"I Want to Look Transgender": Anti-Assimilation, Gender Self-Determination, and Confronting White Supremacy in the Creation of a Just Judaism. (13th November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Crasnow, S J
• Is Part Of: Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Volume 88:Number 4(2020)
• Page Start: 1026
• Page End: 1048
• Publication Date: 2020-11-13
• Subjects: Religion -- Periodicals; 200.5
• DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfaa048
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0002-7189

Abstract

Abstract: In this article, I consider transgender identity and white Jewish identity to argue that "passing" or normative assimilation is a trap, in that it extends the offer of privilege to individuals who can "successfully" conform within the confines of normativity, while leaving intact, or even reifying, the oppressive systems that are at work. As a corrective to normative assimilation, I consider alternative models for Jewish life offered by nonnormative Jewish communities that resist these oppressive norms. I further argue for the normativity and privileging of "passing" to be replaced with a non-hierarchical approach that lets all genders, all Jewish (and other) identities, be treated as valid or "real."