Understanding anti-semitic "Jewish American Princess"...

[mhandel]

There are two very interesting anti-semitic/sexist stereotypes that are often diametrically opposed, on the one hand there is the crass, shallow, "promiscuous" "Jewish American Princess", and then there is the sexually repressed "nagging Jewish mother" (I know there is an expression for jewish mothers but I can't seem to recall what it is. Does anyone know what this is) <br> <br>a) Where do these stereotypes originate? How can diametrically opposed ideologies/stereotypes exist simultaneously like in this case? <br> <br>b) How do these ideas influence the way jewish women act? Like my mom does this all the time, she explains her extremely nagging behavior because she's a "jewish mother". What does this mean? Is this a form of self-hatred? <br>

[delving]

I don't know where they originated, and I wasn't aware of the sexual connotations to either stereotype, which is odd since I am a Jewish female. You would think I'd know these things. [img]/wwwthreads/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] <br> <br>As for your mother -- no, I don't think justifying her nagging by saying she is a Jewish mother is a form of self-hatred. I think it's either a way of stereotyping herself to avoid responsibility for her own behavior, or a colloquial explanation of her enculturation into this mode of behavior. Lots of women will excuse stereotypically girly behavior with the explanation that they are girls. ("Yes, I am scared of bugs! I am such a girl.") Maybe that's a form of self-hatred, too. <br> <br>Based only on personal experience, I doubt that these stereotypes affect the way most Jewish women behave.

[Pomegranate]

not sure on this one, but remember how upset zappa (who was jewish, of course) made everyone with his song "jewish princess"? <br> <br>

[Yuda]

Ahh. Zappa, I miss him and the way he could piss so many people off with a simple song

[Pomegranate]

it's a shame! <br> <br>get that prostate checked, guys. <br> <br>

[K=x'uksami]

Hmm, reminds me of an argument I got into yesterday over a related issue. We were discussing Jewish culture and the Jewish American Princess came up as something of a conflict between the Left and Judaism.