Advice for Today's Activists
By Naomi Darom and Judy Norsigian • The Gender Nerd • August 1, 2025
Photo of some of the founders of Our Bodies Ourselves in 2018. Back row, from l to r: Jane Pincus, Vilunya Diskin, Joan Ditzion. Front row: Norma Swenson and Judy Norsigian
In this interview, journalist Naomi Darom, Ph.D., asks Our Bodies Ourselves co-founder, Judy Norsigian, to share advice for today's feminist activists, drawn from her experience revolutionizing global women's health.
Don't try to do something alone. There's more power in collective action. We were committed to that and it took many forms . . .
You never produce meaningful change just from the top down. You always have to keep the dialogue going with people in power, but also create [your own] base of political power, [with] people who would be clamoring for the same kind of change. If you don’t have a base of power, you can’t be effective with leaders who don’t want to change anything.