Seventh in a series of essays
JERUSALEM — Details magazine looks at Jewish girls as the erotic fascination of the moment:
It seems that America can’t get enough smoking-hot Semitic tush lately.
In a recent poll on the porn blog Fleshbot, “Jewish girls” ranked second among kinks (the winner: “freckles”). Jewesses aren’t just the rage in the triple-X realm, either: They’re seducing goyim on Mad Men and Glee and giving movie geeks conniptions over reports of JILF-on-JILF action between Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis in Darren Aronofsky’s upcoming Black Swan.
That Jewish women have become the ethnic fetish du jour is all the more remarkable given that Jews represent a truly tiny minority (2.2 percent) of the U.S. population. In recent years, God’s chosen menfolk have been objects of affection, too, though they draw their appeal from cuddly schlubbiness, not sexual energy—consider Judd Apatow’s all-Jewish Frat Pack (Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, Jason Segel, et al.). But unlike their funnyman brothers, Jewish girls have had to overcome the old stinging JAP stereotype of frigidity, whininess, and big hair.
Recently, however, the Fran Drescher rep has given way to a more smoldering image. Think cultural mutts like Rachel Weisz, Emmanuelle Chriqui, and Rachel Bilson—women who have little in common beyond sultriness and Star of David necklaces.
My first trip to Israel was with Taglit-Birthright Israel in 2006. I was twenty-six and on the waiting list, but a spot opened up at the last minute on a trip specifically geared towards college students. I went anyway since I was excited to have a chance to go.
In retrospect, it was quite interesting to see the interaction between the American and Israeli Jews on the trip. Taglit usually brings a dozen or so young, IDF soldiers on the trip as part of a cultural exchange — and the two groups, both just out of high school, are always excited to meet each other. And I mean “excited” in every sense of the word. (Here is an archived article I wrote on the trip while editor-in-chief of Spare Change News in Boston.)
The American girls were smitten with the muscular, tanned, 18-year-old soldiers carrying machine guns. The American guys were awestruck by the bawdy, lively girls in uniform (see a picture of mine below) who also carried the same weapons. The various hotel rooms in which we stayed over the ten-day trip were put to good use.
I was not the only one to notice the fascination that Americans — whether Jewish or not — have with Israeli women in uniform. The Israeli government decided a few years later to brand the country as being full of gorgeous women to attract more tourism and establish associations with something other than war and terrorism (see here and here). Most significantly, one result was a cover page and photo spread in Maxim magazine in July 2007 with current and former soldiers wearing little (see here).
This video — which went viral — also brought the message of Israel’s unique, well, assets to the Western world (note: strong language):
Now, I do not mean to imply that there is some direct connection between the Israeli government’s marketing efforts and the recent interest in Jewish starlets in Hollywood. No matter what some conspiracy theorists might believe, the Jewish world is nowhere near organized enough to pull something like that off. A group of four Jews can argue for hours over what to eat for breakfast — and some really expect them to run the world?
Still, either there seems to be many Jewish stars gaining popularity among Americans or there are enough media outlets choosing to focus on Jewish actresses, thereby making them popular. (Chicken and egg.) But why?
One obvious answer is that mainstream, white America has always had a fetish for ethnic women of various types throughout the years. (See the Details article’s timeline of Jewish actresses throughout the decades — you might be surprised at who makes the list.) People always have an erotic fascination with that which is different. Moreover, humanity’s natural instincts tell people to produce children with those of other ethnicities because the combination of two immune systems consisting of different genes protects better against disease. (This is also the reason that insular breeding within the same, closed community tends to result in more birth defects and other ailments throughout life.)
So, Americans have always celebrated the, um, beauty of diversity — after all, nearly all Americans are descended from immigrants from various countries — but why Jewish girls? Why now?
As with many subjects, the answer lies in politics, current events, and subconscious mindsets. Many Americans feel, rightly or wrongly, that they are under siege by Islamic terrorists, and they subconsciously empathize with female, Israeli soldiers whom they believe are on the frontline of the War on Terror. (I am sorry to deflate their fantasies, but nearly all female, IDF soldiers work desk jobs — the term in Hebrew is “jobnik” — or do guard duty. The machine guns that the soldiers had on the Birthright Israel trip, for example, are sometimes for show to impress the American boys.)
For those Americans who believe that the world is engaged in a clash of civilizations between Islam and the West, Israeli Jews and American Jews are also seen — directly and indirectly, respectively — as allies with the West who have a higher stake in the outcome because of their ethnicity and religion.
