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The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women

Features thousands of biographic and thematic essays on Jewish women around the world. Learn more

Jaclyn Friedman

by JWA Staff
Our work to expand the Encyclopedia is ongoing. We are providing this brief biography for Jaclyn Friedman until we are able to commission a full entry.

Jaclyn Friedman.

Photo courtesy of JaclynFriedman.com.

Jaclyn Friedman voiced new possibilities for sex-positive feminism and a rejection of rape culture as editor of Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape. A victim of sexual assault in college, Friedman began teaching self-defense and speaking out about victim blaming, slut shaming, and other aspects of culture that perpetuate rape. Her 2009 book Yes Means Yes was eleventh on Ms. Magazine’s Top 100 Feminist Nonfiction of All Time list. As founder and executive director of Women, Action, and the Media (WAM!), Friedman led a successful campaign to make Facebook classify incitements of violence against women as hate speech and remove them from the site. WAM!, which has local chapters throughout the US and Canada, runs grassroots campaigns and annual conferences to promote women’s equal representation in the media. Friedman’s second book, What You Really Really Want, offered young women possibilities for exploring their sexuality while remaining conscious of their safety. On her weekly podcast, F*cking While Feminist, she interviews public figures, activists, and commentators on feminism and sexuality. In 2017 she published Unscrewed, in which she discusses "fauxpowerment," the concept that women are taught that they have sexual power without having actual power over their lives.

How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Jaclyn Friedman." (Viewed on December 8, 2023) <https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/friedman-jaclyn>.

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