Writing Her Way To A New Life
For Ladin, her transition from man to woman is an experience of rebirth.
Documenting the fraught journey from Jay to Joy Ladin.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Sandee Brawarsky
Jewish Week Book Critic
http://www.thejewishweek.com/arts/books/writing-her-way-new-lifeIn an interview, Joy Ladin begins several responses, "When I started living as myself..." For the Stern College professor, poet and author, the boundary between then and now, between living a lie and leading an authentic life, is her transition from man to woman.
Ladin, who received a doctorate from Princeton, joined the faculty of Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University in 2003, then as a bearded, kipa- and tzitzit-wearing man. In the spring of 2007, after receiving tenure, Ladin told the dean that she would be returning to the school — but as a woman. Ladin was given a paid research leave, and told not to set foot on campus. But after her lawyers demanded that she be allowed to return, the school agreed, while setting forth certain conditions, like which bathrooms to use.
