I love that Modigliani painting, too (see comment below), and I think it's one of the more positive images of the Jewess as exotic other. Today -- in America, at least -- it's hard to imagine a time when Ashkenazi Jewish women were considered exotic (Sephardi and Mizrahi women are still definitely exoticized, by both Jews and non-Jews). That's part of what makes the reclaiming of Jewess interesting to me -- what does it mean when it's used by Jewish women to describe themselves, not to describe an "other"? What's the specifically feminine aspect of Jewish identity today?
I love that Modigliani painting, too (see comment below), and I think it's one of the more positive images of the Jewess as exotic other. Today -- in America, at least -- it's hard to imagine a time when Ashkenazi Jewish women were considered exotic (Sephardi and Mizrahi women are still definitely exoticized, by both Jews and non-Jews). That's part of what makes the reclaiming of Jewess interesting to me -- what does it mean when it's used by Jewish women to describe themselves, not to describe an "other"? What's the specifically feminine aspect of Jewish identity today?