Though marital intimacy was held as an idealized standard, I was practically taught to relate to my sexuality in negatives. My teachers explained that it was up to me to guard my integrity, to uphold the wall of shomer negiah and to not even let a boy hold my hand – a dangerous and forbidden slippery slope.
Like most girls my age, I had crushes, but they were what I would call cutesy crushes. I would crush on the really frum guys – the short and thin ones with brown hair and brown eyes. The guys who looked like they would make great yeshiva bochurs. The ones that always acted like upstanding mensches – doing chesed for other people, learning and davening regularly, and not containing a trace of sexual insinuation or “impropriety”.
In my daydreams, I would try these guys on as my future chatans and would imagine them – get ready for it – dancing with me. Dancing was something that I could relate to, and that was about as raunchy as my thoughts got all the way through high school graduation.
(Occasionally I would imagine kissing the guys. Just a quick kiss though – nothing longer than a peck.)
These PG thoughts continued through the start of my studies in midrasha until an incredible thing happened in 2004: the film Medurat Hashevet (Camp Fire) was released, replete with fascinating PG-13 content, and my fantasy life was born.
Camp Fire describes the experience of a single mother trying to gain acceptance into a yishuv in the Gush. The subplot tells the story of her two daughters going about their teenage lives in this new dati li’umi community. So how did this film – ostensibly a mirror image of my own sheltered life – trigger my sexual awakening?
Celebrating 10 Years & Marking the End of An Amazing Project
Celebrating 10 Years & Marking the End of An Amazing Project
The Jewrotica event “Evening of Jewrotica: Bedside Reading” was awesome. As Master of Confessions, I got to read the deepest, darkest secrets of people in the room out loud… It was scintillating, titillating, and – yes – even educational!
The people behind Jewrotica are quite quality! I have confidence that any project these folks take on will be equally quality.
I had a great time deejaying at the Jewrotica event at Columbia University. The live readings were hilarious, informative, and in some cases, deeply moving. I know that I, along with many of my AEPi fraternity brothers, loved being able to connect our Judaism and our sexuality in a way that made all of us feel comfortable and welcome. I look forward to being a part of this again in the future!
You may not tell your mom that you’re going to a live Jewrotica reading (or whatever clever name you will dub these events) but you will tell your friends. However, both would be jealous if they find out that they missed it. I think it will only be a matter of time before Jewrotica helps us reclaim the term “Dirty Jew” the way rap music has done for “The ‘N’ Word.” I know I am now proud to be a Dirty Jew!
I’m so glad that Jewrotica is represented here at Jewlicious! It’s bringing voices that need to be heard in the Jewish discussion and Jewish climate environment.
At Jewrotica’s Evening of Bedside Readings, students declaimed monologues on sexual encounters that had a Jewish twist. At Columbia/Barnard Hillel, the speakers pushed their own boundaries by performing a range of explicit narratives that challenged how the audience thought of the relationship to Judaism and sex. During the speakers’ preparation, the arguments about which narratives would be appropriate forced students to take a stand and voice their opinion on their own beliefs about Judaism an… Read more
Such an amazing experience! The Sarah Lawrence Jewrotica workshop was more than I could have ever expected – a comfortable, safe, sultry environment where participants clearly felt good about sharing or listening to each other’s intimate experiences and relating them to sexy stories from the Torah. From the moment the workshop began, Ayo had a sweet presence that was kinetic and spread around the room; her storytelling abilities had everyone enraptured and made the conversation topics relata… Read more
Jewrotica is something that the community has needed for a long time so that people can actually learn, express and share and have good relationships without having to stumble through life. Check out the site and learn something. Have fun!
I’m into Jewrotica. I went in for my second circumcision.
I love the inclusiveness – there is something for everyone, in and out of the Jewish community.
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