Your drunken slut-wedding was worthless, you harlot.
Is there anything wrong with delaying sexual activity? Certainly not. There are plenty of reasons to do that. If your reason is that “Jesus will think I’m a slut,” of course, that’s problematic. Or is it? Take Fox News abstinence columnist (yes, that’s a thing) Steven Crowder–who is himself abstinent no more. Having patiently and virtuously saved himself for marriage, Crowder now has become an honest-to-God husband, complete with a beautiful, meaningful wedding night full of the best sex he’s had in his entire life. And that makes him better than you.
...read moreFreedom of expression should not be undermined
Obviously. And that should extend to mocking religion, even cruelly. And violence is not an acceptable response, even to someone maligning your God. But unfettered freedom of speech is not an entrenched value everywhere in the world (although I wish it were). And when we’re talking about swaths of relatively powerless people who have spent the past few decades facing hostility and violence from the United States and from their own leaders, rioting as the only way of demonstrating widespread frustration and discontent becomes somewhat… not understandable in the way that means “acceptable,” but understandable in the “capable of being understood” way. Because even if the better option was a cool, collected conversation, no one is sitting at the other side of that table. Which again isn’t a justification — the rioting is wrongheaded and horrible and I would even say silly in response to such an asinine, juvenile video — it’s just an observation. As is this: When there are already fires blazing, maybe don’t throw gasoline on them just to prove that you can.
...read morePat Robertson on wife beating
Hey remember how Mitt Romney appeared alongside Pat Robertson this weekend to talk about God and Christian values and stuff? Now Robertson is encouraging men to beat their wives, so that’s cool. Very cool guy to hang out with and rely upon for moral guidance.
...read moreMe and You and Everyone We Don’t Know: A Reflection on Discourse
(Trigger/content warning: religious upbringing, childhood trauma) The past week has provided the opportunity for a lot of unexpected self-reflection. While a guest at Feministe, I am navigating more exposure, and more feedback, than I’ve ever experienced. Most aspects of this have been wonderful and fun. Predictably, some parts have been harder to swallow. I had [...]
...read moreHair Part III: Head
I have a love/hate relationship with the hair on my head. I hated it for most of my childhood and adolescence. I was super envious of the curls that many of the other girls in my Jewish school had. My hair was thin and mousy brown. Mousy. I remember seeing that word in the book [...]
...read moreThe Problem With Purity
Better feminists than I have written entire books on this topic (see The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession with Virginity Is Hurting Young Women
Two pieces I love
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about these two pieces over the last week or so: A Woman’s Guide to Hasidic Street Harassment by Lilit Marcus over at Heeb Magazine and The Terrible Tragedy of the Healthy Eater by Erica over at NW Edible. The first one has me thinking about how we police [...]
...read moreLiving Waters
As I mentioned in my last post, I spent a long time without getting a period. Occasionally my doctor prescribed me some progestin to initiate withdrawal bleeding (it’s believed that build up of menstrual tissue without occasional bleeding increases risk of endometrial cancer), but by and large, I was period-free. This was pretty scary, though [...]
...read moreApres le deluge, le handwringing
Much hullabaloo recently over Chick-Fil-A and its owner’s bigoted statements about same-sex marriage and gay folk. I’m sure you’ve gotten the memo! I’m sure you have your opinion about Jesus Chicken and the boycotts and whatnot. So I’m going to talk about the handwringing. Oh, noes! Boston Mayor Thomas Menino discouraged Chick-Fil-A from opening a [...]
...read moreMichigan state rep barred from debate for saucy language
Michigan state representative Lisa Brown has been censured and barred from debate after saying something so scandalous, so foul, so egregious it shouldn’t be spoken in mixed company.
...read more“What she said was offensive,” said Rep. Mike Callton, R-Nashville. “It was so offensive, I don’t even want to say it in front of women. I would not say that in mixed company.”
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