She/they, adult, trans, dyke kike. Mostly reblogs. Occasional own posts. Lots of antisemitism discussion. Social justice oriented reblogs. Fandom things sometimes too. Occasional NSFW reblogs Pfp art is from the blog bob-artist Minors please don’t follow, you will be softblocked
Jewish Theory and Antisemitism Education Resources Post
Okay. It’s no secret about how disappointed I’ve been about the unwillingness others seem to have to learn about jewish issues and fight for jewish liberation. So, I’m compiling a list of valuable resources on the topic. I won’t personally agree with everything every resource says, but I will be including various conflicting opinions which I think are valuable to hear from and learn. Things which can give better understanding to outsiders about what we face and can tell them how to better advocate on our behalf. As this grows I may add sections and categories for types resources but for now it’s just a list. Will edit to add more over time. Those interested can submit resources they feel will be helpful in my asks, and I’ll read and consider them when I get time. List under the cut.
(You can find my old pinned post about the antisemitism within the pro-palestine movement here, if anyone is looking for it.)
I used to have the second resource as the first one, because I think it is a vital introductory resource, but I’m now putting this one ahead of it. “The Epistemic Dimension of Antisemitism” by David Schraub. This paper discusses the devaluing of Jewish experience and perspective and examines why our voices are systemically discounted. It is dense, and it may refer to some aspects of antisemitism to which you are unfamiliar if this is your first time engaging with the subject. However, I still recommend reading it first because it gives you context and motivation to check your biases at the door when moving forward. If there are parts which do not make sense without context, read the next resource and come back to this one to revisit what you did not understand.
Next up is “The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere” by April Rosenblum. This pamphlet on antisemitism in leftist spaces goes over the bare minimum you need to know and do to be an effective ally to the jewish community and the jewish people in your lives. This is essential reading to begin to understand antisemitism and your role in fighting it as a goy (non-jew). Originally listed first to its exceptional usefulness as a introductory resource, I moved it one down the list in the hopes that the paper above will prime readers to be more receptive to Jewish thought on Jewish issues.
Now, I’d like to introduce people to “Skin the Game: How Antisemitism Animates White Nationalism” by Eric K. Ward. In this article Eric Ward discusses his experiences as a Black man who’s spent his life studying white nationalism and the lens this has given him on antisemitism as a load bearing element of the white nationalist ideological framework. It was written less than 6 months into the first trump presidency and so it is very much reflective of that time, but it contains invaluable insights. Last year (2024) he wrote a follow up to the original which reflects the many meaningful escalations which have occurred since the original. However, as they cover different content and experiences, I highly recommend reading both pieces.
Now, the article which inspired me to make this post. “White Jews: An Intersectional Approach” by David Schruab discusses how an intersectional approach between Whiteness and Jewishness is needed to properly understand the dynamics by which White Jews experience marginalization. It’s long, but well worth the read. For intracommunity reasons I recommend my fellow Jews give this a read too.
Additionally, in “The Baggage of Whiteness,” Schraub goes over how the strange intersection that White Jews experience affects the way Israel and Zionism are discussed. One of the most useful analyses I found from that article is a solid explanation for the interest white non-Jews have in clinging so fervently to their antisemitism on this subject. I group this together with the previous article as it provides important context for this one. While the second is comprehensible without the first, you will need at least a passable understanding of the weird ways in which White Jews experience race. If this is not a familiar subject for you then you probably won’t understand this piece, and I would recommend reading the other one first.
There will be others to add, but this is what I have for now. This post will be pinned for easy finding.
Someone not responding to you right away does not mean that you’re not important to them. I know it can be hard, but other people are allowed to be busy, or even just not have the energy to respond to you. This doesn’t mean they don’t care about you.
“For example, if you’re trying to convince people to boycott a segregated store, your object is to convince them that boycotting the store will have a strategic effect, not that desegregation is morally important. For whatever reason, on a cognitive level human beings have a really hard time with this. Smucker cites an example of a Lefty roleplaying session where people were tasked with selling an action to people who agreed with them on principle but didn’t see the strategic merit of the action. Surprisingly, the sellers couldn’t make the conceptual switch to sell strategic merit: instead, they doubled down on THIS ISSUE IS IMPORTANT — even though it had been stressed to them that the people they were selling to bought into the importance of the issue. People react poorly to “this is important, so do WHATEVER I SAY”; they want to be convinced that what you’re proposing will work.”
