4 February 2019

Brighton & Hove Progressive Synagogue’s Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah was part of the panel on BBC One’s hit discussion show The Big Questions this Sunday.

Elli took part in a spirited debate entitled ‘Is feminism in crisis?’, during which she spoke about the many schools of feminism and argued that we must acknowledge that male power is the problem.

Responding to a guest who spoke about “traditional feminists”, Elli replied: “I think we shouldn’t use terms like ‘traditional feminist’, as there are many different schools of feminism. There have always been huge debates about what we should be doing.

“There are lots of different ways of expressing, but we do tend to homogenise and say ‘this is the way it should be’ and exclude other voices.

“I know in the 1980s that I, as a Jewish women and a lesbian, needed to express those things and I found that people who wanted to make it a narrow path made me feel that I couldn’t be part of it. That is a very dangerous thing.”

Show host Rachel Burden then asked: “You would describe yourself as gender queer, as non binary, but do you feel there is a space for the entire spectrum within feminism?”

Elli replied: “There absolutely is. The enemy, to use an old fashioned word, is patriarchy. It is male power that is the problem.”

Elli also told how far from being in crisis, more people than ever today are describing themselves as feminists.

Watch the full show here (Elli is on at around 42 minutes).