Edited by Veena Shatrugna, Gita Ramaswamy and Srividya Natarajan

Why do women feel that doctors rarely pay attention to what they say? Why are so many women diagnosed as being depressed? Why does the medical system trivialize problems that many women experience as debilitating: back pain, chronic urinary tract infection and menstrual disorder? Is fat a feminist issue? These are among the hundreds of questions that surfaced as a group of women medical professionals as well as laypersons worked together on this handbook. Taking Charge of Our Bodies draws on women’s experiences to evaluate scientific information. It explores our feelings about menstruation, abortion, contraception and notes the way in which women are affected by AIDS, tuberculosis, cancer, mental distress, blood pressure and osteoporosis. It discusses problems affecting sexual relationships, confusions about same-sex love and singles.

This book is a reworked version of the health handbook, Savaalaksha Sandehaalu: Streelu Arogyasamasyalu, aimed at middle-class women. As the original Telugu edition had a regional flavor, the English version was revised as a pan-Indian edition for English speaking women across the sub-continent. The book includes updated versions of the chapters on nutrition, exercise, motherhood etc as well as several new chapters on women’s mental health, problems of fertility, sexuality, menopause and cancer.

Reviews:

  • ‘Mapping Her Story’, Outlook India. 17 May 2004. Click here.

Published by Penguin, New Delhi (2004)

ISBN-13: 978-0143032045