“Bob Wing, a grassroots organizer, explains this nicely: “If winning feels impossible, then righteousness can seem like the next best thing.” But righteousness is not conducive to getting normies to join your team if your team cannot demonstrate ability to, at least sometimes, win. Nor does righteousness help you make real inroads with regular people.”
“I’m not saying trans men aren’t oppressed, I’m just saying transandrophobia isn’t real!”
Yeah, well, when people are using the term transandrophobia to mean the oppression of trans men, you saying that transandrophobia doesn’t exist to them is actually saying that trans men’s oppression doesn’t exist. You could be saying, “what you’re talking about exists but you’re using a term which I think is harmful,” but no, it’s always, “it doesn’t exist.”
Like.
If I were to say, “transmisogyny doesn’t exist*,” would you assume I mean that I think the oppression of trans women is real but I don’t like the word that’s being used to describe it? Or would it be much more reasonable to assume that that sentence is denying the oppression of trans women?
And now why would that change when we’re talking about the oppression of trans men?
I saw a video where someone pronounced LaTex as "la-tex" (as in la being pronounced like a single angelic note) which threw me off because I only ever heard it "lay-tech", or "lay-tex"
The “Lady” in the name “ladybug” is the virgin Mary. People just cannot stop giving religious names to this bug.
The reason for this was that if you lived in an agrarian society then your survival was a throw of the dice every year, depending on the success of the crops. A failed crop year is a very hard year where deaths are expected. And if you grew a cereal like wheat, there were several things that could cause your crops to fail, but one of the big ones was if you happened to get a fuckton of aphids. You know what eats aphids? Ladybugs! If there are lots and lots of ladybugs around, there was a good chance that it’d be a good crop year! They were little crop protectors! When your family lives or dies on the success of that crop, of course they’d be seen as a blessing and given an appropriate name!
a misogynistic society is so threatened by the concept of trans women - women that "had the opportunity" to be privileged men and chose not to - that they start making up privileges women have in order to explain why trans women exist. going into womens restrooms isnt a privilege, playing womens sports isnt a privilege, yet they present them as such to try and explain why trans women are women for nefarious reasons. a misogynistic society will never understand that trans women have no ulterior motive for being women
My personal experience with being asked this question and then given that line, is that the neurotypical person expected you to feel shame.
I have some slightly less anecdotal evidence to back up this anecdotal experience. I took substitute teacher training once, and we were told that the best thing to do with middle schoolers "acting up," was to shame them, to figure out how to draw attention to them and this negative attention in front of their peers would shame them into good behaviour, or at least silence. I raised my hand, having already distinguished myself as the "weirdo" of the group, and said, "Is this the reason I spent a lot of time in the principal's office for truthfully, loudly, and clearly answering questions like, 'would you care to share your thoughts with the class?'" And was told yes, that was a perfect example, but I was the rare case where it backfires.
Since then, I have responded to that type of question with, "Do you want an explanation, or was your intent simply to indicate that I need to feel inferior, right now?" and it does tend to turn the tables a little bit.
Problem with that response is that if it is a person who has any power over you, that is going to escalate the conflict. And they are going to use that power against you.
I mean, the outcome that they're probably expecting is for you to act embarrassed for a few seconds, stop whatever you had been doing, and then they can move on with their lesson while you are quiet. Annoying for the victim, but self-contained.
If you openly call them out like this, they'll lose their perceived authority unless they throw the book at you (or at least they likely believe that those are the stakes).
"giving yourself psychosis with a mirror and the wrong kind of meditation was hard, so we made an app to completely eradicate your senses of both yourself and reality, you're welcome."
Literally like a cursed mirror from a cautionary tale about self obsession where the character wastes away talking to the evil being sealed within the mirror
i think people are starting to confuse class analysis with bioessentialism. like... no not all men do this, but Men as a constructed social class do do this. that's still okay to say. that is regular material analysis of the world around us.
I also think people confuse men the social gender class with men the gender identity. You can have any gender identity and any gender social class. Neither implies the other. If you’re trans or intersex, the social class gender frequently shifts based on context and how others see you, which is rarely consistent.
