Welcome to the Forward’s Jewish News coverage about feminism and womens issues.
Feminism
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Life The Sad Lesson of Bar Rafaeli’s Pole-Dancing Ad
Bar Rafaeli in a commercial for Carolina Lemke / Copyright: Youtube In a recent commercial for an Israeli fashion eyewear company Carolina Lemke, Bar Rafaeli is featured bespectacled and pole-dancing in a dream sequence inside of a subway car, across from a leather-clad man who is checking her out. The Israeli model writhes her away…
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Life Fighting the Israeli Macho: A Gchat with Elana Sztokman
Copyright Ingrid Muller Dr. Elana Maryles Sztokman, the former executive director of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, is a leading writer and thinker on topics of feminism, Judaism, Israel and orthodoxy. Her first book, The Men’s Section: Orthodox Jewish Men in an Egalitarian World, won the 2012 National Jewish Book Council Award in the area…
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Life When Women Bully Other Women
Thinkstock The road to the corner office isn’t an easy one for a woman. There is the glass ceiling to break, and then the maternal wall to mount and then, if you get that far, there are glass cliffs to avoid. Oh my! Many are working today to deconstruct these barriers, including pushes for better…
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Life 5 Reasons ‘Seinfeld’s Elaine is Feminist Icon
This week marks the 25th anniversary of Seinfeld, the mostly loved but sometimes reviled sitcom about nothing. In honor of this milestone, the Sisterhood would like to pay our dues to the character of Elaine Benes, whose spunk and guile was given shape by the most enduring cast member, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss. Elaine was an unlikely…
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Culture Ellen Willis and Me
The Essential Ellen Willis By Ellen Willis Edited by Nona Willis Aronowitz University of Minnesota Press, 536 pages, $24.95 Ellen Willis died in 2006, but her voice still echoes in the culture. Willis was the first pop music critic for The New Yorker, an editor and writer for the Village Voice and Rolling Stone, founder…
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Life You Can Do it In a Skirt
Cross-country skiing in a skirt / Courtesy of youcandoitinaskirt.wordpress.com As someone who identifies as an Orthodox feminist but still (mostly) follows the dictates of tznius, or modesty, I often find myself feeling marginalized. Among the women who dress the way I do, I am judged for my progressive views; among those with views more like…
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Opinion A Non-Giggly Girl Causes Problems Among the Ultra-Orthodox
Ultra-Orthodox girls lean out of a classroom window / Getty Images “What do you mean he abused her?” The question was shrill and innocuous. The teacher, Mrs. Stern, looked incredibly uncomfortable. But hey, she had brought it up. “He got into the bed with her, and he abused her.” Mrs. Stern shrugged her shoulders at…
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Opinion Maharat Graduation Surprised Me — Twice
Last year’s Maharat graduation ceremony / Robert Kalfus Two dramatic moments punctuated yesterday’s graduation ceremony of the New York-based Yeshivat Maharat, the rabbinical academy for Orthodox women, which ordained its second class of women who will serve Orthodox communities as poskot — halakhic decisors and advisors. They were granted the title “Maharat,” and acronym for…
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Culture ‘My mayor Muslim, my bagel Jewish’ — the Knicks chant capturing New York’s soul
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Books In ‘Something We Said,’ Richard Pryor’s daughter finds words to discuss the unspeakable
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Opinion It’s time for Jews who love Israel to give up on Zionism
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Opinion Trump’s humiliation of Netanyahu marks a sea change in the US-Israel relationship
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Fast Forward FBI charges 8 tied to U of Michigan pro-Palestinian movement with threatening officials, Jewish federation
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Fast Forward This Israeli filmmaker harshly criticizes his country. Pro-Palestinian activists boycotted him anyway
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Fast Forward Trump is imagining an Israel after Netanyahu. So are many Israelis. Netanyahu isn’t biting.
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Fast Forward Spain reports 86% rise in antisemitic incidents, as interior minister takes aim at ‘xenophobia’