Our Bodies, Ourselves author at V-Day Event

By [Anam Baig] Judy Norsigian, executive director of Our Bodies, Ourselves, will speak at the annual V-Day party at The Fourth Universalist Society at 160 Central Park West. The free event raises funds for charity and spreads awareness about violence toward women and girls worldwide. The event will take place at 6 p.m. Feb. 13. V-Day is a global activist movement to better the plight of girls and women around the globe suffering from sexual, physical and psychological abuse. Ten percent of the funds raised at the event will go to the Spotlight Campaign on Haiti. This is the fourth year the church is hosting a series of V-Day events to educate the public on women"s health as well as raise money for organizations that involve the well-being of the female population of New York. The beneficiaries of the Valentine"s Day event this year are Men Can Stop Rape and the Center Against Domestic Violence, two organizations that the church has continuously supported. Last year, the church raised $20,000 for these organizations. The internationally renowned Norsigian, a women"s health advocate and writer on a wide range of women"s health concerns, including contraception, sexually transmitted infections, women and health care reform and other topics, will be the keynote speaker. Norsigian has been a pivotal part of Our Bodies Ourselves (OBOS), also known as the Boston Women"s Health Book Collective, a nonprofit, public interest women"s health education, advocacy and consulting organization. The first publication of the bestselling women"s health book Our Bodies, Ourselves was in 1971, which subsequently launched the nonprofit of the same name. Last October, Our Bodies, Ourselves celebrated its 40th anniversary by releasing a newly revised, updated edition of the book addressing current issues such as changes to the health care system and safer sex. Other topics such as birth and pregnancy are constantly revised to reflect the latest technology and research. Norsigian, who has been with the book since its first printing, will address the attendees on the importance of women"s health, its current status in the world and what the community can do to help. She will also be sure to address the Susan G. Komen for the Cure controversy's the organization"s indecision about funding breast screening and mammogram tests for Planned Parenthood. â??What Komen and the evangelicals and Republican Rep. Cliff Stearns, who launched the pointless political inquiry, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are really mad at Planned Parenthood about is this: Part of what they do is help people plan parenthood. They support birth control. In some cases, they provide it's like your corner drugstore, but better, she wrote with Ellen Shaffer on the OBOS blog. â??We might start to learn what it will take to mobilize an outcry to really stop the attacks on women"s health. To register for the free event, visit [4thuvdayvalentinesparty.eventbrite.com](http://4thuvdayvalentinesparty.eventbrite.com).