Many American men may also be taking a liking to Jewish girls because they are more traditionally oriented towards family and children — and they know how to cook amazing food as well. As the Western world is beginning to experience a backlash against feminism, such an attitude is not surprising.
Another reason is that many Mizhrahi Jews — those whose families come from Arab countries — are a little too close to Arabs. As the Boston Globe’s Brainiac blog observed some time ago on the fact that European fashion shows now feature some Islamic outfits:
I have a psychological, not biological, burqa theory of my own. In the mid-1940s, the psychologist Anna Freud described “identification with the aggressor” as a neurotic attempt to avoid punishment by internalizing the values of one’s oppressor. It seems to me that Americans are so worried about Islamofascist terrorists that we’re slowly turning ourselves into conservative Muslims.
If it is true that Americans can be described as having an increasing “identification with the aggressor,” then taking a liking to Mizrahi Jews — like actress Emmanuelle Chriqui below, who became famous after playing Adam Sandler’s Palestinian love interest in “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” and whose family are Moroccan Jews — is as close as one could get to Arabs without liking, well, Arabs. (Ashkenazi Jews, in contrast, are those of European descent. A slim majority of Israelis are Mizrahi Jews.)
There is yet another uncomfortable reason why Jewish women are becoming so popular. As I noted in a prior essay, Western society is becoming increasingly superficial and more often viewing women as sex objects partly as a result of the unintended consequences of feminism. Jewish women, in general, tend to be more curvy naturally than many of European descent, so they might become more popular in a culture that focuses more and more on appearance. After all, one of the most popular porn stars today, according to the Details article, is Joanna Angel (below). (She comes from an Orthodox Jewish family, so that explains some of the perverted interest as well.) And, no, I am not going to search for a link to her website.
An often-asked question in Jewish circles is: “Is this good for the Jews?” I am conflicted. Obviously, any good PR for Israel is beneficial. But, as frequent readers of my blog know, I am very uncomfortable with women — Jewish or not — being viewed as sex objects. But as with all fads and fetishes, this, too, shall pass. For better and for worse.
Elsewhere: Jessica Pauline looks at the issue at Jewcy as well.
Prior essay: The Upcoming Generational War
Related posts:








How banal. It amazes and pleases me that I live far enough out of the mainstream now that I had no idea about the genesis of your piece, here.
One thought, though: American men know nothing about “Jewesses” (thought that term was perjorative?). I would guess that the seeming recent proliferation is, as you hint at by listing past Jewish stars, more comfort with acknowledging they are Jewish. The other has to do with the fact that we have so manny goddamn “celebrities,” we’re bound to have a few from every background.
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I suppose I have a Jewish girl fetish, since I married one???
I think your article probably represents more your own personal biases rather than those that actually exist out in the general population.
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and how would you know about the porn blog, Fleshbot.…?
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Jeff,
How banal. It amazes and pleases me that I live far enough out of the mainstream now that I had no idea about the genesis of your piece, here.
Yeah, I would probably not have seen it either if I were not a news junkie.
One thought, though: American men know nothing about “Jewesses” (thought that term was perjorative?).
Not sure what you mean. Non-Jewish American men are unfamiliar with Jewish culture so it seems alien and alluring?
“Jewess” is no longer a bad term, as far as I can tell. I think it was “reclaimed” — although I know we both hate that word.
I would guess that the seeming recent proliferation is, as you hint at by listing past Jewish stars, more comfort with acknowledging they are Jewish. The other has to do with the fact that we have so manny goddamn “celebrities,” we’re bound to have a few from every background.
Perhaps. But another reason might be the fact that so many studio owners and executives are Jews. (And it’s not anti-Semitic for anyone to say that — even Ben Stein says so in an essay whose location I don’t know off the top of my head.)
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Mike, if there is a trend — and it’s only a maybe because journalists love inventing trends from anecdotal evidence — then there must be sociological reasons for it.
Michael, the Details article mentioned it. LOL.
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You are dreaming up this trend. All you have really done is point out a bunch of traits that you like in women, anecdotally link them to a handful of celebrities (natalie portman-curvy??? not really) or other non-verifiable claims (are jews really more familiy oriented than any other religion?), and post about your own fetish
Really, this is the first I have ever heard of this “trend”.
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Mike, just like a newspaper, I need to post both serious stuff and fluff to attract a wide audience.
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Don’t forget NCIS’s smoking-hot former Mossad agent, Ziva David (who’s actually Chilean in real life)
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Sam — way to post the fluff — using women as sex objects — just to get more traffic…because you are uncomfortable with it?
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