Non­fic­tion

Fem­i­nist Anti­semitism: An Intel­lec­tu­al History

  • From the Publisher
September 1, 2025

What did Women’s March orga­niz­er Lin­da Sar­sour mean when she said that Zion­ists can’t be fem­i­nists? Why did a recent ADL video sin­gle out the Nation­al Women’s Stud­ies Asso­ci­a­tion for its egre­gious anti­semitism? How could fem­i­nists dis­miss or even jus­ti­fy the sex­u­al vio­lence expe­ri­enced by Israeli women on Octo­ber 7, 2023 — par­tic­u­lar­ly just a few years after #MeToo? Jew­ish women have been flum­moxed by devel­op­ments that have left them feel­ing like out­siders in the fem­i­nist move­ment they did so much to cre­ate and sup­port. Fem­i­nist Anti­semitism: An Intel­lec­tu­al His­to­ry is the first book to show how, as dif­fer­ent ver­sions of fem­i­nism com­pet­ed, a fem­i­nism that does not seek main­stream fem­i­nist goals like equal rights or treat­ment has become pre­dom­i­nant. It explains the tra­jec­to­ry from ear­ly antipa­thy to Bet­ty Friedan to the com­pli­cat­ed antizion­ist the­o­ries fem­i­nists like Judith But­ler advance today and explores what might set fem­i­nism on a dif­fer­ent path. It will appeal to Jew­ish women, young and old, and oth­ers who care about fem­i­nism, Jew­ish iden­ti­ty, and con­tem­po­rary debates around edu­ca­tion reform and free speech.

Discussion Questions