What an incredible, powerful story, Nurit. You showed such strength and courage. Never underestimate the power you have to impact people in a truly deep way. Keep it up!!!

@Allison While you are generally right that "men are generally more into looking at scantily clad women than showing off their bodies to other women and vice versa when it comes to women," I wouldn't say this is the REASON for the guidelines for modesty in Judaism. Firstly, dressing modestly allows others to see a woman for her inner beauty - not just for how she looks externally. It also enhances intimacy between husband and wife. But at the end of the day, a woman dresses modestly for herself, not for others. The way a woman dresses reflects how she perceives herself. Dressing modestly reflects her sense of dignity and pride. It allows her to express her true self. Ironically, by showing off one's body, one may actually be hiding behind it. Of course, the body is not bad in itself, but it can become an obstacle to expressing the soul. Needless to say, modesty does not only concern dress, but also behavior and speech--and in all three facets it applies to BOTH men and women.

@Pamela Tougher: I think you can figure this out just by observing men. Men are much more easily sexually aroused by visual stimuli than women are. Putting studies aside, you can see that pretty easily (i.e. pornography is one extreme example), even with men's natural behavior in general towards/regarding women.

Robin, Thanks for helping me clarify my point; when I said that women are naturally more emotional than men, I actually meant that they are naturally more emotionally intuitive - i.e. better able to get in touch with their emotions. I did not mean to imply that men do not have emotions, rather that that they don't express them as naturally as women do. Christopher, I do not agree with your logic that women being more skilled at expressing emotions is a result of pressure on males not to be emotional. Firstly, That women are generally very emotionally tuned-in has nothing to do with whether or not men are pressured to suppress their emotions, which I agree that they often are. And I just don't believe that without these pressures upon men, you would see men going around crying, admitting their helplessness, and expressing their true needs and inner feelings. Also, several scientific studies have emerged showing that women's brains and men's brains show anatomical differences... For example, the limbic cortex (which regulates emotions) was found to be proportionally larger in women than men.

To Dan: "If man and woman were created as equals, and their flesh is the same, why is the top half of the woman's flesh any more provocative than the top half of the man's?" As long as we're getting intellectual... 1. None of the sources you provided--if you read them more carefully-- actually support your conclusion that man and woman were created as "equals" (at least in the way the word is used today). The Torah (a.k.a. Old Testement), both in Genesis and as a whole, views men and women as having different natures and, accordingly, different--but equally valuable--roles in society. 2. Perhaps the fact that man was created in the image of G-d simply implies that the Divine "image" is a synthesis of masculine and feminine (a concept which happens to be a foundation of Jewish Kabbalistic tradition)? 3. The verse stating that man and woman "should bind together and be as one flesh" proves exactly the opposite point that you are trying to make - why all this fuss about "binding together" if they are exactly the same to begin with? ... and let's be honest. Women trying to behave like men = oppression, not equality.

Thanks for this beautiful post. Having a mentor is essential for everyone, regardless of age. Sometimes we get so stuck in ourselves and our own perspective. We can become trapped in our own little world. We need someone outside of ourselves to give us an objective viewpoint, who we can talk to, who can encourage us, comfort us, and push us to be better. If everyone had a mentor, I think a lot of depression and even suicides would be avoided.

I think it's time that women realize that their emotional reactions can be seen as a big advantage over men. Let me explain. In general, women are naturally more emotional than men. Becoming emotional, by definition, is an instinctive reaction to something. Therefore, women are more naturally skilled than men at getting in touch with their instincts. Crying is an expression of something that is really, really deep in a person - positive OR negative. If a woman is crying over a relationship, she should see it as a tool; she should say, "Wait. Something must be going on here." And then she should figure out what that something is. A woman using her natural, intuitive instincts -- that's true empowerment.