Over the past week, people have affirmed and questioned an article I wrote, entitled “Sexy Jewish Stereotypes.” Most recently, Dave Belden wrote a counter-article, “Sexy Jewish Stereotypes — Questions.” I, for one, have been grateful for the opportunity to speak openly about issues that too often are left unsaid — namely sexuality and the way in which it is perceived. (Another interesting discussion on the subject just came out in the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue this fall and may be worth a gander.)

I appreciate Dave’s concern that sexuality and the notion of being “sexy” may contribute to the pressure that everyone, and women in particular, face to adhere to external standards of beauty. It may even push some people to become one-dimensional. But negating the sexuality and beauty of the human body is similarly problematic, if not more so: such traits are inherent to our bodies — could ignoring, subordinating, or sublimating one of the many prominent characteristics that we as humans hold ever be healthy? Even in ultra-traditional Jewish thought, in which modesty is praised, the idea of humans as inherently sexual beings — and beautiful, miraculous beings at that — is widely accepted. It is considered further evidence of the idea that we were made in God’s image.

While I have very much benefitted from a number of comments on Sexy Jewish Stereotypes, one in particular stands out in my mind. It is a cautionary e-mail from a friend in rabbinical school, excerpted here:

….I think that this new-found “sexiness” for Jews, especially Jewish women, is totally suspect. I don’t know if this thought was in the back of your mind when you wrote the blog, Josh, and it may well have been. But it struck me immediately, and I wanted to respond to it. This sexy Jewishness smacks of something similar to the “blacksploitation” of the 70s. Sure, back then, suddenly “black was beautiful,” but blackness was also just being made “other” in only a slightly different way… into something “sexy” precisely because it was ethnic, other, “exotic.” This acceptance of the female Jewish body as sexy in the last two decades or so seems to be — while certainly better than anti-Semitism — just another way to exoticize the “other” in a long tradition of doing so and to fetishize Jews on some level.

While I do not agree with all that was said, I did find my colleague’s points to be both persuasive and disconcerting. They leave me full of questions. Can stereotypes ever truly be positive? Can Jews ever just be allowed to lead ordinary lives and become ‘mainstream’? Would we, as Jews, ever want to? Are “sexy” stereotypes about Jewish women truly a sign of progress in the fight against anti-Semitism? If so, where do we go from here?


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