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phoebebovy.bsky.social
Phoebe Maltz Bovy
@phoebebovy.bsky.social
1.8K followers 670 following 3.8K posts
https://phoebemaltzbovy.substack.com
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/745513/the-last-straight-woman-by-phoebe-maltz-bovy/ Opinion ed., The CJN, contributor columnist, The Globe and Mail. Half of Feminine Chaos.
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phoebebovy.bsky.social
Yes, the Jewish novel's at a crossroads. No, it's not why the Vulture story said.
Ridker offers an overview of a lot of compelling or compelling-sounding novels and short stories. Unfortunately, he does all of this through the lens of Peter Beinart, Zionist turned critic of Zionism. This is a problem not because of where Beinart stands on Zionism but because of the moralistic and just chaotic approach this is to analysing literature. Picture whoever’s the right-wing equivalent of Beinart. Had Ridker picked that person as a guide, the resulting essay would have been just as frustrating.
November 17, 2025 at 7:05 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
How annoying what appears as the image when you share a link from that which shalt not be named. It is this, in lieu of alt I'm saying here, a photo of Amy Klobuchar with hot firemen at the Minnesota State Fair.
November 15, 2025 at 4:23 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
November 15, 2025 at 3:45 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
I completely unironically love to see this.
November 13, 2025 at 4:56 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
Not my alias!
November 13, 2025 at 4:53 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
Hate to disappoint but the special secret reason is the book I'm writing about straight women (appearing this May!). The implications-for-feminism reasons are explained in the article.
November 13, 2025 at 1:53 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
Or we can appreciate my 2016 prescience, if not what it says about the world. forward.com/life/356366/...
Will Roth still, in Trump’s America, be the go-to image, in the collective imagination, of the White Male Writer? Or will he have come full circle and get the ‘identity’ treatment once more, a “Jewish writer” again whether he likes it or not?
November 12, 2025 at 2:40 AM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
One can divide Jewish modernity according to two preoccupations: Does the outside world like us too much, such that we will assimilate out of existence?, versus, Do they like us enough to leave us in peace? The viewer of season two of Nobody Wants This is living through the second type of moment, but watching a show about the first. The show offers nostalgia not merely for better times and nebbish-meets-ditz fictional romances past, but, more precisely, for a time when Jews had the upper hand where assimilation was concerned. There’s never any question of the obstacle to the love match being antisemitic opposition from Joanne’s family and friends. There’s no mention of BDS and whether it necessitates boycotting the hot rabbi. There’s no groyper cousin trotted out to warn Joanne of the dangers of mixing her bloodline.
November 11, 2025 at 1:30 AM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
thecjn.ca/opinion/pers...
If you’re a non-Indigenous Canadian, if you’re a white American, do you really want to spend your one precious life feeling terrible about yourself for things that after all you were not personally responsible for? You might post to Instagram about your intent to do the work, to do better, but wouldn’t it be more appealing to fight for social justice in a way that didn’t implicate you at all?
November 10, 2025 at 2:39 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
Meanwhile in Canada.
November 9, 2025 at 10:11 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
And once more.
November 6, 2025 at 8:59 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
November 2, 2025 at 3:01 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
This I want to dwell on for a moment: we’ve crossed some threshold where it has to be specified if the clothing is not mostly made from plastic. Where this is a luxurious enough quality to merit a mention. Whereas in the past, a luxury material would be named (cashmere, silk), it is now noteworthy when something that resembles a cotton t-shirt is made out of cotton. This can no longer be assumed. It’s like when the entry-level jobs were reinvented as unpaid internships, and job ads started to mention, as though this were surprising, that they paid money for this.
November 1, 2025 at 9:52 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
Lah di dah!
October 31, 2025 at 1:34 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/s...
Ms. Medine Cohen was introduced to Substack by her husband. Her first post, in September 2020, was titled “Moving Home,” a personal essay reflecting on confusion about luck, privilege and self-awareness that now reads like relic of a more “woke” era. At the time, Substack was not a home for fashion writers.
October 27, 2025 at 12:50 AM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
Just the slightest whiff of 'and Trump will, personally, be involved.'
Hailing an Era of ‘Trump Babies,’ White House Unveils I.V.F. Proposals
October 17, 2025 at 1:50 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
Canada Post appears to be struggling through long enough for the bras I ordered a thousand years ago to arrive. (And I'm sure all sorts of exciting bills and whatnot but more importantly)
October 14, 2025 at 4:38 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
Momentous, hard-to-fathom events but also something for people worried they might be ODing on lentils.
October 13, 2025 at 9:17 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
Preview
The most striking thing about “The Limo” is that it is never once mentioned that Jerry is Jewish. Much as “The Contest” never utters the word masturbation, the Seinfeld episode about Jerry and George inadvertently posing as neo-Nazis never outright states the reason this would be ridiculous. Is it that the humor comes from that which is not spelled out? Or is it that the show’s Jewishness was always tempered, lest it be too Jewish and alienate people who weren’t into that?** It’s something that struck me at the time (or if not at the time as in 1992 then in circa 1998 rerun rewatches), and that positively leaps out watching it in 2025.
October 12, 2025 at 10:09 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
Ah yes, women, the population known for our indifference to our own waistlines unless someone else prompts us to think about them, in which case we react with gratitude for the nudge. (Always read the comments.)
sue NJ9m ago In my early twenties ( now in my sixties) I started to gain weight which showed particularly in my stomach area. I remember my mother mentioning it to me and stating I would look better in my clothes if I lost a little weight. Woman in particular tend not to pay as much attention to themselves ( I had a young daughter at the time) or take the time for self care. I started eating better, smaller lunches, less at dinner and joined a gym that I went to after work for an hour. Result? I looked better, felt better and it became a lifelong habit to try to eat well and exercise. I remain to this day in good health and a decent weight. Thanks Mom!!!!
October 3, 2025 at 8:43 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
Charming reply there to the Manchester attack story. Someone's mad at Jews *in England* for the unseemliness of "celebrating" Yom Kippur while there's a war going in Gaza.
October 2, 2025 at 3:29 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
Did post blocked make a good point? Hard (for me) to say!
October 1, 2025 at 7:58 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
Bringing this photo of Carla Bruni to the hairdresser
September 25, 2025 at 12:39 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
phoebemaltzbovy.substack.com/p/men-and-wo...
Now here is where if it were 1998 or 2002 or whatever, one might ask, so what’s the question? As in, what would be incongruous about seeming like a basic straight lady and also having a bunch of heterosexual sex?
September 24, 2025 at 10:29 PM
phoebebovy.bsky.social
Yes, there was a time, 2005ish, 1995ish, maybe, when the progressive party line was that men and women were the same. Then came Obama, Title IX, the Women’s March, #MeToo, the unfashionability of being a ‘girlboss,’ the rise of tradwife content, I could go on. To hone in on #MeToo in particular, this was not a movement dedicated to the idea that men and women were alike. It was about ‘men have no idea what it’s LIKE to be a woman in this world.’ And then the trads of various stripes swooped in to say, that’s right, and what will protect women is if we retrain the incels as Ward Cleavers.
September 24, 2025 at 2:18 PM