Abstract
Looking through the speculum: Examining the women's health movement, brings the reader on a journey through time when feminist health activists in the United States, spurred by the belief that women have a right to control their bodies and their healthcare, changed the world of women's healthcare. Before the 1970s, health care centered on women was inaccessible to many and dictated by a mostly white, male, medical profession.
Houck begins her historical account of the women's health movement in the United States with the then radical, and at times controversial, practice of cervical self-examination during a time in history, the late 1960s and 1970s, when some women had begun to unveil, explore, and enjoy the parts of their bodies that women had been socially conditioned to avoid except when surrendering to their partners, to doctors, or as part of what was considered the most noble of ‘womanly’ duties — the reproduction of humankind. Houck offers an account of the legacy of visionary feminist health activists in the United States who set the tone for the women's health activism that continues to the present day. Looking through the speculum includes a much-needed heralding of the lesser-known history of women's health activism that was led by lesbian women and women of color, activists who have traditionally been disenfranchised by mainstream women's movements. Each chapter provides a well-researched account of the women's health care movement beginning with the genesis of the movement in the late 1960s and continuing with activism through the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Judith A. Houck, professor of History and Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is well versed in the history of women's healthcare in the United States and has written extensively on the medical profession's long history of pathologizing women's health issues. Houck's writing reflects a profound understanding of the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and healthcare politics. Though it is unknown whether Houck aimed to entice potential readers with the use of a provocative book title and book jacket, Looking through the speculum literally and figuratively invites the reader to explore the origins of women's health activism and the legacy it bestowed upon the women's health movement. Houck's message to the reader is clear: while the feminist health activism of yesteryear was neither free from controversy nor as inclusive as activists had hoped, it prepared future health activists to engage in the controversial discussions of abortion, transgender rights, sexual freedom, and bodily autonomy that continue to divide womankind. Houck provides the reader with an inspirational account of how the landscape of women's health activism was transformed by the brave efforts of women who unapologetically gazed upon their own bodies in much the same way star-struck astronomers looked up at celestial bodies in the night sky — with wonder and the desire to learn more about that which seems beyond our reach.
Looking through the speculum will appeal to educators and students from across the spectrum of social and medical sciences and particularly to those with an interest in reproductive justice, women's health history, feminist activism, intersectional marginalization, social change, social movements, healthcare politics, healthcare reform, and women's liberation. Houck's account of the financial conundrums faced by many women's healthcare clinics is especially informative to educators and students wanting to learn more about organizational leadership and the consequences of making concessions that may compromise fidelity to the mission of an organization. Educators might use the text to facilitate discussion on the role of social work ethics in social service leadership or perhaps in preparation for discussion on what can be learned from the legacy of women's healthcare activism of the past half century. Educators might also find individual chapters useful for critical reflection exercises on abortion politics, queer healthcare, or the role of BIPOC women in national and international women's health movements.
Chapter Three (Creating a Feminist Politics of Abortion) provides a historical snapshot of abortion politics both pre and post the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling and serves to illustrate why having access to safe and affordable abortion is a prerequisite for woman's liberation. Chapter Five (Lesbian Health Matters! Lesbians and the Women's Health Movement) follows the evolution of the lesbian healthcare agenda within a heteronormative health movement that historically sidestepped the healthcare needs of queer women. Chapters Seven and Eight (“Any Sister's Pain”: Forging Black Women's Sisterhood through Self-Help and “The Challenge of Change”: Feminist Health Clinics and the Politics of Inclusion) depict the gains and losses of the women's health movement as progressive women of color challenged women's healthcare clinics and their leadership because of their purported anti-racist, anti-capitalist practices and policies. Though not the focus of this book, an expansion on the women's movements around the world that may have influenced U.S. feminist health activism would be a welcome addition to future editions and might appeal to a more international readership.
Activists and advocates, both novice and seasoned, who strongly believe that healthcare is a human right, and that it should be accessible and affordable to all, will find Looking through the speculum a necessary read. How can we arm ourselves with the tools to dismantle systemic sexism, racism, and classism in our healthcare institutions? We can do so by learning from our activist foresisters and by remaining hopeful “that the next generation of activists will envision and enact still new approaches to health, knowledge, and being with each other” (p. 286). Houck's work is more than informative; it is a clarion call for a more unified, better organized campaign of outrage against all threats to women's liberty.
