The American Jewess

She wrote a book. She was an actress. She sang opera. She became a professor. She toured the world by herself. She paid her own way. She was a musical superstar.

Over the past couple years, we have witnessed the rise of an eco-friendly, politically progressive bike culture in the US.

From "The rise of the hot Jewish girl" in Details magazine.

Jewish women are hot right now. According to an article in the men’s magazine Details, “Jewish women have become the ethnic fetish du jour.”  And in true men’s magazine fashion, Christopher Noxon revels in the opportunity to eroticize and exoticize Jewish women; using dehumanizing terms like “cultural mutt” and “JILF,” meaning “Jew I’d like to…” -- you get the idea. 

This article does little more than call attention to the misogynistic trend it then goes on to abuse for shock value, and Irin Carmon does a great job of breaking it down at Jezebel.  Yet the use of the word “Jewess” in the article was particularly troubling for me, as a Jewesses with Attitude blogger.  Given the continued derogatory use of the word “Jewess,” can the term ever really be reclaimed?  And how do Jewish women feel about being the object of a sexual fetish?

Last week, I got an e-mail from a Jewish Women'

by, Rebecca Honig Friedman, crossposted on Jewess

Why have we, a group of Jewish young women respectful of pop culture and history, opted to call ourselves "Jewesses with Attitude"? After all, when we tested "Jewesses" with friends and colleagues, we were told it sounds "Jappy," "old-fashioned," and "weird." But we decided we love it, in large part because it immediately sparked heated discussion.