs and with your own networks. If you have any questions, please contact Wendy Brovold, OBOS communications and marketing manger: wendy@bwhbc.org or 617-245-0200 ×13

Thanks — and good luck!

P.S. You can help spread the word by adding one of these widgets to your website or Facebook. If you need other promotional material, just let us know!

Earlier this month I wrote that we were overwhelmed by the interest in participating in an online discussion on sexual relationships — a conversation that will help to update the relationships chapter in “Our Bodies, Ourselves.” I just wanted to let folks know that participants will be notified this weekend, and the conversation will start next week.

We received hundreds of emails and learned a great deal from everyone’s submissions — including that there is a need for a forum for this kind of conversation. We’ll keep thinking about how we might be able to make that happen. Meanwhile, please keep an eye on this space for future announcements concerning stories wanted for the 2011 edition. Thanks!

Wow.

Last week we asked for your help in updating the sexual relationships section in the next edition of “Our Bodies, Ourselves” (Simon & Schuster, 2011). We had no idea what response we would receive to an invitation to join an online discussion that touches on many personal issues.

Would people be interested? Would they be willing to share?

The short answer is an overwhelming “Yes.”

The response has been amazing — we’ve received hundreds of submissions, so many that we’re going to move the deadline up to Wednesday, Feb. 3.

But! We will need input on other chapters in the coming months. We probably won’t be able to do another online discussion, but we’ll ask for specific stories and anecdotes to help personalize and add insight to the topics covered throughout the book.

We’ve flagged some of the relationship submissions for this purpose. So many of you were incredibly forthcoming about other aspects of your lives — as mothers, as survivors of sexual and domestic abuse, as feminists taking on sexism — and we may get in touch with you for permission to include your perspective in another section.

The editorial team working on the 2011 edition has been so moved by the generosity and support of OBOS readers. A big thank you from all of us to all of you!

Feel free to re-post this call on blogs, listservs and newsletters. If you have any questions, you can contact me directly or leave a comment below.

Our Bodies Ourselves is seeking up to two dozen women to participate in an online discussion on sexual relationships.

Stories and comments may be used anonymously in the next edition of “Our Bodies, Ourselves,” which will be published in 2011 by Simon & Schuster.

We are seeking the experience and wisdom of heterosexual, lesbian, bisexual and queer women. Perspectives from single women are encouraged, and you may define relationship as it applies to you, from monogamy to multiple partners. We are committed to including women of color, women with disabilities, trans women and women of many ages and backgrounds.

In the words of the brilliant anthology “Yes Means Yes,” how can we consistently engage in more positive experiences? What issues deserve more attention? And how do we address social inequities and violence against women? These are some of the guiding questions that will help us to update the relationships section in “Our Bodies, Ourselves.”

The conversation will start Sunday, Feb. 14 (yes, Valentine’s Day) and stay open through Friday, March 12.

Participants will be invited to answer relevant questions (see sample below) and build on the responses of other participants. We’ll use a private Google site to post questions and responses.

Personal stories and reflections are welcomed, along with updated research and media resources. While we intend to use some of the stories and experiences in the book, names will not be published.

We hope the open process* will spark robust discussion. We expect new questions to arise that challenge us to re-work this section even more.

If you would like to participate in this conversation, please e-mail OBOS editorial team member Wendy Sanford: wsanford@bwhbc.org

In your email, please tell us about yourself and what you would bring to the conversation. We need to hear from you by Feb. 5 and will let you know soon thereafter about participation. Thanks for considering this!

*We have thought a great deal about privacy. If you want to share a story or information, but do not want to participate in the private Google site discussion, please indicate that in your email. We may send you questions that you can answer on your own.

* * * * * *
Sample Questions
Participants can suggest other questions

How do you define — and express — intimacy?

What are you looking for in a relationship? What kind of relationship do you seek at this time in your life — monogamous, non-monogamous, long-term, short-term, one partner or more than one? How is this related to being a woman or to your gender or sexual identity in the society(ies) and culture(s) to which you belong?

What do you enjoy most about being sexual?

What are your experiences in a relationship that spans differences such as class, race, age, physical or mental ability, chronic illness, other?

How does it affect your relationships when you are with someone whom the world gives more or less power than you have — because of race, income, gender or disability?

What role has love played or not played in your relationships?

Describe a time when you realized that despite the romantic images you may have grown up with, a relationship you intended to stay in over time was going to be work.

What are some obstacles that can get in the way of our relationships? What images or stereotypes in popular culture add to the difficulties?

What helps? What books or other resources do you trust to speak honestly about relationships?

What is it like to be in a relationship with a man/with a woman when you don’t like some or all of your own body?

How have specific acts of sexual violence against you, or general societal/cultural acceptance of violence against women or LGBT people, affected your intimate sexual relationships?

If you have been in intimate sexual relationships with both women and men, are there special dynamics and challenges that you have noticed in each?

If you have experience with online dating networks, what would you want someone to know who was just starting to explore that venue? What are the safety issues?

We interrupt this blog to bring you an urgent message: Our Bodies Ourselves needs your help.

This is not your ordinary holiday fundraising campaign. We need to raise $50,000 by Dec. 31 to maintain staffing and continue our program work at current levels.

Here’s the deal. OBOS has a big name but a tiny budget. Book sales account for only 6 percent of our budget (yes: 6 percent!). We’re a nonprofit that depends on donors and grants to make up the other lean 94 percent. And this year has been hard.

If you’re a regular Our Bodies Our Blog reader, you know we do our best to evaluate the latest medical research and studies (and provide tips so you can, too), explain ongoing political negotiations over women’s health and women’s bodies, and keep you informed on everything from the new, improved female condom to the benefits and harms of osteoporosis medications. And we provide a venue for guest writers to share their organization’s work and personal stories.

