Conversations with my Body

<p><strong>Elana Sztokman arrived in Israel in 1993 as a young religious mother wearing a long skirt and a hat covering her hair. Today nearly 30 years later after spending years fighting for women's rights in Orthodoxy writing books about gender in religion and eventually leaving that world behind she confronts the personal struggles behind the public persona revealing the traumas from her past that affected her entire relationship with her body. </strong></p><p></p><p><strong>From two-time winner of the National Jewish Book Council Award comes a refreshing and very personal exploration of cultures of the female body in Jewish life. This collection of essays - marking the 25-year anniversary of her feminist awakening and spanning a diverse career of research writing and advocacy around Jewish women's experiences - offers political and personal insights and retrospectives on some of the most burning issues today. Topics include: sexuality relationships body-image body-cover ritual immersion fat-shaming slut-shaming domestic violence and sexual abuse. Elana brings her characteristic honesty courage wit and profound insight into her writing and shares some of her own traumas that set her on a sometimes tortuous life path.</strong></p>