According to the George Wayne school of snark journalism, your job as interviewee is to provide just enough info to set up the next joke/question, a la Ed McMahon: "So, if I were a good looking priest and told you I had the Body of Christ..." "Oh ho, Peter! You're so naughty." "Yes, but enough about you."
saint kansas | Homepage | 12.01.06 - 4:08 am | #

I THINK that in normal conversations, even if someone asks very personal questions of you, you would not normally be as direct and forthright as when in the interview conversation about the particular topic on which you were being questioned. Your responses needed to seal the reason the book was written, and perhaps, even, be shocking enough to elicit a response - namely, go buy and read the book. I don't believe it was necessarily aimed at the tea and crumpets book reading club - but, hey, if they want to tackle it, great. Those readers of the interview who have been in similar life-style situations as you write about will identify with your candor. Too much info? Guess it depends to whom you're talking - and why.
uncle jim | 12.01.06 - 6:22 am | #

Take it from a gal who's been described lovingly by her friends as a Media Whore: The interview was spot-on, exactly the right combo of candor, brains and sass to answer every FAQ about your cred and still leave a listener wanting more. As for "overshare," four words: Toni Bentley, respectfully reviewed. If the straight-faced critical reception for "Surrender" didn't prove your point about sensibilities, nuttin' does. (In fairness, the Washington Post barfed at the book, which was a "spiritual" autobiographical paean to anal sex, but everyone else chin-stroked and nodded. Porn + pretension = respectability??)
Brenda from Flatbush | Homepage | 12.01.06 - 9:34 am | #

I'd comment seriously on this, but I'm too busy giggling at the fact that the fellow interviewing you appears to be named "Peter Hyman".
Ledasmom | 12.01.06 - 10:07 am | #

Dawn is a voice crying out in the wilderness. The most terrifying prospect to secularists is that her intended audience will move from the particular to the general, will see their story in hers, and recognize a truth that has been obstructed from view for many decades.

Too much information indeed. More than one can handle? No way.

"Woe, however, to the era in which the voices calling in the wilderness have fallen silent, shouted down by the noise of the day, or prohibited, or drowned in the intoxication of progress, or restricted and quiet out of fear and cowardice."

Father Alfred Delp, Priest, Martyr (1944).
Geoff | 12.01.06 - 10:13 am | #

I notice some chucklehead in the comments in that article wants people to protest your Dec 7th appearance at Borders. I will pray for their conversion, and if they will not, their befuddlement in their attempt. :)
Scott W. | 12.01.06 - 10:58 am | #

Well done, Dawn. The interview shows anyone who is not, well, completely morally off-the-deep end that you are a well thought out moral and mature person, who carries the full weight of being human. Chastity is all about recognizing the sacredness of sex, and the dignity of each human person, who is created in the image and likeness of God. That mystery, that the image of God, is reflected in creation by two parts, male and female, is a much overlooked part of the mystery of being human. Sexuality, really wonderful beautiful sexuality is only possible in a life-long sacramental marriage.

I'm very proud of you, of your book, and of your very presence in this smug anti-God, anti-life, anti-virtue culture that you steadfastly inhabit.

Way to go! Yay for our team!

Warren
warren | Homepage | 12.01.06 - 11:19 am | #

Regarding the chucklehead in the Radar comments, how's that for the classic liberal response? Dawn's views on homosexuality shouldn't exist in 2006; and yet speaking frankly about masturbation is a "spectacle." And then he winds up with a triple "Shame!" I'd thought that we'd elimated the concept of shame once and for all back in the '90s.
saint kansas | Homepage | 12.01.06 - 12:32 pm | #

shame on us for doing such a thing
uncle jim | 12.01.06 - 12:39 pm | #

Curious that the angry commentor is named Maximilian K. Maybe the more-well-known Maximilian K. could show up and smack some sense into him.
Meredith | 12.01.06 - 3:23 pm | #

If we were to stretch ourselves with some charity, and try to understand what might be underneath Romenesko's categorizing Dawn's interview as TMI, maybe we'd see the glimmer of something good that remains untainted.

It's nothing for people to say sexual things about Pamela Anderson or Anna Nicole Smith or Angelina Jolie. Journalists and photog-stalkers are always chasing down Paris Hilton and Britney Speers and writing about who's doing whom with what. And no one in the media cries TMI.

But when a woman is chaste, and presents herself as chaste, even when our culture doesn't believe it's possible, we suddenly remember what modesty is. And if we try to ignore it and push through it, like a cramp when running, it still comes through.

So Romenesko, who would not bat an eye at a story about the latest Hollywood sex-whatever, when he hears Dawn answer questions as forthrightly as she has, he cringes. And maybe he's not cringing at her so much as what is good inside him remembers what goodness is and cringes that the questions were even asked in the first place.

Or maybe he's a hypocrite.
Dennis | Homepage | 12.01.06 - 3:44 pm | #

Dawn, sex jokes are one thing, but my mind was blown by your interviewer making snide comments about your Judaism and conversion to Christianity. I wonder where he got the idea that renouncing Judaism is part of Christian baptism.I recommend to all a great essay on Jewish-Christian convert Edith Stein in Rabbi David Novak's recent book "Talking with Christians: Musing of a Jewish Theologian." It explains to Christians why Jews get pissed off at Jews who convert and to Jews why Stein was innocent of their less charitable (but, given history, often justifiable)suspicions.
Seraphic Single | Homepage | 12.01.06 - 4:36 pm | #

I wonder where he got the idea that renouncing Judaism is part of Christian baptism.

