Life

Links for Later: the ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ Edition

Modesty is complicated. Image by Getty Images

By Phoebe Maltz Bovy December 1, 2016

-Teen Vogue, a more politically-engaged publication than one might assume, posted a video with interviews with young Jewish women, on their reactions to Steve Bannon’s role as a top Trump advisor.

-Sarah Weinman has a moving essay in Hazlitt about breast cancer and body image: “I didn’t take pictures because then, the idea embarrassed me. I may live a secular lifestyle but modesty, or tsniyut, keeps a vise-like hold.”

-In hipster Brooklyn, explains Lizzie Crocker in The Daily Beast (via), male parents go by “papa.”

-A Buzzfeed piece calling out some HGTV stars for belonging to a church with a problematic pastor has caused all kinds of controversy. It’s unclear whether the stars themselves share their pastor’s homophobic views; what is clear is that holding believers accountable for the political utterances of their clergy, or assuming they agree with every religious tenet of the most observant version of their faith, is not the best idea. Probably possible to call out the pastor without bringing home-decor stars into the mix (but would anyone have clicked?).

-Speaking of… turns out you now can’t wear a miniskirt to the Knesset. I will now tell the tangentially-related story of how, when I was visiting the Western Wall last May, I went along with putting the provided shawl around my otherwise shorts-clad legs (it was really hot out!) and it of course kept falling down. Opinions differ on whether an early-30s woman in shorts is scandalous; the shawl-‘round-the-ankles look, however, is universally understood as embarrassing.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy edits the Sisterhood, and can be reached at bovy@forward.com. Her book, The Perils of “Privilege”, will be published by St. Martin’s Press in March 2017.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy is a former editor of the Sisterhood blog at the Forward. Her writing has appeared in several publications, including The New Republic and The Atlantic. Her book, “The Perils of ‘Privilege,’” was published by St. Martin’s Press in March 2017. She has a PhD in French and French Studies from New York University, and has read a lot of 19th century French Jewish newspapers for a 21st century American.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO