Jewesses: Jappy, Bizarre, or Cool?

Well, at first the word Jewess kind of hits you. What??? Am I really a 'Jewess'? What does that mean? Is it a good thing or a bad thing, or neither? I have to mull this over. It's not so easy to 'reclaim' the word but I'd like to know what other people think. Hmmm. Jewess sounds a bit like 'priestess', countess, seductress. I think this is a word we have to roll around in our mouths to get used to.

I agree that the word Jewess takes getting used to. It's not a word I ever used before to describe myself, but I think it's a cool idea to reclaim it.

I went to a Modigliani exhibit at New York City's Jewish Museum a few years ago, and the only painting I can remember is one called "The Jewess." It featured a close-up portrait of one intense-looking chick. She was seductive yet dignified--young, but confident in her stare. Check it out: http://www.zeek.net/art_04082.shtml. Maybe there's some insight when you see what a "Jewess" looked like through a man's eyes...

I love that Modigliani painting, too (see comment below), and I think it's one of the more positive images of the Jewess as exotic other. Today -- in America, at least -- it's hard to imagine a time when Ashkenazi Jewish women were considered exotic (Sephardi and Mizrahi women are still definitely exoticized, by both Jews and non-Jews). That's part of what makes the reclaiming of Jewess interesting to me -- what does it mean when it's used by Jewish women to describe themselves, not to describe an "other"? What's the specifically feminine aspect of Jewish identity today?

Since I was a young girl, I wanted to be a Jewess. In reading reading Sir Walter Scott's description of 'Rebecca' in his "Ivanhoe," I was struck by this raven beauty. As an impressionable youngster, I found this Jewess to be beautiful, loyal, faithful, and modest. She and I seemed to share a name only. I desired to live up to her model of being a Jewess. If only I could bring such honour to my people...

Now these many years later, I have found my own way of being a Jewess and bringing honour to the community. I am not a raven beauty. Nor has my loyalty or fidelity ever been tested. But as a wife, mother, rabbi, daughter, sister, and friend, I embody my own definition of Jewess-ness.

R-o-a-r!

Yeah, reminds me of 'lioness'. How about 'princess' or 'seamstress'?? Jewish women are many things, all rolled into one. Cheers!

I have always loved the word Jewess and had decided years ago to ignore the fact that it gave many a bad taste because of the Nazis having used it in their categorizations. My father always used this as a descriptor for Jewish women he found beautiful so I also have a sentimental affection for the word.

I think there was a time when Ashkenazi Jewish women were considered exotic, altho it may be a bit before your time. If you remember a movie called "The Way We Were", 1973, Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford, his whole attraction to her was based on her exoticness, of mind and body. I think that was not an uncommon experience for non Jewish men of a certain time, and may even be true for non Jewish men today. The Jewish power brokers in Hollywood, however, found others exotic and so we were vanished in that way. Let's emerge out of that cycle of shadows. If we own our own exoticness we cannot be banished

I'm all for reclaiming words, including this one.
I also want to add that we're not all as comfortable with the word "Jew" as we might think we are....when I was in college (which was not all that long ago) a Jewish organization (I wish I could remember which one but I can't) sent a folded mailing to every Jewish student on my campus. The front of it said "Jew" in big letters inside a Jewish star. When we opened the mailing, it asked the question, what did you do when you received this?
[I assume our college was not the only one that received these mailings.]
Well, it got us talking, because standing in the small mailroom at our small college, even people like myself who were actively involved at Hillel....were pretty shaken, and immediately tried to hide the piece of paper and didn't even open it until later.
Point taken, Jewish Organization Whose Name I Can't Remember.
I am Jew and Jewess!!!!

For me, the word "Jewess" instantly conjures up that old Saturday Night Live spoof commercial in which Gilda Radner pranced about in faux designer jeans with big Magen Davids plastered on her tush pockets; its tagline was "She's the Jewess in Jewess Jeans!" It was a send up of the "JAP" sterotype that was so pervasive at the time. A real "Is it good for the Jews?" moment for me, watching it. But Gilda Radner was such a fabulous, strong, spunky, funny woman. Whatever she did was automatically imbued with what I can only think to describe as hilarious gravitas. My memory is that she exuded power and confidence in this skit, even as she skewered the overly materialistic and shallow image that girls and women were being sold at the time.

