An uber-meta look at frum female blogging

The following is the abstract of a paper to be discussed at the "Works in Progress Group in Modern Jewish Studies" at the AJS conference this weekend. The title: "Domesticity and the Home Page: Blogging and the Blurring of Public/Private Space for Orthodox Jewish Women"

Abstract

What if Glückel of Hameln, the seventeenth-century memoirist who wrote her life experiences as a legacy for her twelve children, had blogged instead? The emergence of the “blogosphere” as a new medium for self-expression raises critical questions about the way the public and private realms are positioned in cyberspace. While conventional memoirs and diaries represent private life writing that, like Glückel’s, might become public through publication, blogs are journals that at once combine the intimacy of personal reflection in the diary format with the globally accessible (and commercialized) public arena of the World Wide Web. In this paper, I will examine the phenomenon of Jewish women bloggers in the American Orthodox community, looking specifically at the ways in which this particular medium has provided women with a public voice to discuss matters that, traditionally, belong to the private sphere, thus subverting the public/private dichotomy that is at the heart of traditional Jewish culture. My work will be contextualized in a discussion of the use of blogging by women more broadly as a means of politicizing conventionally “private’ issues. In addition, I will consider the value and significance of reading blogs for those who are not active writers in the genre, again comparing this phenomenon to the case of Glückel, whose widely read memoir is a staple of courses on Jewish women’s history. (link to pdf) (via Hirhurim)

I had some thoughts on this topic when I started blogging almost a year ago. In fact, it was my very first real post (read The Unwanted Veil). I can't wait to hear the Jewish Studies spin on this topic. I suspect it won't be earth shattering, to say the least, as these academic 'state the obvious' papers tend to be.

The phenomenon of orthodox female blogging isn't so much an issue of public vs. private domain anymore. What's interesting to me is that the blogsphere may the only venue for intimate but appropriate mingling, so to speak, between very religious men and women.

The separation between genders is very pronounced in ultra-orthodox circles. I once visited the Vizhnitzer Rebbe's home and was surprised to see two separate dining rooms, one for men and one for women. I asked the rebetzin why this was necessary between family members and she said that it was because of the children-in-law. In chabad the boundaries are obviously a lot less extreme, but there is still the understanding that married men and women do not form friendships. People are of course friendly, cordial, even talkative at times, but the discussion never goes past the surface, lest anything becomes personal or emotional and then develops into a connection. I suppose that in more modern circles this separation exists much less, but I don't know the dynamics of those relationships. In my little world, women socialize and exchange ideas exclusively with women or in the context of their families (for example, at a shabbos table with the husband present). For very religious women, the internet is possibly the only opportunity to get a non-relative male perspective on issues. Even for the non-religious woman, it may be the only way to peer into the frum guys' world and get a glimpse of the famed yeshivish debating. Either way, one must appreciate the novelty of this form of communication in that it allows for so much more freedom and democratization without compromising modesty or fidelity.

The opposite must be true for men as well. Reading frum women's blogs opens up a new world and allows for a sort of interaction that is unlikely in person. Now that's a topic I would like to hear about.