debunking "JAP" is like pulling teeth
Tuesday, February 20th, 2007
Interesting stuff happening over at Jewschool – my virtual ears
perk up whenever I see a discussion relating to feminism and
Jewish women (among other things, of course) in a mainstream-ish
Jewish space. The majority of Jewschool’s contributors are men
(I get the sense that this is also true for the overwhelming
number of commenters). So when I see a post about the
reappearance of the word JAP (‘Jewish American Princess’) and
why it is incredibly problematic, I start listening.
It started with the linking of some random youtuber’s videos
wherein she models various stereotypes – the purpose is beyond
me, it’s hard to tell what her point is, whether she’s pointing
out how easy these different personalities/stereotypes are to
imitate, thus poking holes in their authenticity or just having
fun or what. I watched it, I was kind of over it after 10
seconds (wow, you’ve got the JAP stereotype down pat. What are
you going to do with that incredible talent?). The weird thing
about blogs is that it’s possible she was just having some
random fun and decided to post her vids on youtube, but once
some blogger picks it up and posts it, suddenly people start
theorizing and pontificating about it. But I digress – the
discussion was kicked off, and so it (mostly) stops being about
random youtuber and starts being about something else.
That was yesterday. Today’s entry was way more interesting. Kol
Ra’ash Gadol writes in Can We Please Not Revive That Ugly
Stereotype? on the resurfacing of the little nickname that
could:
Let’s get at what’s really underlying the stereotype here:
there’s an element of self-hatred (I - particularly if I’m a
man- can differentiate myself from those Jews, I’m not like
them) and there’s an element of misogyny (we know what women are
about, don’t we, nudge nudge, wink, wink). But make no mistake,
it is not an accident that this stereotype is rearing its ugly
head again against not just any women, but Jewish women.
She links to Evelyn Torton Beck’s fantastic 1992 article From
‘Kike to Jap’: How misogyny, anti-semitism, and racism construct
the Jewish American Princess. The article, in pretty amazing
clarity, asserts why the use of the word JAP (and the
normalization of its use) is the result of some combination of
self-hatred, anti-Semitism, misogyny, racism, and classism, all
in one tight little package called JAP. An excerpt:
The woman, the Jewish woman as JAP has replaced the male Jew as
the scapegoat, and the Jewish male has not only participated,
but has, in fact, been instrumental in creating and perpetuating
that image. I want to show how some of the images of Jewish
women created in American culture by Jewish men provided the
roots of the “Jewish American Princess.”
…
Jews have been said to be materialistic, money-grabbing, greedy,
and ostentatious. Women have been said to be vain, trivial and
shallow; they’re only interested in clothing, in show. When you
put these together you get the Jewish-woman type who’s only
interested in designer clothes and sees her children only as
extensions of herself. The Jew has been seen as manipulative,
crafty, untrustworthy, unreliable, calculating, controlling, and
malevolent. The Jewish Princess is seen as manipulative,
particularly of the men in her life, her husband, her boyfriend,
her father. And what does she want? Their money! In addition,
she’s lazy — she doesn’t work inside or outside the home. She is
the female version of the Jew who, according to anti-Semitic
lore, is a parasite on society; contradictorily, the Jew has
been viewed both as dangerous communist” as well as
non-productive “capitalist.”
I highly recommend the entire article for anyone genuinely
curious to know why the overly-sensitive feminists get whiplash
every time they hear that word. KRG instructs her wise Jewschool
readers to check out the article, as it is chock full of useful
and enlightening information. Ever the patient and engaged
readers, the brilliant comments and questions start pouring in
(and all of them, clearly, reflect having read the
aforementioned article and having understood the focus of KRG’s
argument. Picking up on my sarcasm yet?). These are only as of
today, I’m sure that more great ones will roll in
tonight/tomorrow:
-Is the JAP unique in the spectrum of Jewish stereotypes?
-i dare you to spend one thursday night standing on ben yehuda
street and tell me that this is a stereotype that doesn’t hold
up to scrutiny.
-How do you feel about Sascha Baron Cohen pretending that Jews
turn into cockroaches at night? Does that also assert negative
Jewish stereotypes, or is it ridiculous enough that he gets a
free pass? And finally, if you’re answer is that Cohen is a Jew,
and thus has some permission to mock himself (since a Gentile
doing the same over-the-top humor wouldn’t get a free pass)
isn’t Maya a Jewish woman? Doesn’t she have the right to play
with the stereotypes generally applied to her?
-Has the “JAP” stereotype ever included physical ugliness? Maybe
at one point, but I think now the stereotype, as included in
Escobar’s treatment, is of highly attractive women.
Miss the point much, folks? The discussion then continues to
something a bit more substantive, but it stray further and
further from the original argument of the post, which included
very scary elements like feminism and self-criticism. The point
of KRG’s post as well as Beck’s article is that JAP is
different, unbelievably more complicated and worthy of some
serious unpacking, not to be brushed aside. Certainly if we
can’t talk about the misogyny/ racism/ classism, can we at least
talk about the internalized anti-Semitism it takes for Jews to
call each other such a term? Am I expecting too much if I think
a self-proclaimed “progressive Jewish blog” should be able to
have a simple feminist discussion? Granted, Jewschool readers do
not necessarily equal Jewschool readers who comment on posts.
But still. Come, on folks.
How about these questions. How does the JAP stereotype propagate
the myth that all Jews are wealthy? What is the damage of such a
myth? How does it unquestioningly accept the notion that Jewish
women are controlling and manipulative? What lesson are we
teaching Jewish girls when their only visible/public image of
Jewish women paints them as vain and materialistic? How do we
internalize and propagate the stereotype that all (or even most)
Jews are rich when half a million Jews in New York City live
below the poverty line? And perhaps the underlying question of
this post - why are we so afraid to talk about these issues?
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