I am proud to be a great-granddaughter of that great American Jewess, Rosa Fassel Sonneschein. Though I knew almost nothing about her from my father, he (who was remarkably taciturn about his early life) did mention a few things about her. The bulk of what I know are from sources to which we all are privy. She was truly intellectual, beautiful, wily and feisty. What I knew from the man who was her grandson was that she smoked cigars, drank tea from a saucer, and told him that "It is just as easy to fall in love with a million dollars, as it is to fall in love with nothing." She was an early proponent of a woman's right to choose, as we say today. Though not a fit mother in many ways, which I shall keep private, I presume she was well loved by my father, for she was one of the few relatives he mentioned. He traveled with his first fiancee to introduce them toward the end of Rosa's life and she kept them waiting for over an hour, but was perfectly put together when brought out to visit (red nails and all)! She was such an admirable woman and her attributes lend themselves justifiably to idealization. But she was complex, complicated, and conflicted -- which is to say that she was human -- with a richness and texture so compelling. Yes, her great-granddaughter is very happy to be a Jewess.  And SO thankful to be learning more about her and in her own words, through the efforts of the Jewish Women's Archive.

I think Jewess sounds cool - like a synthesis of "jewel" and "priestess".  It's always good to reclaim things.  

"Jewess" does not feel good to me. It not only exoticizes Jewish women, it suggests that "Jew," while a gender-neutral term, really means a Jewish man. In a time when Jewish women are still struggling for equality in Jewish communal life, I don't think adopting "Jewess" is helpful.

An online dictionary explains the issue:

"Like many other English nouns in which the suffix -ess is added to a gender-neutral word to indicate femaleness, the terms Jewess and Negress are now widely regarded as offensive. It is interesting to note that the objection to words formed with the -ess suffix does not apply to words such as Latina and Chicana, whose contrasting forms Latino and Chicano are not gender-neutral but rather refer even in English primarily to males."
(Source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Jewess)

I agree totally in that JEWISS is NOT an attractive way to be described.Why even have this discussion? isn't being considered a Jewish woman enough? It certainly is FOR ME and my GIRLS!!!! KOL TOV..y'ALL!!we have enough to get done in this meshuga world......get busy!

I am a Jewish woman and proud of it, but I have no use for "Jewess" any more than I have for "authoress" or "poetess".
I cannot explain my lack of irritation with "actress", but I am not bothered by hearing "actor" used androgenously. (sp?)
Is the term "murderess" still in use?

"Jappy" or "JAP" is a nasty ethnic slur. It was used during WWII and is always offensive. I know what you mean by it in this context, but it's a word I would love to see disappear permanently. My Jewish-Japanese children will thank you.

'Jewess" has alway irritated me. In my experience it was usually used by non-Jews as unflattering. I also don't like "Latina" or"Chicana". I don't like ascribing gender to inanimate objects such as tables, houses or mountains.While we're discussing linguistics, I am also anxious to see the word spelled "antisemitism" instead of "Anti-Semitism" which refers to being against a language. As a student and teacher,  I  have learned to appreciate and love English as it grows and reflects our thinking. I have even learned to write "Judea" instead of "Judaea."

Jappy isn't a term against Japanese people, hun. I understand the confusion though. I think they mean "J.A.P"-pyness, and the JAP stands for Jewish American Princess.

Hope that helps, I don't think they meant harm! :) xx

-Bri, from GET KOSHER

Yes, darling Bri, as I said above, I know that here it is an acronym for Jewish-American Princess and am not confused in the least. Despite how it was intended, especially to those of us above a certain age and from the western parts of the country, "Jap" is ugly. It DOES refer to Japanese, and is a hideous slur. My family flinches when someone says that. Can we just say Jewish Princess? Princessy?

With its heavy loadings of exoticism, sensuality, seduction, and subversion, "Jewess" is perfect shorthand for female Jew. Run with it, girls.