books to read if you're a lady who wants to know more about your lady bits

The Curse: A Cultural History of Menstruation by Janice Delaney, Mary Jane Lupton, and Emily Toth
A really interesting history of our perceptions of periods throughout popular culture and history. This book analyses jokes about periods, how women's health issues have been taught in school, menstruation imagery in fairy tales, and lots more along those lines. I expected to see a progression from paranoid, inaccurate attitudes towards bleeding to a more open, positive mindset through recent history, but this actually wasn't the case. Interestingly enough, although advertising has gotten slightly better over the years (I sincerely hope that we won't be seeing a repeat of the 1970s German television commercial for o.b. Tampons in which a stewardess's skirt is snatched from her by an overeager passenger, causing the voiceover: "I'm glad I'm wearing my o.b. Tampon!"), ads today are still worse in many ways than those during WWII. Due to the conditions of wartime, women's labour was viewed as necessary, and as such, advertisers treated them more respectfully than they had before and have since. "Ads called them women (i.e., adults), rather than girls; the language stressed utility and purpose and the ability of women to assume responsible and competent positions." It's pretty depressing to compare that description to the ads being put out today. Unfortunately, the fifty years that separate us from that era seem to have actually taken us backwards in some ways. Anyway, this book is a really interesting survey of changing attitudes, and well worth reading.

Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health by Toni Weschler
I've been trying to educate myself about women's health issues for quite some time now, and thought I'd reached a point where I was fairly well informed about my body and my cycle. However, picking up this book totally changed my mind ... I learned an insane amount more in a very short time. Weschler is a proponent of natural birth control (not to be confused with the none-too-effective "rhythm method"), and has been educating women on this subject for years. Natural birth control involves checking your cervical fluid (different consistencies indicate different stages of fertility) and body temperature to create ridiculously accurate, detailed charts of your cycle. If you're in a monogamous relationship with an STD-free partner and you keep careful charts, you can reliably do away with any other forms of birth control. Interesting stuff, even if you're not considering actually using the natural birth control method.

Hot Pantz: Do It Yourself Gynecology by the Blood Sisters collective
Okay, so this is technically a zine and not a book, but every woman should seriously have a copy of it, so it's worth mentioning. The Blood Sisters are a group of women in Montreal who promote using the Keeper, cloth pads, and other safe, reusable menstrual products over unhealthy and environmentally unsound disposables. This zine has lots of period info, and also a ton of general women's health information, including STDs, ovarian and uterine problems, and lots more. There is a huge focus on herbal remedies, with recipes for herbal emmenagogues (concoctions that bring on your period) and other handy concoctions, as well as good starter instruction on preparing and using herbs. Definitely good to have on hand. (Blood Sisters Red Alert, c/o Elle Corazon, 176 Bernard West, Montreal, PQ, H2T 2K2, or http://bloodsisters.org/bloodsisters/)


Our Bodies, Ourselves by The Boston Women's Health Book Collective
I've owned one edition or another of this book since I was a little kid (having a feminist mum rules), and it's always been super useful to have around. First published in 1970, Our Bodies, Ourselves has been updated and expanded several times over the years, and the current edition serves as both a history of second wave feminism and women's health issues, and as a handy reference. A huge (seriously, this is bigger than most phone directories) amount of information is covered, including body image, relationships and sexuality, pregnancy, and aging. One of the coolest things about this book is the amount of direct quotes from women that are included. Every chapter has technical and medical information, but it's interspersed with quotes about different women's experiences and feelings about the topic being covered. Completely essential reading.