Phoebe Maltz Bovy is a former editor of the Sisterhood blog at the Forward. Her writing has appeared in several publications, including The New Republic and The Atlantic. Her book, “The Perils of ‘Privilege,’” was published by St. Martin’s Press in March 2017. She has a PhD in French and French Studies from New York University, and has read a lot of 19th century French Jewish newspapers for a 21st century American.
Phoebe Maltz Bovy
By Phoebe Maltz Bovy
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Life Is United Airlines’ Leggings Ban Like Knesset Dress Code — Only Worse?
Dress codes: Not just for the Knesset, it appears. Girls traveling yesterday on a United Airlines flight were asked to change into something a little less comfortable. The story — which broke following a tweetstorm by Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America founder Shannon Watts — involves some young girls, exact age unclear,…
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Life Memoirist Ariel Levy Deftly Deflects Criticism
Penelope Green’s New York Times profile of “The Rules Do Not Apply” author Ariel Levy. It’s a fascinating profile all around, but the most interesting part may be where Levy addresses criticism she’d gotten for… well, for writing a feminist (and miscarriage, and divorce) memoir guilty, in (also white) reviewer Charlotte Shane’s view, of “‘white…
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Life Advice On Avoiding Parenting Body-Image Pitfalls
I cannot sing the praises loudly enough for Stephanie Goldfarb’s Kveller piece, “Stop Telling Your Daughter She Should Eat Less Cream Cheese.” Love the piece, love the headline, love the message. In it, Goldfarb — ”a chef, a social worker, and a Jewish youth professional” — recounts leading a body image workshop mainly for Jewish women,…
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Life Feminist Jewish Minimalism On Display At The Met
In The New Yorker, Judith Thurman writes about two women’s wardrobes on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The first woman she mentions, Sara Berman, is our focus here. (Yes, yes, because she was Jewish, but that’s not all, I promise!) Berman — mother of artist Maira Kalman, who created the…
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Life Personal Essay Explores Secret Jewish History Of Smurfette
There are a good number of essays floating around — and I should know, having written some of them — exploring Jews’ relationship to whiteness. And a decent number of those tackle the intersectional question of Jewish women’s peculiar racialization (and sexualization) in modern Western society. But none, to my knowledge, had addressed the issue…
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Life Is It Sexist To Criticize Chelsea Clinton’s Children’s Book?
Chelsea Clinton has a new children’s book coming out, titled “She Persisted: 13 American Women who Changed the World.” Is this development is a positive sign of feminist #Resistance, or a groan-inducing example of a version of feminism aimed primarily at improving the lot of women who are already doing great? Does feminism demand congratulating…
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Life Tavi Gevinson Paid To Promote Own Apartment Building
Renaissance woman Tavi Gevinson, 20, whose illustrious career in fashion, theater, and more includes a Forward 50 nod, is being paid to promote her own apartment building, a luxury tower in Fort Greene. On the Cut, Allie Jones writes that Gevinson has been posting to Instagram using a hashtag that discreetly reveals she isn’t just…
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Life Ivanka Trump To Take On Ambiguous White House Role
Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, is getting a role of sorts in the White House. I say “of sorts” because the position itself is ambiguous: She’ll have an office and access to private information, but won’t be paid. Best as I can tell, this new role is essentially a continuation of her existing, as-yet-unexplained role…
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