Feminism

Content type
Collection
Flyer for Betty Friedan's 1963 Presentation in Detroit

From the Archives: To Volunteer or Not to Volunteer? The Betty Friedan Conundrum

Robbie Terman

Betty Friedan helped pave the way for women in the workforce, and the world is better for it. But, contrary to her early advice, we should not forget the contributions of volunteers to our society.

Cover of Iliza Schlesinger's Elder Millennial

Respect Your Elder (Millennial)

Larisa Klebe

Having watched all of Iliza’s specials, read her book, and watched much of her talk show, there are any number of aspects of her comedy I could talk about. I’d like to focus on what I see as her evolution as a feminist, paired with the rising trend of comedy specials that challenge our perceptions of what comedy can be.

Cropped Image of RBG portrait

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Michigan, and Me

Bella Book

When I think of William W. Cook’s virulent desire to refuse admission to all Jews at the University of Michigan ... I am comforted and emboldened by the thought of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. William W. Cook would not have liked the notorious RBG.

Cropped Image of Emily Raskin and her 5 year old daughter Hannah Roan Raskin

Your Jewish Feminist Protest Toolkit

Steph Black

We Jewish women are no strangers to protest or dissent. We’re loud. We’re opinionated. And we mobilize. Did you forget sunscreen at your last rally? Failed to create a quippy poster that captured your rage when you marched for gun rights? If you find yourself anxious to make change but unsure about what to bring, we've got you covered.

Composite Image of Amanda Knox and the Scarlet Letter Cover from 1934

The Scarlet Letter Reports

Rebecca Long

In the 2018 Facebook series, The Scarlet Letter Reports, host Amanda Knox explores this idea: that the world wields a woman’s sexuality against her like a weapon. In each episode of the Broadly-produced show, she interviews a famous woman who has been attacked or disbelieved because of her sexuality or sexual history.

Topics: Feminism, Television
Willow Season 6

In Willow's Defense

Rena Lubin

From my initial pre-teen viewing of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with my mom, to the countless times I have revisited the series since, I have always adored Willow Rosenberg, Buffy’s Jewish best friend who is lovable, dorky, and consistently overshadowed by the dramatic fight scenes, the messy romances, and everything having to do with Buffy Summers. That is, until the infamous sixth season when her witchy powers become her downfall.

Topics: Feminism, Television
Image from A Yes on 3 Rally

Young People Will Always Be Powerful

Sky Karp
Every Tuesday in the cramped living room of the Beacon Hill Friends House, I transform into someone who’s not only their equal but their mentor, their advisor, their trainer, and their coach. Every Tuesday, I’m not some powerless queer kid scared at the state of the world, but a powerful Jewish organizer with the ability to engage dozens of people in our movement.
Eighth Grade Movie Image

Eighth Grade, #MeToo, and Me

Larisa Klebe

One scene from this movie that I can’t get out of my head, is one that, in the age of #MeToo, speaks volumes about not-quite-right sexual encounters at a young age.

Topics: Feminism, Film
Hannah Gadsby and Omi

How Hannah Gadsby Helped Me Reclaim My Omi’s Story

Zoë Shannon

I thought Omi’s story should have been collected because I thought I knew what her story was. I had created an easy narrative that both mythologized and sanctified her. Unknowingly, I forged an account of Omi as a “perfect woman” who spent her days working and her nights taking care of her son.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 Promo

J.A.P. - Jewish American ... Proletariat?

Lisa Kahn

I am not, by an stretch of the imagination, a princess, dripping in designer merch after swiping my dad’s credit card. My mom grew up in an a working-class home with four sisters and was raised almost solely by her mother.

Carrie Fisher in When Harry Met Sally

The Five Most Feminist Moments from When Harry Met Sally

Bella Book

Imagine my delight when I discovered that, much like a fine wine and the old bag of M&Ms I recently found in the console of my car, Nora Ephron’s classic, smart, script has not only aged well but has in fact been improved by a growing social awareness that women shouldn’t be shamed for knowing what they want and how they want it.

Topics: Feminism, Film
Rena Lubin and Her Mother as Young Girls

The Power of Personal Histories

Rena Lubin

As an aspiring oral historian, I’ve always gotten chills when listening to recorded interviews. I love the interviewer’s inviting questions, the way the interviewee may leap into a narrative, the chance for the listener to peer into the interviewee’s past, and the powerful, sometimes nostalgic, recollection of a story.

Mental Health in Scrabble Tiles

Embracing Crazy and Having Hope

Tamar Cohen

There are several points in the year of an American Jewish feminist student that demand a certain degree of self-reflection – Yom Kippur, for example, or the secular new year. Or, as I see now, the last month of school. I began this school year as an ally for people struggling with just about everything, but most passionately for those struggling with mental health issues. Along the way, my own mental health started to take precedence. But activists and Jews are creatures of hope, so when I started to lose hope, it was this dual identity that kept me afloat.

