The Evolution of the Niddah Practice from Ritual Hygiene to Biopower: A Study in Digital Ethnography The Evolution of the Niddah Practice from Ritual Hygiene to Biopower: A Study in Digital Ethnography Varvara Redmond, University of Warsaw, Poland Abstract The concept of purity exists in many cultures all over the world. This article investigates the idea of Jewish female purity – niddah. The word “purity” itself suggests its connotation to physical and ritual hygiene. This paper shows that even though the concept of “ritual purity” in Judaism might have started as an ancient form of hygiene, nowadays it functions as sexual restriction and biopower over Jewish women. Rabbinical sexual prohibitions have drastically transformed the initial practice in an effort to control female gendered behavior. Due to the sensitivity of the subject matter, this essay is written using the methodology of digital ethnography. The digital research was conducted in several Facebook groups of mainly English-speaking Orthodox women. The online research provides an insight into Jewish practices related to niddah, which are not traditionally spoken of freely and demonstrates how the contemporary concept of niddah affects women’s lives severely. 1. Methodology: The Ethics and Challenges of Digital Ethnography Without a doubt, online culture and its practices provide a window into the most private and confidential aspects of a person’s life. Gender studies researchers, Catherine Driscoll and Melissa Gregg, from the University of Sydney, write that online culture extends to the spheres of life without separating them by time or space, different behaviors or identities (Biale, 1984). During the current research of niddah practices and their effect on women’s lives, the author was able to access intimate details and information about women from exclusively Jewish Orthodox female groups. The digital research of Facebook groups and other online forums allow researchers to search for posts and collect information from several years back when the group or forum was just opened. Earlier, anthropologists were expected to go to a designated place for their field research, and collect the data by capturing a very specific social group in a defined period of time (Hine 2000). Digital ethnography researcher Sarah Pink writes that during the twentieth century, community studies meant that “it was commonplace for ethnographers to go to particular and often geographically remote localities, and to stay in those locations for a determined period of time” (Pink 2016, 155). During digital research, on the contrary, the relationship between the past and present, local and global are not that clear. Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal Volume 16 Number 2 (2019) 1 ISSN 1209-9392 © 2020 Women in Judaism, Inc. All material in the journal is subject to copyright; copyright is held by the journal except where otherwise indicated. There is to be no reproduction or distribution of contents by any means without prior permission. Contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors. The Evolution of the Niddah Practice from Ritual Hygiene to Biopower: A Study in Digital Ethnography In terms of the digital research of Jewish communities, the researcher can not only access the data from years back but also cross the boundaries of localities and communities. Hence, digital research allows the researchers to reach and analyze global trends, which could not be represented in some specific Jewish communities. In the past Jewish tradition could be traced to a specific place and community. Nowadays, Pink quotes Meyrowitz – “we no longer live in localities.” Instead, in the digital era, people live in so-called “glocalities.” In these “glocalities” he suggests, a “global matrix” of interconnections overlays the local experience (Pink 2016, 155). The glocalities are driven by global trends and global consciousness, which can be accessed by digital ethnographers. In this article, thanks to the methodology of digital ethnography, the research provides the necessary insight into how the Jewish law (Halacha) is lived and embodied by women. Another advantage of digital ethnography in the case of research into the practices and theories behind the concept of family purity is that researching female Orthodox groups, the researcher accesses exclusively female voices. It is important that in these groups male Rabbinical authorities are excluded from the conversations about ritual purity, which allows the researcher to analyze which narratives are transmitted by women and which practices are really observed. Digital ethnography allows for observation and data collection with a minimal effect on the informants, by simply collecting the data without engaging or interacting with other members of the group or forum. Another very important issue that cannot be overlooked is the ethics and anonymity of the informants. The majority of observant Jewish Facebook groups require their members to sign up and often respond to several questions, checking their level of religiosity. In the case of digital research, the majority of the informants are not aware that the research is being held. If the researcher decides to announce that they are in fact collecting the data it often leads to them being removed from the group, which puts the whole research at risk. Even if the researcher is allowed to proceed with the fieldwork, it would require them to post the information about the research being held, quite regularly in order to inform newcomers. In that case, it is easy to assume that users’ expressions could be self-censored and affected by the presence of the researcher. As one can see, the boundaries between what is public and what is private online could become quite challenging and problematic. It is crucial for the researcher to use field material carefully without providing any personal details of the informants and check if the researched group can be easily Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal Volume 16 Number 2 (2019) 2 ISSN 1209-9392 © 2020 Women in Judaism, Inc. All material in the journal is subject to copyright; copyright is held by the journal except where otherwise indicated. There is to be no reproduction or distribution of contents by any means without prior permission. Contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors. The Evolution of the Niddah Practice from Ritual Hygiene to Biopower: A Study in Digital Ethnography found online, which can lead to the exposure of the research community or the informant (Fielding 2008, 23-41). Svenningsson Elm proposed the idea of “fuzzy boundaries” (Markham & Baym 2009, 69-87), which does not provide users with the full information about how public their private posts and comments are. In the majority of exclusively female observant online groups researched for this article, there was an actively used option of an anonymous post. The option of the anonymous posts was very frequently used for posts related to intimate lives, ritual purity, and other personal topics. The comments to these posts, however, were public and often even more personal than the initial post, which enabled the researcher to access more personal data about the users. “Fuzzy Boundaries” – Private/Public British anthropologist, Mary Douglas, explains that pollution ideas function on two levels: instrumental and expressive. At the instrumental level, people try to influence one another’s behavior. These beliefs reinforcing social pressures function as what Michel Foucault would define as biopower coming not only from the Rabbinical authorities but fellow women as well. The high amount of anonymous posts in regards to female mitzvot could be explained by mutual control and censorship performed by other observant women, and also by the fear that someone from their own community will see their post and discuss it with others. That way the mutual control will leak from the online space to the real world. For example, one female user of the group writes: Unfortunately, I know people in real life in this group and it takes a lot of guts to post this. Please don’t talk to me about this post in real life. This example demonstrates that posting something publicly, without making it anonymous, which is often an option, becomes a conscious decision. In that case, public/private boundaries online over cross the accepted in the offline world order. Another woman writes: Okay, first time posting. I’m terrified to write this and almost went as ‘anonymous’ for it, but too many people know me. Just... be nice, please. And even more importantly, please be discreet. I can’t afford for the wrong eyes to see this. If you find it funny or ridiculous, please laugh quietly about it - I don’t need to know… This also demonstrates the awareness of a choice between anonymous and public posting and the difference between what is acceptable online and offline. Many women wrote that they are Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal Volume 16 Number 2 (2019) 3 ISSN 1209-9392 © 2020 Women in Judaism, Inc. All material in the journal is subject to copyright; copyright is held by the journal except where otherwise indicated. There is to be no reproduction or distribution of contents by any means without prior permission. Contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors. The Evolution of the Niddah Practice from Ritual Hygiene to Biopower: A Study in Digital Ethnography afraid of criticism, gossiping and especially information leakage to their real-life community and locality Even though the Rabbinical authorities due to their gender are excluded from these online discussions, many of the women did not only embodied but also impersonalized the further stringencies over marital relations. Also, there are many members of the observant groups who are in fact in a position of authority. There are many women who are mikvah-attendants, kallah- teachers and even yoatzot halacha – female halachic consultants. This creates the culture of mutual encouragement of strengthening the observance of the Halacha, while critical voices are discouraged.