Episode 94: Jennifer Block

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In this episode, feminist journalist, editor, and advocate Jennifer Block joins Rachel in conversation around public health disparities, medical agency, the history of western medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, midwifery and other alternate healing modalities, feminism(s), contraception, abortion, and pleasure. Rachel also discusses factors that led to her choosing an unmedicated home birth for her third son, Judah, and shares regrets about her hysterectomy.

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Books and Projects

• Everything Below the Waist: Why Healthcare Needs a Feminist Revolution (2019)

• Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care (2008)

• Our Bodies Ourselves: A New Edition for a New Era (2005), Contributing Editor

• Ms. Magazine (founded 1972), former Editor

Other Texts & People Mentioned in the Episode

• Heather Corinna, What Fresh Hell Is This?: Perimenopause, Menopause, Other Indignities, and You (2021)

• Susun S. Weed, New Menopausal Years, Volume 3: Alternative Approaches for Women 30-90 (2002)

• Our Bodies Ourselves (series, 1970-present)

• Federation of Feminist Women's Health Center, A New View of a Woman's Body: A Fully Illustrated Guide (1981)

• Barbara Ehrenreich & Deirdre English, For Her Own Good: Two Centuries of the Experts Advice to Women (1978)

• Barbara Ehrenreich & Deirdre English, Witches, Midwives, & Nurses: A History of Women Healers (1973) 

• Shulamith Firestone

• Adrienne Rich

• Jerilynn Prior

• Laura Eldridge, In Our Control: The Complete Guide to Contraceptive Choices For Women (2010)*

  • *misnamed as Ashley Eldridge in the episode

• Holly Grigg-Spall, Sweetening the Pill: Or How We Got Hooked on Hormonal Birth Control (2013)

• Cynthia Graham

• Planned Parenthood

• American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)

• Lyn Paltrow, founder of National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW)

• Rinat Dray case and decision

• First-Wave Feminism

• Second-Wave Feminism

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