In 1982, Ms. Magazine ran a column written by the publication's Jewish editor, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, titled "Anti-Semitism in the Women's Movement." The article cites Pogrebin's disappointment in the antisemitic creep she found occurring at the previous summer's National Women's Conference.
The author correctly predicted the toxic intersectional framework that would soon gain a foothold within modern feminist theory, noting that Jews were being "omitted from the feminist litany of the oppressed."
Over 40 years later, exposing feminism's ties to the identity politics now popularized in progressive spaces may explain why liberal women's groups, once thought to be champions of female liberties, continue to resist condemning the October 7 rape and torture of Israeli women by Palestinian terrorists.
Under today's leftist paradigm, Israel, and by extension all Jews, are regarded as privileged oppressors while those adhering to many of the same social justice crusades tucked inside the feminist umbrella are labeled as "oppressed."
While this distinction describes the disgraceful response by women's organizations toward Israeli victims, intersectionality's grip on the feminist movement is one motivation behind why females are increasingly caught in the crosshairs of today's antisemitic rhetoric. Moreover, hardening cultural barriers contribute to the insecurity many well-intentioned liberal women retain in publicly reconciling feminism with support for Israel.
Late last year, the three university presidents called to testify before Congress on the festering antisemitism at their schools were all women who assumed their positions less than two years before appearing at December's hearing.
Public dismay over the female leaders' unwillingness to rein in their schools' hateful behavior was compounded by the "context-dependent" answers given when asked by GOP Congresswoman Elise Stefanik if calling for the genocide of Jews violated their institution's policy on bullying and harassment.
In the weeks leading up to their statements, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it was investigating five cases of antisemitism at several schools in the U.S. At the time of the testimonies the colleges subject to the government probe all had female presidents serving at their helm.
The head of Columbia University, Dr. Minouche Shafik, who declined to appear at last year's hearing, persists in presiding over an academic culture in which posters reminiscent of Nazi-era propaganda are found hanging in the halls, and student rallies backing Hamas have metastasized yet are still met with belated and lackluster responses from school officials.
In fairness, the women leading such prestigious establishments do not share in the prejudices espoused by some in their student body. Rather, their inability to confront the propagation of Jew-hatred stems from an ideological purity demanded of intersectional politics.
The modern feminist movement has been using its platform to boost antisemitic ideals, with Women's March founder Linda Sarsour stating in 2017 that one cannot be both a Zionist and a feminist. In recent years, new cohorts of feminists have leveraged their influence to alienate Jews from the cause, with examples of Jewish women excluded from feminist rallies for expressing pride in both their Judaism and progressivism.
Indeed, a direct and moral answer to Rep. Stefanik's line of questioning would have been a betrayal of the original feminist principles that helped advance their careers but, in today's era, lends space to anti-Jewish sentiment.
The relationship between feminism and antisemitism leaves women in an uneasy alliance with a movement that began with boosting noble conventionalities such as achieving workplace equality yet has now been manipulated by and grouped with a troubling social justice pedagogy.
The reluctance to reckon with intersectional discourse's role in driving gender biases against Jews contributes to the rise in the number of women central to the promulgation of antisemitic trends in American society. First elected in 2018, the congressional "Squad" was initially composed of four women and is still overwhelmingly dominated by female lawmakers.
While running for office, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., and Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., invoked themes of overcoming adversity in a male-centered system. During former President Donald Trump's 2020 State of the Union Address, Democratic women doubled down on the atmosphere of empowerment by wearing white and declaring solidarity in achieving "equality for women across the country."
The victories of far-left lawmakers like Ocasio-Cortez and comrade Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., led seasoned female politicians, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., anxious to indulge in this unsavory feminist revival by welcoming their entrance into the political arena with a Rolling Stone cover photo depicting the former Democratic House Speaker grinning alongside politicians whose positions would have made them unworthy contenders for a congressional seat decades ago.
As media outlets explore the shift in attitudes among young Americans towards Israel, with a Harvard-Harris poll released last December finding 51% of respondents 18 to 24 years old believing "Israel should be ended and given to Hamas," it may be worth exploring why embedded within a generational change, are gender disparities under which more women are seduced into taking hostile positions against Israel.
It bears mentioning that Within Our Lifetime, the organization responsible for sowing much of the anti-Israel chaos in NYC, is led by pro-Hamas and female activist Nerdeen Kiswani, whose litany of antisemitic invectives did not stop the City University of New York (CUNY) from platforming Kiswani as its 2022 Law School commencement speaker.
Whether at pro-terror protests unfolding across the U.S. or in videos displaying the tearing of Israeli hostage posters, women are a steady and growing presence at the center of these disturbing scenes.
It's a phenomenon advanced by a philosophical sorting that grants progressives the freedom to falsely frame Jews as oppressors while leaving less ideologically inclined liberals ill-equipped to navigate the feminist landscape and confront the distortions that have captured today's contemporary moment.
Irit Tratt is an independent writer residing in New York. She obtained her Master's in International Affairs with a focus on the Mideast from George Washington University. She has worked as a legislative assistant for several members of Congress. She maintains her advocacy work through her involvement with organizations such as The Tikvah Fund, The Republican Jewish Coalition, and The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA). Irit is a steering committee member on the Board of Fellows at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA). Ms. Tratt has been published in The Jerusalem Post, The American Spectator, The Algemeiner, JNS, and Israel Hayom. Read More of Irit Tratt's Reports — Here.
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