In
recent days, US media has been flooded with allegations of sexual assault
against Harvey Weinstein.
Given
that I'm the author of Bieganksi: The Brute Polak Stereotype, Its Role in
Polish-Jewish Relations and American Popular Culture, I wanted
to see how much these accusations would be taken up by anti-Semites and
interwoven with traditional images of Jews as sexual predators.
Given
that the standard stereotype of Jews in the West depicts Jewish men as being
less manly – Jews read, Jews write, Jews, stereotypically, don't fight with
their fists – it may seem odd that Jews would be depicted as sexual predators,
but they have been.
A
hundred years ago, Jews were disproportionally represented in international sex
trafficking. A good book on this topic is Edward W. Bristow's Prostitution and Prejudice: The Jewish Fight
Against White Slavery, 1870-1939.
The
Forward ran a piece on the anti-Semitic alt-right pouncing on the Weinstein
story. The Forward story begins,
"White
supremacists on the 'alt-right' are gleefully jumping on accusations that
Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed employees and actresses
for decades as 'evidence' of their anti-Semitic worldview.
Pointing
to Weinstein, some on the far right say his story illustrates that Jews have a
perverse and degenerative effect on American society — and are contributing to
the 'downfall of the white race.'
'Harvey
Weinstein story … is a case study in the corrosive nature of Jewish domination
of our media and cultural industries,' David Duke … wrote on his website. Duke
devoted two separate podcasts, each over an hour long, to Weinstein's
career-long 'assault on American culture.' 'It's really shocking that this
Jewish pervert could be revealed to be a Jewish pervert,' Duke said with
sarcasm."
I did
not expect a Jewish publication to identify Weinstein's crimes as specifically
Jewish, but the Tablet has done so.
The
Tablet relates Weinstein's despicable and criminal assaults to Philip Roth's
writing.
"As
a boy, Portnoy fantasized about attaining a mythical shiksa goddess whom he
nicknamed Thereal McCoy (get it?), who ice-skates 'in her blue parka and her
red earmuffs and her big white mittens—Miss America, on blades! With her mistletoe
and her plum pudding (whatever that may be),' but as a grown-up he graduates to
the real woman he nicknames The Monkey. And what does he do to abase her? He
has her perform with an Italian whore. Yes, he eventually joins in, but not
before they enact a bad movie—not Hollywood, but San Fernando Valley triple-X.
And his nickname for her, The Monkey? That comes from an episode in her life,
from before Portnoy met her, when a couple swingers picked her up and wanted
her to eat a banana while she watched them copulate. For having a past that
gets him hot, she gets degraded with an animalistic nickname …
Harvey
is cut from the same cloth. Growing up in Queens, he fantasized of fame and
fortune … he harassed women not necessarily to use them as instruments of his
pleasure, but to use them as instruments of his power.
It
goes without saying that nearly every one of these women—Rose McGowan, Ambra
Batillana, Laura Madden, Ashley Judd, etc.—was a Gentile, all the better to
feed Weinstein’s revenge-tinged fantasy of having risen above his
outer-borough, bridge-and-tunnel Semitic origins."
Here's
the thing.
Stereotyping
Harvey Weinstein's crimes as "Jewish" crimes has been rapidly and
powerfully condemned. Society recognizes that stereotypes of Jews are dangerous
and society acts on that knowledge.
Stereotyping
Poles as Bieganski is standard operating procedure. See previous post in this
blog. Some Polish Catholics prayed the rosary, and they were roundly and internationally
condemned as dangerous, racist, ignorant, violent, backward bigots.
Shylock
Bad.
Bieganski
Good.
And
only Polonia can change that – and Polonia is doing nothing to change it.
You
can read the full Tablet piece here.
You
can read a subsequent apology here
This blog post is about stereotypes of Jews as sexual predators.
ReplyDeleteThis blog post is NOT an endorsement of stereotypes of Jews as sexual predators.
Someone just attempted to post a message that looks like an endorsement of the stereotype of Jews as sexual predators, and contained a link to outside material I have no time to vet.
I will not post that message or any other message that endorses stereotypes of Jews as sexual predators.
I have reviewed the autobiography of Phillip Roth as well as Portnoy's Complaint. (To see them, please click on my name in this specific posting, and then also read the first comment therein.)
ReplyDeletePhillip Roth reports that he was once visited by the ADL about complaints that he, being Jewish himself, is promoting negative stereotypes of Jews.
As for the character Portnoy, he is not merely engaging in adolescent fantasies and poking fun at what he considers archaic Jewish ways. He is in open rebellion against God, and he throws-in a Polonophobic remark to boot.
He throws in Polonophobic remark... de rigeur perhaps? And actually it might be lot more distressing to be approved of by Philip Roth.
DeleteAbout the comments section of this blog.
ReplyDeleteI believe in free speech. There is some moderation, but it is minor.
If you read something in the comments section which you find objectionable, *you* have a right -- no you have a duty -- to address it.
Thank you.