Body and Soul
Tuesday, May 21st, 2013
For my final project, I chose to portray the duality inherent in one’s identity. As this is a personal project, I highlighted the juxtaposition between growing up with a modern- Orthodox Jewish background, and attempting to reconcile that belief system with life as a modern American woman. In addition to examining the bifurcation between Jewish […]
Body and Soul
Posted in Ariella Michal Medows, Creative Projects, May | 1 Comment »
Sex and Society
Sunday, May 5th, 2013
Though viewed as a medical spectacle, hermaphrodites are more readily accepted into society than transsexuals. Those born with mixed genitalia are regarded as having been born that way, destined by God to occupy a place on the fringes of mainstream society. However, transsexuals are viewed in a harsher light, as critics claim that it is […]
Sex and Society
Tags: Middlesex; transsexuals
Posted in Ariella Michal Medows, May, May 7 | No Comments »
Family Fun
Sunday, April 28th, 2013
Although predominantly recognized as a tale of a sexual identity crisis, Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex also devotes a large part of its focus to the role of family. This shifting institution includes characters such as Uncle Pete, who prides himself as being a medical expert with the authority to instruct Milton about the proper time to […]
Family Fun
Tags: incest, Middlesex, Sexual Identitty
Posted in April 30, Ariella Michal Medows | No Comments »
Sharing is (Not) Caring
Sunday, April 21st, 2013
One of the worst aspects of an individual contracting AIDS is dealing with the public stigma associated with the disease. Even today, a great deal of misconception surrounds those with HIV and AIDS. Surprisingly, the highest risk group is women over the age of 50, as believing that they are past the age of menopause, […]
Sharing is (Not) Caring
Tags: AIDS, Angels in America, Homosexuality
Posted in April 23, Ariella Michal Medows | No Comments »
Wright and Peace
Sunday, April 14th, 2013
Despite the vast differences between the upbringings of Sula Peace and Nel Wright, the two bosom buddies in Toni Morrison’s 1973 novel Sula have one aspect in common: both were reared by overbearing maternal figures. For Nel, this controlling female comes in the form of her mother Helene, whose own parentage is so spotty, as […]
Wright and Peace
Tags: Matriarch, Matrifocal, Sula
Posted in April 16, Ariella Michal Medows | No Comments »
Putting the “Dog” in Dogma
Sunday, April 7th, 2013
The latest phenomenon to hit the literary world is Wendy Moore’s How to Create the Perfect Wife, which chronicles the real- life quest of the progressive yet eccentric Thomas Day to cultivate his perfect wife. To conduct this experiment, at the age of twenty-one, Day adopted two twelve- year- old orphan girls and took them […]
Putting the “Dog” in Dogma
Tags: Daughter-wife, Lolita, Normal
Posted in April 9, Ariella Michal Medows | No Comments »
The Best of Both Worlds
Sunday, March 24th, 2013
This week’s readings highlight the confusion of young women as they floundered between the old world morals and the new rules of modernity in play during the 1920s. Ladies were given mixed messages regarding their roles in society, as they were permitted to pursue higher learning in college and to enter the work force, which […]
The Best of Both Worlds
Tags: 1920s; sexuality; petting
Posted in Ariella Michal Medows, March 26, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Dangerous Liaisons
Sunday, March 17th, 2013
Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 novel Lolita is equally greeted with acclaim for its rich literary style, and horror at the author’s attempt to rationalize sexual abuse of minors. If this written work were to have been based on a true story, much of the praise would be exchanged for gasps of outrage. However, perhaps due to […]
Dangerous Liaisons
Tags: Lolita; Pedophilia
Posted in Ariella Michal Medows, March 19 | No Comments »
My Encounters in the Museum of Sex
Tuesday, March 12th, 2013
The disconcerting fact, or perhaps, the charm of the Museum of Sex, is the constant zigzag of the exhibits from the realms of pornography to education. Needless to say, the experience is entirely subjective, as is the visit itself. What I took away today in an instructional setting was, I imagine, entirely different from the […]
My Encounters in the Museum of Sex
Tags: Behavior, Michel Foucault, Museum of Sex
Posted in Ariella Michal Medows, March 12 | 2 Comments »
Sexual Mores in the Victorian Era
Sunday, March 3rd, 2013
This reading challenges the stereotype of the Victorian era as a sexually monolithic period of repression and prudishness. Instead, the readings challenge the reader to explore the different sexual attitudes prevalent in the period, and how socio-cultural frameworks helped to shape those very attitudes.
Sexual Mores in the Victorian Era
Tags: Censorship, Free Love Movement, sex, Victorian
Posted in Ariella Michal Medows, March 5, Uncategorized | No Comments »