Jewish-American princess stereotype

Jewish-American Princess or JAP is a pejorative characterization of young Jewish-American women. The term implies materialist tendencies, attributed to a pampered background. It is typically centered at those Jewish-American women of Ashkenazim lineage. The term is occasionally used toward Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews and other Jewish women.

Antisemitism

The stereotype is often the basis for anti-Semitic jokes both inside and outside the Jewish community. In recent years the term has been re-appropriated by some Jewish women as a term of cultural identity, especially in areas with high density Jewish populations. “JAP” is sometimes used as by non-jewish women of privilege, but this can seem offensive.

Sexism and Violence

JAP is also viewed as a violent term towards women. During World War II a popular slogan in reference to Japanese men and women was "Slap a Jap." As the term later became an acronym for Jewish American women, newer t-shirts depicted stereotypes of ethnically Jewish women. A Syracuse professor of sociology, Dr. Gary Spencer, noted areas on his campus that students declared "JAP-free zones." He also noted a sporting incident on campus where fans heckled women they deemed to look Jewish, by yelling "JAP! JAP! JAP!" Spencer also mentions the verbal violence against Jewish women during a college fair at Cornell University where signs read, "Make her prove she's not a JAP, make her swallow." In the Cornell University student newspaper, a cartoon went on to offer advice on how to "exterminate" JAPS. Shirley Frondorf wrote of such an incident where the stereotype was used as an excuse for murder and subsequently lead to the perpetrator being exonerated.

Examples in the Media

WHTZ, of New York, recently played a song called "Jap Rap". They also ran a promotion called "Jap For A Day." The ADL complained about the song and its contest. Afterwards, the program director, Mr. Kingston, said, "if it offended anybody, we apologize." .

In 2004 the Style network sent out a casting memo for a show initially called "JAP Squad." The E! executive who sent the memo acknowledged its anti-Semitic overtones, reportedly writing, "I know, it’s an awful name. [But] I need girls who know where to go in NYC for the best deals."

Frank Zappa used "Jewish Princess" as the title and subject of a song on his first independent album Sheik Yerbouti (Shake Your Booty). When the anti-defamation league brought an objection to his attention, Zappa refused to apologize saying “They exist, so I wrote a song about them."

See also

• Ethnic slurs
• Jewish mother stereotype
• Black American Princess
• Frank Zappa's Jewish Princess song, from the album Sheik Yerbouti

External links

• Dictionary definition
• The Return of the JAP
• Monica Lewinsky
• The Jewish American Princess and Other Myths: The Many Faces of Self-Hatred (Hardcover)
• That girl is such a Jap
• Can we please not revive that ugly stereotype?
• From 'Kike to Jap': How misogyny, anti-semitism, and racism construct the Jewish American Princess. Beck, Evelyn Torton, Margaret Andersen & Patricia Hill Collins (Eds.) Race, Class, and Gender. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 87-95. 1992
• Celebrating the Lives of Jewish Women: Patterns in a Feminist Sampler,Canadian Jewish Women and their Experiences of Antisemitism and Sexism, by NORA GOLD, edited by Rachel Josefowitz Siegel & Ellen Cole (Haworth, 1997).
• JAP RAP
• JAP FOR A DAY
• Style Network Casts for "JAP Squad."
• When Jokes are not funny