by Eva Dameron
Daily Lobo
Our Bodies, Ourselves is no ordinary women's health book.
Besides physical health, it covers mental health, reproductive, environmental and occupational health, women's empowerment, aging, abortion, masturbation and sexuality.
Judy Norsigian, a founding editor who helped put out the new edition, Our Bodies, Ourselves: A new Edition for a New Era, complete with volumes of new information, talked last Tuesday inside the UNM Bookstore. She touched on issues found throughout the book, answered questions from the audience and signed copies.
According to literature made available during the talk, the history of Our Bodies, Ourselves took root in 1969 at a women's liberation conference in Boston. At a workshop, the women discovered they were all frustrated or angry with the medical establishment and its uninformative and condescending doctors. Over time, these women brought together a collection of facts, feelings and controversies that was to become Our Bodies, Ourselves in 1970.
"It is unique in that there's no book quite like it that combines social change perspective, a feminist perspective and lots of women's experiences," Norsigian said. "It's partly experiential, partly factual, partly advocacy. We have a point of view - we acknowledge that. I have not seen a book like it. That's a reason it has endured for 35 years."
Norsigian gave facts about the drug industry and how some of the drugs are harmful to women's bodies. An example was Lipitor, a cholesterol-reducing drug that is the top-selling drug in the world. Lipitor puts women at a higher risk of breast cancer. She said only 10 percent to 15 percent of cancers come from genetic material. The rest come from carcinogens and radiation, which we come in contact with wherever we go, she said.
At least 50 people gathered to listen - a handful of them were men.
Student Jonathan Strong came because he was interested in the types of issues covered by the book.
"I figured I'd pick up a copy for my girlfriend," he said. "She really needs to know this kind of stuff."
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Sabri Sky, a student who also attended the event, said she is interested in funding for homosexual health centers. She said Norsigian's talk was full of valuable information.
"It makes me realize how much I need to keep up with what's out there," Sky said. "I'm slightly older than most college students and I'm already noticing the first-year students have no idea about this stuff."
She said a lot of recent programs have been teaching students abstinence-only methods of contraception and health, and the book provides many options more in sync with reality.
"The majority of college-age women on this campus are completely not in touch with their own bodies," she said.
Norsigian said most feedback for the book has been positive, but some people disagree with some topics included in the book.
"We get people who say 'You have such a good book. Why did you ruin it by putting in the abortion chapter?'" she said. "Some people thought our description of masturbation was too explicit and didn't like the fact we were so focused on sexual pleasure."
The book also talks about dieting and body image fixation. She said Europeans passing through the states have told her Americans are too fixated on how they look. They called it "navel-gazing."
"They spend so much time looking at the imperfections of the human body, trying to perfect themselves to meet some very narrow norm, that they don't take time to live their lives, to make music, to enjoy the beauty of nature, to have long leisurely meals with friends," Norsigian said. "They're so fixated on the hair dyeing, the shaving and the cosmetic surgery."
