The Case of the Sexy Jewess

Dance, Gender and Jewish Joke-work in US Pop Culture

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Music, Pop & Rock, Dance, Performing Arts, History, Jewish
Cover of the book The Case of the Sexy Jewess by Hannah Schwadron, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Hannah Schwadron ISBN: 9780190624224
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: November 24, 2017
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Hannah Schwadron
ISBN: 9780190624224
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: November 24, 2017
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

Amidst the growing forums of kinky Jews, orthodox drag queens, and Jewish geisha girls, we find today's sexy Jewess in a host of reflexive plays with sexed-up self-display. A social phantasm with real legs, she moves boldly between neo-burlesque striptease, comedy television, ballet movies, and progressive porn to construct the 21st Century Jewish American woman through charisma and comic craft, in-your-face antics, and offensive charm. Her image redresses longstanding stereotypes of the hag, the Jewish mother, and Jewish American princess that have demeaned the Jewish woman as overly demanding, inappropriate, and unattractive across the 20th century, even as Jews assimilated into the American mainstream. But why does "sexy" work to update tropes of the Jewish woman? And how does sex link to humor in order for this update to work? Entangling questions of sexiness to race, gender, and class, The Case of the Sexy Jewess frames an embodied joke-work genre that is most often, but not always meant to be funny. In a contemporary period after the thrusts of assimilation and women's liberation movements, performances usher in new versions of old scripts with ranging consequences. At the core is the recuperative performance of identity through impersonation, and the question of its radical or conservative potential. Appropriating, re-appropriating, and mis-appropriating identity material within and beyond their midst, Sexy Jewess artists play up the failed logic of representation by mocking identity categories altogether. They act as comic chameleons, morphing between margin and center in countless number of charged caricatures. Embodying ethnic and gender positions as always already on the edge while ever more in the middle, contemporary Jewish female performers extend a comic tradition in new contexts, mobilizing progressive discourses from positions of newfound race and gender privilege.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Amidst the growing forums of kinky Jews, orthodox drag queens, and Jewish geisha girls, we find today's sexy Jewess in a host of reflexive plays with sexed-up self-display. A social phantasm with real legs, she moves boldly between neo-burlesque striptease, comedy television, ballet movies, and progressive porn to construct the 21st Century Jewish American woman through charisma and comic craft, in-your-face antics, and offensive charm. Her image redresses longstanding stereotypes of the hag, the Jewish mother, and Jewish American princess that have demeaned the Jewish woman as overly demanding, inappropriate, and unattractive across the 20th century, even as Jews assimilated into the American mainstream. But why does "sexy" work to update tropes of the Jewish woman? And how does sex link to humor in order for this update to work? Entangling questions of sexiness to race, gender, and class, The Case of the Sexy Jewess frames an embodied joke-work genre that is most often, but not always meant to be funny. In a contemporary period after the thrusts of assimilation and women's liberation movements, performances usher in new versions of old scripts with ranging consequences. At the core is the recuperative performance of identity through impersonation, and the question of its radical or conservative potential. Appropriating, re-appropriating, and mis-appropriating identity material within and beyond their midst, Sexy Jewess artists play up the failed logic of representation by mocking identity categories altogether. They act as comic chameleons, morphing between margin and center in countless number of charged caricatures. Embodying ethnic and gender positions as always already on the edge while ever more in the middle, contemporary Jewish female performers extend a comic tradition in new contexts, mobilizing progressive discourses from positions of newfound race and gender privilege.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book Religion and Politics in Post-Communist Romania by Hannah Schwadron
Cover of the book Organizational Learning and Performance by Hannah Schwadron
Cover of the book China in the 21st Century by Hannah Schwadron
Cover of the book In the Lógos of Love by Hannah Schwadron
Cover of the book Realistic Decision Theory by Hannah Schwadron
Cover of the book Advanced Perioperative Crisis Management by Hannah Schwadron
Cover of the book The Moral Foundations of Parenthood by Hannah Schwadron
Cover of the book People Watching by Hannah Schwadron
Cover of the book Falling Behind by Hannah Schwadron
Cover of the book The Reception of Vatican II by Hannah Schwadron
Cover of the book The Siege of Washington by Hannah Schwadron
Cover of the book Derecho de las nuevas tecnologías (en el siglo XX derecho informático) by Hannah Schwadron
Cover of the book Why Good People Do Bad Environmental Things by Hannah Schwadron
Cover of the book The Invaded by Hannah Schwadron
Cover of the book Patagonia by Hannah Schwadron
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy