In Conversation: Ellen Warner and Judy Norsigian, Moderated by Bernadette J. Brooten

Ellen Warner, photojournalist, portrait photographer, and author of The Second Half: Forty Women Reveal Life After Fifty, and Judy Norsigian, author and co-founder of Our Bodies Ourselves, join in a conversation moderated by Bernadette J. Brooten, Myra and Robert Kraft and Jacob Hiatt Professor of Christian Studies, Emerita, Brandeis University.

Ellen Warner began her career as a photojournalist in 1969 and has photographed all over the world since then, except for fifteen years when her children were young. In 1997 she started writing travel articles to accompany her photographs. Warner’s travel articles have been published in The New York Times, Travel and Leisure, and The Traveller. Over the years Warner also developed a specialty in author portraits and has worked for most publishing houses in New York and London. Since 2006, she has worked on “The Second Half.”

Judy Norsigian is a co-founder of Our Bodies Ourselves who served as executive director of the organization from 2001 to 2015. She is currently chair of the OBOS board of directors. An internationally renowned speaker and author on a range of women’s health concerns, her areas of focus include women and health care reform, abortion and contraception, childbirth (especially the role of midwifery), genetics and reproductive technologies, and drug and device safety. She has appeared on numerous national television and radio programs, including NBC Nightly News, Al Jazeera, The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Early Show, Oprah, Fox News and The Current. Judy has been an author and editor for each of the nine editions of Our Bodies, Ourselves, the organization’s landmark book on sexuality and reproductive health. Personal recognitions include an honorary doctorate from Boston University (2007). Additional honors include: being named one of “21 Leaders for the 21st Century” by Women’s eNews; Public Service Award from the Massachusetts Public Health Association; Radcliffe College Alumnae Association Annual Recognition Award; Boston YWCA’s Academy of Women Achievers; and the Massachusetts Health Council Award. Judy graduated from Radcliffe College in 1970. She lives in Newton, Massachusetts.

Bernadette J. Brooten, Kraft-Hiatt Professor of Christian Studies, of Women’s and Gender Studies, of Classical Studies, and of Religious Studies at Brandeis University, is founder and director of the Brandeis Feminist Sexual Ethics Project. This project aims to create Jewish, Christian, and Muslim sexual ethics rooted in freedom, mutuality, meaningful consent, responsibility, and female (as well as male) pleasure, untainted by slave-holding values. Brooten heads a team of scholars, activists, artists, and policy analysts who are disentangling the nexus of slavery, religion, women, and sexuality. They aim to help religious and other people complete the abolition of slavery and move beyond harmful racial and sexual stereotypes.

Brooten was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities grant for 2011–2012 to write a book on early Christian women who were enslaved or who owned enslaved laborers. She has written Women Leaders in The Ancient Synagogue: Inscriptional Evidence and Background Issues (1982), Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (1996), for which she received three awards, and she has edited Beyond Slavery: Overcoming Its Religious and Sexual Legacies (2010). She has also published on various topics in ancient Jewish and early Christian history. In addition to a MacArthur Fellowship, she has held fellowships from the Harvard Law School, the Fulbright Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and many other agencies. Brooten studied at the University of Portland (B.A. 1971), the University of Tübingen, Hebrew University, and Harvard University (Ph.D. 1982).

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The Women’s Studies Research Center

The Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University is a hub of interdisciplinary exchange between scholars and artists, faculty and students, who conduct innovative research and create art with a focus on gender issues and women’s lives. Unique in its breadth of projects, the WSRC is part of a newly established national network of university-affiliated gender research institutes. As a convening space at the edge of campus, the center supports interdisciplinary dialogue, research and art, and shares insights and discoveries with the university and the larger public.

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Founded 50 years ago in 1971, Brandeis University Press was part of the University Press of New England consortium. In January 2019, the consortium disbanded and Brandeis University Press became a stand-alone entity, working with the University of Chicago Press for sales, marketing and distribution.  In January 2021, Brandeis University Press acquired the UPNE backlist.

The Press has a vibrant backlist of over 700 titles, and its remit is to build this list expanding into a wide variety of subject areas to represent the interests of the university, and to explore the wider world in which it is situated. The Press’ publishing program engages diverse subjects and perspectives in the humanities, social sciences, natural history and the environment. The Press is also committed to publishing compelling and innovative approaches to the study of the Jewish experience worldwide.