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 2016: The Year the Food Movement Died
For a good few years, I felt guilty whenever I bought an out of season vegetable. I’d look on packages of dumpling wrappers to see which ones didn’t have preservatives. And I find myself… not really doing any of this anymore. In the Baffler, Heather Havrilesky takes on upscale foodie preciousness. It’s a great piece,…
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Life Is Hanukkah Sexy?
When I first saw a story on the Cut arguing that Christmas should not be made sexy, my first thought was that Dan Savage has been arguing this for years. My second was, of course, whether Hanukkah is sexy. Or, indeed, whether anyone’s trying to make that case. And the answer, to the second question,…
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Life The Politics of Drooling Over IDF Women
Thea Glassman has flagged an (inactive?) Instagram account, and noted, with regret, that no male equivalent (well, not on Instagram) exists. If so, it could be that for whichever reasons, societal ideals for male beauty skew a bit older: Sigh. Where was I? Oh yes: What to make, then, of the IDF-hotties genre? Pro-Israel, pro-military…
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Life What Will Feminism Look Like Post-Clinton (and Post-Pantsuit)?
I am not now and never have been a member of the Pantsuit Nation. I don’t even really own a pantsuit, but can merely combine a navy blazer from one store and similarly navy slacks from another if this is needed, which, to be fair, it rarely is. I had, however, known of the private…
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Life Personal Essay Reveals Pain of Post-Intermarriage Family Rejection
In a moving essay for Catapult, Amy Beth Wright describes how her marriage to a non-Jewish man led some of her relatives to cut her out of their lives: “In the past three years, despite being excluded from family weddings, Seders, Rosh Hashanah meals, and Shabbat dinners, I have reached out to my aunt, uncle,…
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Life Can Hygge Be Jewish?
If the trend pieces, first in the UK, now Stateside, are to be believed, the new thing is hygge. Hygge – too trendy to still require italics – is the Danish equivalent of coziness. But not exact equivalent or why would one need to emulate a particular country’s approach? The headline to Penelope Green’s New…
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Life Links for Later: Chrismukkah Edition
-The Matzoball, which I vaguely think I attended back in 1700 or so, with ancient Facebook photos to prove it, still exists, but in 2016 reads not as cheesy but as problematic, thanks in no small part to some butt-centric promotional materials. -Ivanka Trump, noted non-peasant, evidently flies commercial. That’s not the story. The story…
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Life Donald Trump, Lena Dunham, and Why the ‘Persona’ is a Bad Fit For Politics
As anyone with even the most fleeting familiarity with the news cycle knew would happen, Lena Dunham has now offered an apology for her remarks about wishing she’d needed and had an abortion. Yes, we are all sick of hearing about Dunham’s antics. Yes, I’m conflicted about keeping her in the news cycle. But there’s…
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