What you might not know is that OBOS is a tiny organization with a full-time staff of only six (and a few part-timers like us) that works in partnership with other organizations to create change around the world. Here’s what we’ve been up to lately:

- We are in the midst of writing the 9th edition of “Our Bodies, Ourselves,” scheduled for publication in the fall of 2011.

- We work with women’s groups around the world who translate and adapt “Our Bodies, Ourselves.” The book is currently in 24 languages! 24!

- A group we work with in Japan coined new, positive words for female reproductive organs because there weren’t any. These words are now in the Japanese dictionary.

- Another group in Nepal worked to get women’s reproductive rights included in the country’s new constitution. We influenced a constitution!

- We’re creating a 15-minute documentary to send to law makers in Massachusetts to promote the creation of a board of registration in midwifery.

- We’re working to promote the health care reform public option and to ensure that abortion is covered as a medical procedure.

- OBOS staff, especially its tireless co-founder Judy Norsigian, speaks to dozens of groups every year and testifies at political hearings on issues such as the safety of breast implants, problems with direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs, the well-documented efforts of midwifery care and more.

- We provide an unbiased, independent, feminist perspective that is all to often missing from healthcare debates.

- We created the Women’s Health Heroes awards in 2009, inducting 20 women nominated by readers like you. And we’re gearing up to honor more heroes in 2010.

Our Bodies Ourselves has always been there when you needed us most. And now we need you.

We can continue this work with your support. If we can get 1,000 people to make donations of $50 each, we’ll reach our goal faster than you can say, “Women rock!”

So please make a donation today (it’s tax deductible!). Share this news with your friends and networks. And enjoy the warm fuzzies you get from knowing you did a good thing — and from knowing that OBOS will be there to answer your health questions and to be an advocate for you and your family.

Thank you for your support!

- Rachel & Christine

A recent Time magazine story looks at the decade-long search for a drug to cure women with low sexual desire — a so-called female Viagra. A German pharmaceutical company thinks it’s on the right track with flibanserin, a drug originally developed as an antidepressant (it didn’t work for its intended purpose). Filbanserin is undergoing clinical trials to treat hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD).

Our own Judy Norsigian is quoted in Time, expressing caution:

Certainly, there may be women who will do better after taking flibanserin, says Judy Norsigian, executive director of the women’s health advocacy Our Bodies Ourselves, based in Cambridge, Mass. But she thinks the diagnosis of HSDD unnecessarily medicalizes women’s sexual lives. Attempting to treat low libido with a pill ignores the fact that many women’s level of desire is deeply affected by everyday life stress and interpersonal relationships. Add to that a cultural milieu that at once promotes shame and ignorance about women’s sexuality while wildly inflating their expectations for sex.

In many cases, says Norsigian, the proper solution to a lack of sexual desire would involve a number of non-drug approaches, such as therapy, mind-body techniques and getting partners involved in the solution. “That could be equally successful while at the same time not exposing women to the [potential] long-term adverse effects of drugs,” says Norsigian, who suggests testing drugs like flibanserin against drug-free therapies. “Moreover, the non-medication approaches often address root causes for lack of libido and thus reflect a prevention approach that is usually much wiser.”

During a recent event hosted by the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing’s Midwifery Program, Norsigian raised similar questions about whether women are receiving the best and safest treatments. She also discussed examples of how mixed, inaccurate or incomplete media coverage can make it difficult for women to navigate their health options and to understand the risks involved with some procedures. The Reporter, Vanderbilt Medical Center’s weekly newspaper, covered Norsigian’s talk.

OBOS co-founder and executive director Judy Norsigian has been in Nashville, TN, for the weekend, and this morning she was a guest on  Liberadio(!), Mary Mancini and Freddie O’Connell’s local political radio show.

Topics covered include the history of the organization and the need for its work (including the landmark book and newer initiatives), the PRIM&R conference Judy attended while in town, Senator Kennedy, health care reform, media portrayals of health reform proposals, the Stupak amendment, abortion, age discrimination, social justice and diversity, among others.

The show is archived online at http://tinyurl.com/yhadu9s (you may need to download RealPlayer to listen). Judy’s segment starts at about 1:32 of the 2-hour episode. No transcript is available, but you can get some quick text notes on the segment via Liberadio(!)’s Twitter updates from this morning.

Thanks to Liberadio(!), and to everyone who came out to the OBOS house party last night!

In our second self-referential moment of the week, I wanted to point to several posts by OBOS blogger Rachel Walden that are featured in this month’s MedLib’s Round, a monthly blog carnival that highlights some of the best writing on medical librarianship.

From the carnival intro:

A 2008 study by the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest found that searching for health information online can be dangerous, with search engine results pages dominated by websites that appeared legitimate but had zero medical authority [1]. Our hope is that this edition of MedLib’s Round — themed Finding credible health information online— will offer ideas and advice to help people use the Web more effectively to search and find credible health information.

This post, “Tips for Savvy Medical Web Surfing” – A Critique, from Rachel’s own site, Women’s Health News, reviews  a CNN article on how to conduct online medical searches.

Can You Trust That Health Website?, published here, explains how to evaluate the reliability of health information websites. In Understanding Medical Research, also published at OBOB, Rachel offers tips on how to make sense of complex (and sometimes contradictory) studies and what it all means for your health.

Visit Highlight Health for more great selections from this month’s carnival, and congrats to Rachel!

We’ve heard from several readers who caught a glimpse of “Our Bodies, Ourselves” on a recent episode of “Gossip Girl.” (No, not that episode.)

We tried to embed the scene, but permissions just won’t let it happen. Fortunately Television Without Pity has the full (really full) re-cap, including the dialogue referencing OBOS.  New York magazine was as surprised as we were to find OBOS included …