This is the Forward’s coverage of human sexuality.
Sex
The Latest
-
Fast Forward Talk of Sex Gets Israeli Minister Shai Piron All Giggly
A reference to “penetration” in a speech to parliament caused Israel’s education minister to burst into a laughing fit that went viral on Tuesday on Israeli websites. Shai Piron, who is also a rabbi, could not get past the first sentence of his address, on a proposed law against smuggling cell phones into Israel’s prisons,…
-
Opinion Let’s Talk About Not Having Sex
I believe in abstinence, at least personally, and I believe in Jewish law. So it makes sense to me that a Jewish organization that promotes both Jewish law and abstinence would create a website dedicated to teenagers and sex. That organization, the National Conference of Synagogue Youth, is the Orthodox Union’s youth movement, and the…
-
News The Mirror in the Mikveh
Ellie Goldenberg and Emily Blum are getting ready to immerse for the first time in the mikveh, or Jewish ritual bath. One might assume that Ellie and Emily are soon-to-be brides; in traditional communities, women immerse in the mikveh for the first time before they are wed. But they’re not — Ellie is an 11-year-old…
-
Life Cleveland Kidnapping, Elizabeth Smart and Us
Sexual assault cases don’t occur in a vacuum, even when they are so egregious that they defy the imagination. For example: the recent Cleveland story involving the long-term imprisonment and rape of three local women by an alleged perpetrator who comes across as a complete sadist. Coverage of this story has been rife with speculation,…
-
Life Is Fashion Advice for Female Interns Sexist?
In a recent post on Slate’s DoubleX, Katherine Goldstein provides tips for female summer interns on what exactly is appropriate to wear to a workplace. The advice on how to avoid looking like a “skintern” includes avoiding see-through anything, concealing undergarments and leaving the four-inch heels at home. Goldstein ends the post by telling women…
-
Fast Forward Lakewood Yeshiva Teacher Yosef Kolko Admits Abusing Boy
A former yeshiva teacher in the Orthodox town of Lakewood, N.J., Yeshiva teacher today admitted sexually abusing a boy after two more victims of his came forward to accuse him, authorities told the Asbury Park Press. Yosef Kolko pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault, attempted aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and child endangerment, and was…
-
Books Teaching Orthodox Couples About Sexual Dysfunction
Sexual dysfunctions within relationships are more common than ever today, with an estimated 40% of women and 30% of men suffering from sexual dysfunctions, according to a new study from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical school. Many women experience pain during intercourse, which could relate to conditions like vaginismus, dyspareunia, and vulvodynia, while common male…
-
Life Why I Cried in the Mikveh
I went to the mikveh recently, and it was the first time that I didn’t cry. For married women, going to the mikveh comes at the end of the niddah, or the length of the menstrual cycle, plus seven days. It concludes niddah; after a woman dunks in the mikveh she can touch her husband…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Sports This year’s biggest World Cup upset came from its most ‘Jew-ish’ team
- 2
News Who is Gadi Eisenkot, the Israeli politician who could dethrone Netanyahu?
- 3
Opinion The latest victim of the culture war over Israel is a left-wing, lapsed Catholic Bible scholar
- 4
Fast Forward Trump nominee defends college cartoon of Jewish student with devil horns at Senate hearing
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Mamdani touts ‘Babies not Bombs’ messaging after flexing political muscle in the New York primaries
-
Fast Forward Jewish anti-Zionist David Orkin defeats incumbent in NY Assembly primary
-
Fast Forward Half of Americans think the U.S. is ‘too supportive’ of Israel
-
Opinion How Israel’s strongest partisans destroyed global support for Israel