Orthodox Jewish women’s sexual subjectivity

Abstract

In this article we argue that the open and clear presence of the regulation of sexuality for women in Orthodox Judaism allows for a remarkably conscious choice of sexual conduct. We listened to young Orthodox Jewish married women speak about their experience and understanding of their sexuality (past and present) as they gravitate from forbidden to permitted and back again, from their pre-marital state, to their first sexual experiences, to the sexual prohibitions of nida, and back to permitted sexual relations. Whereas one’s first assumption concerning women living under strict rules governing their sexuality might be that these women are out of relationship with themselves and their bodies, this was not the case with the Israeli Orthodox Jewish women whom we interviewed. Whether they rejected or accepted a particular rule, partially or fully, they did not do so under the gaze of a male Over-Eye. These modern Orthodox Jewish women, who live within a framework of laws detailing what is forbidden and permitted concerning their sexuality, developed a sexual subjectivity that conducts an open and conscious dialogue with those laws. In our Conclusion, we suggest how our work here could be of use to therapists.