The ultra-orthodox establishment in Israel is reportedly losing sleep over women’s demands for equality.

I have long seen myself as the dissident daughter of an orthodox father, a truant who broke her father’s heart by turning my back on his cherished orthodoxy and living a more experimental way of life. It is therefore a delicate matter, this fascination of mine with the Other Daughter – the good girl – the one whose father did not call out after her in censure, the one whose aptitude for learning was cultivated on her father’s knee, the one who no doubt offered both her parents much solace.

The subject of a woman’s body, even in its most intimate functions, was not taboo in the orthodox Jewish world of my upbringing. The rabbis had plenty to say about menstruation, sexual intercourse, vaginal hygiene, conception, birth and its aftermath. In our circles we were privy to dictates and folklore most of which served the purpose of protecting men from our insalubrious bodily functions. For example...