When Our Bodies, Ourselves first hit bookstands in 1973, many women (and men) didn't quite know what to make of it: with chapters on sex, birth control, masturbation—and even a diagram of the clitoris—it was the first time women had talked about sex so candidly. And yet for many, the experience was almost holy. "Mind-blowing," describes Andi Zeisler, the editorial director at Bitch Magazine, of the time she first read the book, at the home of a friend in the 1980s. Life-changing, says Shira Tarrant, a Los Angeles author. And yet, the seminal text—which would go on to sell four million copies—was just one of many peaks in the decades-long battle for women's sexual liberation. On the book's 40th anniversary, a look at the milestones that came before and after.
Read the Story: Our Bodies, Ourselves at 40