In the old confirmation rite I think there was in the words a renunciation of former errors.
Scott W. | 12.01.06 - 5:06 pm | #

I just wante to say first off that we might be people who have very different views on faith. You are a catholic; I am an Evangelical Christian. None the less, I want to applaud you for being honest and bold in your interview. "A woman who fears the Lord is to be Praised."
Lowell | 12.01.06 - 8:37 pm | #

That was a great interview Dawn.

It is great to read someone who is proud enough and strong enough to stand by their principles and voice them to a community that doesn't always accept those principles. Well done and I hope the book is doing well.

O/T By the way can I have a go at this "Stump Dawn"? How about the song "Pub with No Bear"?
Peter - Australia | 12.01.06 - 9:44 pm | #

Peter, no Aussie-only hits allowed (though I'm pretty good with my Bee Gees and Easybeats -- "I Was a Lover, a Leader of Men," anyone?). For it to be a true "stump," you have to give me the title of any song that hit the Billboard Hot 100 in the 1960s. I should be able to tell you the artist, record label, and songwriter or producer, at the least.
Dawn Eden | 12.01.06 - 9:54 pm | #

Dawn, I could see how someone would become uncomfortable reading your interview. I know I did - but why? Because it pricks the conscience, that's why. These sort of things die when exposed to sunlight - thanks for pulling back the shades.
Peter | Homepage | 12.01.06 - 11:25 pm | #

That's a very kind way of putting it, Peter -- thanks! Thanks too to everyone else who's been supportive -- your encouragement means a lot to me. I actually thank my blog commenters in the acknowledgements of my book (though I didn't want to name names for fear of leaving someone out).
Dawn Eden | Homepage | 12.02.06 - 12:02 am | #

I'm guessing -- as someone who's read a lot of Romenesko over the years -- that the "TMI" comment was tongue-in-cheek, rather than an expression of "his delicate writerly sensibilities." C'mon, it was more forthright than that kind of interview usually is, but I think your responses fit right in with Radar's audience.

(And, actually, I didn't know that you didn't have to renounce one's Jewish faith in order to become Catholic. I don't know much about the Catholic church (having never been a member), but I can certainly see an interviewer (especially a nonreligious one) grasping for an analogy and coming up with something like changing one's citizenship, where you sometimes have to renounce your previous nationality. It may have been a clueless question to ask, but I didn't get the impression it was hostile or snide.)
Vidiot | Homepage | 12.02.06 - 1:05 am | #

Vidiot, can you at least admit it was a botched joke?

Like St. Kansas said, it rings of Ed McMahon's sycophantic "hy-ooooooooh!"
Geoff | 12.02.06 - 8:41 am | #

What's better, by the way: buying your book via Amazon, or going to a bookstore and asking for it? A Christian bookstore or B&N? Which does you and/or the book more good? Is there any way to buy it from you "directly" so you make a little more money, providing the link or something?

I'd like to maximize the exposure and the profit.
Therese Z | 12.02.06 - 12:32 pm | #

i think it does more good to go to a store, christian or otherwise, and ask for it.
the more they hear it, the mgr is more likely to request it for his store.
uncle jim | 12.02.06 - 5:16 pm | #

I think all this talk about TMI is unfair to Ms Goldstein. At no point do we learn which is her natural hair color.
David L Alexander | Homepage | 12.02.06 - 5:57 pm | #

Dawn --

Chastity and virginity are regarded by the modern world as shockingly perverse. :)
Maureen | Homepage | 12.02.06 - 10:28 pm | #

Therese, Uncle Jim is right. I'd add that it's best to ask for the book in a general-interest (non-Christian) bookstore, as it's a book that will interest non-Christians as well as Christians. (Rachel Kramer Bussel, who is Jewish, gave it an endorsement -- see the Press section of http://www.thrillofthechaste.com .) Thanks for wanting to help!
Dawn Eden | Homepage | 12.02.06 - 11:38 pm | #

"Yes, I had to renounce Judaism, but consider all of the awesome Rankin-Bass Christmas specials I've gained!"
saintkansas | Homepage | 12.03.06 - 6:18 am | #

TMI for a casual conversation-definitely.However, I think since this is the subject matter of your book, and it is geared towards women who are struggling with this just as you are, being open is good. That is my opinion.

If I were reading a book about dieting, I would want to know how they relapsed, and got over it and became a successful dieter.
Pansy Moss | Homepage | 12.03.06 - 9:00 pm | #

I would have slapped the guy right through the phone had he been interviewing my wife or daughter. WHAP!!! How dare you ask! However, I do realize the crowd and the responses were very good. I am glad it was Dawn and not myself being interviewed. I think you did a wonderful job. I think the goal of the attraction of young professional woman that has logical and reasonable thoughts behind her beliefs and actions came across. You were handed a lemon and magically made lemonade.
Jared | 12.05.06 - 10:46 am | #