Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia.

My name is Jody Abergen.

This day May 5th, 1969, a group of women in Boston are preparing to meet at what was dubbed

a female liberation conference at Emmanuel College.

In a workshop called women and their bodies,

they shared experiences with doctors

and their frustration at how little they knew

about how their bodies worked.

That kind of direct information sharing was incredibly powerful and what came out of it

built on those frustrations and that need for sharing information was even more powerful.

It was a pamphlet, a booklet, a hundred thirty six pages stapled together a product of the newly formed Boston Women's Health Book Collective.

That self-published booklet was called Women and their Bodies, and a couple years later it would be renamed our bodies ourselves.

This would go on to sell millions of copies be wildly influential and helpful to women generation after generation.

As one of the original organizers put it, we didn't have the information we needed, so we decided

to find it and share it on our own.

So here to discuss the Boston Women's Health Book Collective,

the influence of our bodies ourselves, and lots more are as always

Nicole Hammer of Columbia and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley. Hello

Jody. Hello there.

Hello, Jody.

Hey there.

So look, if we're talking about a pamphlet and then a book that is written in reaction

...