SLUT-SHAMING IN THE BIBLE, HELL YES!

Elissa Strauss breaks down sexual double-standards in a Q&A I found this on the internet. Ed. note. I suggest you read Ruby Namdar’s telling of the Tamar story before or after you read this. WHAT IS SLUT-SHAMING? Slut-shaming is the phenomenon in which a woman is bashed, attacked or made to feel guilty for her sexuality. WHAT

I AM HANNAH. I AM NOT HANNAH.

Elissa Strauss on the inescapable and escapable aspects of motherhood “The Young Mother” Mary Cassatt 10 and she was in bitterness of soul–and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore. 11 And she vowed a vow, and said: ‘O LORD of hosts, if Thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of Thy handmaid, and remember

MOTHERHOOD DOESN’T MAKE US NICER. GET OVER IT.

Elissa Strauss on the Power of Parenthood Becoming a mother didn’t make me nicer. More compassionate? Yes. More sensitive? Sure. But nicer. No. During the few months in which I was “trying”, I started involuntarily responding to pregnant women with a snarl. Then there was the period of time following my son’s birth when my

WAIT, WAS EVE HAPPY ABOUT THE EXPULSION?

Elissa Strauss on the Majesty of Making Babies  Lucas Cranach Share  For so long, I took their word for it. Eve — the world’s first woman according to the creation myth of Abrahamic religions — messed up. Her punishment, two-fold. One, she was kicked out of Eden, sweet Eden, where she spent her days sauntering around naked, no shame

Ten Things You Share When You Share Food

A list of what is really at stake at the dinner table by Elissa Strauss             Over dinner the other night my husband told me about a slightly awkward business lunch he had that day. He was out with some higher-ups from a big financial firm at one of Manhattan’s

JACOB SPEAKS!

The fugitive on why he did it and the difference between food and a meal By Elissa Strauss Jacob, son of Isaac, has been on the run for two months after taking, some say illegally, most say immorally, his brother Esau’s birthright. Yesterday we sat down with Jacob for an exclusive interview about how he

ON URBAN ENLIGHTENMENT

Or how I, once again, discovered that I am indeed quite Jewish by Elissa Strauss                 In my early 20s I left Australia, where I had been living for a few months, and went alone to Southeast Asia looking for adventure and enlightenment. I wasn’t ignorant of the

PURIFICATION RITES

What cleaning our homes is really all about By Elissa Strauss         I like housework and I find it satisfying. I get a frisson of joy from fluffing my pillows, or watching the bottom of the bathtub gleam like a pearl. Making the bed is a more powerful stimulant than my morning

HOW WE GOT BACK TO THE WILD

Cain, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and a trip up the Alps by Elissa Strauss             For centuries the Swiss Alps were nothing more than an inconvenience for travelers. They were something to skirt, a sign that it was time to veer left or right because carrying on forward simply wasn’t worth

YOU ARE PROBABLY IN A MYTHOLOGICAL PLACE RIGHT NOW

How Woody Allen Found His Way into My Ark by Elissa Strauss         Myths are stories that explain the inexplicable. They answer questions like: Where did we come from? And where should we go? There are the classic mythological places, like Atlantis, Shangri-La, Eden and Noah’s Ark, which for centuries colored human understanding about