Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Life

Jewish Women Prominent Among Female Sexuality Pioneers

I think I owe it to Sisterhood readers to click on, and link to, a post with the title, “These Jewish Women Think You Should Masturbate.” It’s not every day I see such a headline, but today just happens to be — as I learned from Bella Book’s JWA post — the final day of “both Jewish American Heritage Month and National Masturbation Month.” The latter was the brainchild of Joani Blank, founder of San Francisco’s Good Vibrations, and — you guessed it — Jewish woman.

Other Jewish women credited with innovations in the solo-pleasure department include some expected contenders (specifically: Dr. Ruth Westheimer) and others less so (Judy Blume). While we’re on the topic, I’d throw in Frankie from Netflix series “Grace And Frankie”, a fictional Jewish woman, yes, but an entrepreneur selling vibrators for older women.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy edits the Sisterhood, and can be reached at [email protected]. She is the author of “The Perils Of ‘Privilege’”, from St. Martin’s Press. Follow her on Twitter, @tweetertation

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.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.