Religion and Modesty
Some excellent thoughts from an Orthodox rabbi:
...read moreThe ultra-Orthodox men in Israel who are exerting control over women claim that they are honoring women. In effect they are saying: We do not treat women as sex objects as you in Western society do. Our women are about more than their bodies, and that is why their bodies must be fully covered.
Wife of a Preacher-Man
This article in the Times about the historical view of priests’ wives is fascinating for a lot of reasons, but I particularly enjoy how it butts up against modern visions of human sexuality. In white middle-class Christian American culture, it’s taken as biological truth that men are the sexually aggressive ones, and while white women’s bodies are tempting and women can be slutty, white female sexuality isn’t about wanting sex so much as embodying sex (non-white women get different treatment, as either asexual or as insatiable hussies). Priests’ wives, apparently, were a little too close to power for comfort:
...read moreDaughter of the Patriarchy: Admissions
“When I was your age, my parents wouldn’t send me to college,” my mother was telling me. “I had to work my way through on my own. I don’t want you to have to stop. I will do everything I can to help you keep going to school. Your education is the most important thing to me.”
We stood in the kitchen, a printed letter lying on the counter between us. It was not good news.
I glanced up at my mother with a strained smile. I knew that if wishes could be cashed at the bank, I’d be writing my admissions essay to an ivy-coated castle. Instead, I was trying to find a way to pay the bill from my last semester of community college in time to register for fall classes. It was already August.
...read moreIdeological zealots: Usually bad news.
The latest battleground in Israel’s struggle over religious extremism [...] has the unexpected public face of a blond, bespectacled second-grade girl. She is Naama Margolese, 8, the daughter of American immigrants who are observant modern Orthodox Jews. [She has] become terrified of walking to her elementary school here after ultra-Orthodox men spit on her, insulted her and called her a prostitute because her modest dress did not adhere exactly to their more rigorous dress code.
Sex, Drugs, Theology, Men & Feminism: Interview with Hugo Schwyzer
Role/Reboot regular contributor Hugo Schwyzer has an extremely controversial history that includes four marriages, substance abuse, and sexual behavior that he has since described as compulsive and destructive until he got clean and sober and turned his life around, beginning in 1998.
...read moreAds pulled from All-American Muslim
Bowing to right-wing pressure, dozens of advertisers have pulled their ads from the TLC show All-American Muslim because… Muslims, I guess? They are human beings who live out their belief systems differently, just like human beings who follow every other religion everywhere. But that’s a problem, I guess? Because here’s what the Florida Family Association had to say about it:
...read moreSister Bloggers
A great piece is in Good this month by Nona Willis Aronowitz about the prevalence of Mormon lifestyle bloggers. Read it all, but Nona is trying to answer the question of why so many female lifestyle bloggers are Mormon. She doesn’t come to an exact answer, but it seems to be some combination of: They’re [...]
...read moreDeus Vult: “God Wills It”
This is a guest post by Laurie and Debbie.
Believers in a Judeo-Christian god must, by definition, believe that the world was designed by that god as (s)he wished it to be. The Latin phrase is “Deus Vult,” translated literally as “God wills it.” In this context, let’s contrast a popular (although far from universal) Christian view of sexuality with what’s known about the animal kingdom:
Or maybe just don’t beat your kids.
Well this is disturbing, and I hope someone sues the hell out of these folks (alternately, I hope that they’re criminally prosecuted). The pastoral mood in the hills of Tennessee offered a stark contrast to the storm raging around the country over the Pearls’ teachings on child discipline, which advocate systematic use of “the rod” [...]
...read moreYeah no.
Look: I find Islamophobia offensive and disgusting. But no, it does not justify violence and bombing buildings: Okay, so can we finally stop with the idiotic, divisive, and destructive efforts by “majority sections” of Western nations to bait Muslim members with petulant, futile demonstrations that “they” aren’t going to tell “us” what can and can’t [...]
...read moreMasturbation is totally gay
I’m sure some of you will be happy to hear the news: I’m apparently a big ol’ homo. Haha oh wait, women don’t masturbate, really — I mean, I’ve heard they do? But let’s be real here. We’re talking about sex and desire, so obviously let’s focus the attention where it really matters, on the [...]
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