Mimi Arbeit

Mimi Arbeit is a PhD Candidate in Child Study and Human Development, with a focus on adolescent sexuality and sexual health (read more in her Academic Feminist interview). She is a freelance sexuality educator and also works locally to promote and strengthen sexuality education in public schools. She writes & curates The Debrief, a sex, dating, and relationships column published every Wednesday: http://www.jewishboston.com/users/Mimi-Arbeit. She also posts personal writing and academic work at sexedtransforms.blogspot.com. She tweets @mimiarbeit.

Posts Written by Mimi

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By Mimi Arbeit • 9 years ago

Waxing, Pubic Hair, and Passivity

This story is not mine, but was shared with me by a friend who wanted help sharing it with others (while remaining anonymous). Check out more personal stories and reflections about sex, dating, and relationships at my weekly column, The Debrief.

Days away from a potential date with a woman I just started seeing, on which some type of sex potentially might happen, I went to get a bikini wax.
By Mimi Arbeit • 12 years ago

A March to End Rape Culture and Gender Inequality in Boston this past Saturday

Ed. note: This post is part of the second round of the Feministing “So You Think You Can Blog” contributor contest (background here). Stay tuned all week as our six finalists take turns turns covering the blog and giving us a sense of their personal contributor style. The winner of the contest and newest member of the Feministing team will be announced next week!

I share this story to illustrate how Boston Feminists for Liberation, who organized this march, moved us through the constructed landscape of the city to engage tangibly with intersectionality and to approach the challenge of dismantling rape culture from several different vantage points, literally.

Starting place: The Boston Common. One of ...

Ed. note: This post is part of the second round of the Feministing “So You Think You Can Blog” contributor contest (background here). Stay tuned all week as our six finalists take turns turns ...
By Mimi Arbeit • 12 years ago

What if kids could vote?

Ed note: This post is part of the second round of the Feministing “So You Think You Can Blog” contributor contest (background here). Stay tuned all week as our six finalists take turns turns covering the blog and giving us a sense of their personal contributor style. The winner of the contest and newest member of the Feministing team will be announced next week!

The further along we get in this election season, the more passionately I start dreaming of a total upheaval of our political system. Electoral college? Super PACs? Two-party system? Does this all really make sense for us anymore?

Join me on a little thought experiment:

What if politicians had to be accountable to the needs ...

Ed note: This post is part of the second round of the Feministing “So You Think You Can Blog” contributor contest (background here). Stay tuned all week as our six finalists take turns turns ...
By Mimi Arbeit • 12 years ago

Four responses to how Martha Raddatz posed the abortion question

Ed. note: This post is part of the second round of the Feministing “So You Think You Can Blog” contributor contest (background here). Stay tuned all week as our six finalists take turns turns covering the blog and giving us a sense of their personal contributor style. The winner of the contest and newest member of the Feministing team will be announced next week!

 

When Martha Raddatz asked the vice-presidential candidates an abortion question framed in terms of religion, I bolted forward. (See video, transcript.)

Many others have expressed frustration with Raddatz for framing the question this way. But she did, and others do too, so how should we respond? I see four ...

Ed. note: This post is part of the second round of the Feministing “So You Think You Can Blog” contributor contest (background here). Stay tuned all week as our six finalists take turns turns ...
By Mimi Arbeit • 12 years ago

Queer identity: More questions than answers

A SYTYCB entry

Revised from a longer post I wrote this year during Pride month on my personal blog.

I didn’t realize it would be so hard to be queer after I got married. Seems like it should have been obvious, right? Marry a heterosexual cisman, turn in queer club card, do not pass go, still collect hundreds of dollars of apparently-straight privilege.

But is that how it has to be?

I had a boyfriend years ago who once told a friend I was bisexual. His friend responded by asking, “Is she actively bisexual?” Actively? What does that mean? At this very moment?

I never even really identified as bisexual. Mostly, I identified as queer, which allowed me to position myself ...

A SYTYCB entry

Revised from a longer post I wrote this year during Pride month on my personal blog.

I didn’t realize it would be so hard to be queer after I got married. Seems ...
By Mimi Arbeit • 12 years ago

Unconventional sex ed lessons from 50 Shades of Grey

A SYTYCB entry

When I read 50 Shades of Grey last week, I expected to be disappointed and dismayed. However, I was pleasantly surprised. I found the book to be quite a welcome interruption of the dominant script for sex and romance that I see in the media: boy meets girl, boy woos girl, boy gets girl to have sex with him without ever discussing sex as an activity or checking for her enthusiastic verbal consent. There are many reasons this dominant script is problematic.

I like 50 Shades of Grey because they actually talk about sex. They talk about sex before, during, and after they have sex. As a sex educator, when I sit with ...

A SYTYCB entry

When I read 50 Shades of Grey last week, I expected to be disappointed and dismayed. However, I was pleasantly surprised. I found the book to be quite a welcome interruption of the dominant ...