Topics: Feminism
Women's March on Washington, 2017

Authentic Community Organizing, From Food to Feminism

Sofia Gardenswartz

From dining on Mexican-fusion cuisine at Macho’s, to learning about the intersectional practices of San Diego’s large Mexican-Jewish population, my identity has largely been shaped by San Diego’s multiculturalism.

Topics: Feminism, Food
Cantor Alisa Pomerantz-Boro

Blazing a Trail, One Note at a Time

Sofia Gardenswartz

I’ve always considered words to hold a certain power. As the old saying goes, “the pen is mightier than the sword.” So, when I was sitting in the front row as my little brother was called to the Torah for the first time as a bar mitzvah, something struck me about the language of the event. Usually, the English translation in the siddurim (prayer books) follows the literal Hebrew on the opposite page, reading “God” for “Adonai” and “He” for “Hu.” But in the readings that day, God was genderless. The biblical Hebrew that has been passed down for millennia wasn’t changed, but the English translation avoided the use of any pronouns that would invoke gender. 

Stage with Microphone and Stool

Dear Male Comedian

Rabbi Leah Berkowitz

I spend a lot of time trying to shift the focus away from my appearance, my love life, and my sexuality. By sizing me up in front of my entire community, you undid three years of that work in 30 seconds.

Topics: Feminism, Comedy, Rabbis
Rabbi Jennifer Singer

Faith and Feminism

Minnah Stein

Last year I met Rabbi Jennifer Singer, and I immediately looked up to her. She’s a strong, spiritual, and independent woman who commands the room with her lively personality. She’s an excellent rabbi, and I always leave her sermons with new ideas and ways of thinking. 

Gann Academy Teacher Amy Newman

My Jewish Studies Teacher Is My Favorite Jewish Feminist

Julia Clardy

At every school, in every subject, there’s a certain teacher who everyone hopes to see on their class list in the fall. At Gann Academy in Waltham, Massachusetts, in the Jewish Studies department, that teacher is Amy Newman. I’ve been lucky enough to have her two years in a row, making me the object of much envy from my peers, but she is truthfully one of the most exceptional educators I’ve ever met. Amy is incredibly knowledgeable, gracious, and funny, and she makes a sincere effort to let her students into her life and teaching process as much as she can.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 2004

RBG: Icon and Bubbe

Bella Book

The film traces her transformation from a young Jewish girl in Brooklyn ... to her current status as a veteran justice, cultural icon, and bubbe. Younger women may know more about RBG’s more recent work, but the film emphasizes how her early work in the 1960s and ‘70s totally changed life for American women in fundamental ways.

Topics: Feminism, Film
Three RVF Fellows in Feminist T-shirts

Women's Rights are Human Rights

Larisa Klebe

Feminism is a big part of the Rising Voices Fellowship, and our Fellows involve themselves in feminist work in a variety of different ways. From attending conferences about issues facing women today, to addressing sexual assault in schools and beyond, these young women are standing up for themselves, and for women in their communities.

Topics: Feminism
Rabbi Leah Berkowitz at her Ordination

The Consequences of Professional “Negging”

Rabbi Leah Berkowitz

Having started my career young (and single, and a woman), I feared that congregations wouldn’t take me seriously. I’ve been pleasantly surprised that, once congregations invited me to be their rabbi, they’ve treated me as one, without question.

Topics: Feminism, Rabbis
Rachel Brosnahan

The Marvelous Concept of Imperfection

Rachel Harris

My mother is an avid recommender. She sends me articles and book titles, offers topics to blog about—she even suggested I see Hamilton with my grandma when it first opened on Broadway (before it got super popular). Unfortunately, more often than not I just roll my eyes and ignore these recommendations (as us teenagers often do), and so I have yet to see Hamilton. In the spirit of not making the same mistake twice, I didn’t ignore her when she told me to watch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Topics: Feminism, Television
Image of crowd from 2017 Women's March

Humility as an Intersectional Practice

Judith Rosenbaum

The messiness of the world and the limits of intersectionality as a theory have re-asserted themselves once again in the events surrounding Women’s March leader Tamika Mallory’s embrace of Louis Farrakhan and refusal to publicly condemn his anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ diatribes. I’d like to make a case for an intersectionality rooted in humility. What if, instead of using theory to express what we know, we used it to create space for what we don’t know?

Cast of Runaways

You Go, Gert Yorkes

Josephine Rosman

I’m a simple woman. I don’t need too much encouragement to start a new TV show. So when I heard there was a Hulu original series coming out that features a purple-haired, teenage, Jewish feminist with a pet dinosaur, I decided to watch it. And, I’m so glad I did. 

Topics: Feminism, Television
Sex and the City Poster

Feminism in Sex and the City: Looking Back and Moving Forward

Sofia Heller

New York City. Quippy dialogue. Journalism. Fashion and shoes galore.

What’s not to love about Sex and the City?

Topics: Feminism, Television

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