UI Press | Dina Pinsky | Jewish Feminists: Complex Identities and Activist Lives

Jewish Feminists

Complex Identities and Activist Lives

How Jewishness and feminism converged in the life histories of twentieth-century activists

Studying American Jewish feminism from the 1960s and '70s, Jewish Feminists examines how second-wave feminist activists retrospectively construct their identities as Jews and how these constructions have changed throughout their lives. Dina Pinsky argues that these Jewish feminists experience a sense of ambivalence as both feminists and Jews as they ask how being Jewish makes them different from other women (or feminist men). Drawing from interviews with more than two dozen second-wave feminist Jews, of which five are men, Pinsky describes how these identities sometimes coincide or contrast. The book demonstrates that Jews share a unique relationship to gender, influenced by their experiences and perspectives as Jews. Pinsky adds to the feminist dialogue about cultural difference and intersectionality by exploring the narratives of a group that has long been absent from this discussion.

"A well-researched analysis of the complimentary yet sometimes tension-inducing interactions between Judaism, Jewishness, and feminism."--Jewish Book World "Pinsky creates an artful map of shifting Jewish feminist identities over time."--Shofar

"Recommended."--Choice

"Delightful to read, this book provides an underrepresented perspective in Jewish women's studies and significant evidence about the ways individuals negotiate changes brought about by social movements."--Rebecca T. Alpert, author of Whose Torah? A Concise Guide to Progressive Judaism

"An enjoyable, thoughtful book that connects theoretical questions to the embodied lived experience of Jewish feminists."--Caryn Aviv, coauthor of New Jews: The End of the Jewish Diaspora

Dina Pinsky is an assistant professor of sociology at Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania.