Jews & Sex by Nathan Abrams


Jews & Sex by Nathan Abrams by Nathan Abrams

Availability: Available for immediate despatch
Title: Jews & Sex
Author:Nathan Abrams
Publisher: Five Leaves Publications
Format: Paperback
Pages: 240
Price: £12.99
ISBN: 978-1-905512-34-8
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Jews & Sex by Nathan Abrams

“Go forth and multiply” was the first commandment in the Bible. There is another commandment that it is the role of the husband to ensure that the woman is sexually satisfied. From King David to Ron Jeremy (porn star), Jews have taken an interest in sex. But what do we know about the relationship between Jews and sex?

This collection of essays by academics from Britain and other European countries, North and South America, Israel and Australia begins the voyage of discovery. Chapters include:

• Jews in pornography and the adult film industry
• Sexual propaganda
• Woody Allen
• “The Bride of God”: erotic theology
• Homosexuality and Judaism
• A century of sex on the Jewish stage
• Lesbian Yiddish poetry
• The Jewish American Princess
• Sex and the British Jewish novel
• Jews in prostitution and the white slave trade
• Sex and art
… and many more

Nathan Abrams lectures in film at the University of Wales, Bangor. His previous books include: Containing America; cultural production and comsumption in 50s America (Continuum); Commentary Magazine 1945-1959 (Vallentine Mitchell); and Studying Film (Arnold).


Reviews of Jews & Sex


*****09 July 2008
Reviewer:Rebecca Alpert, Temple University
Publication:Shofar
 

Jews and Sex is an anthology of essays about cultural representations of Jewish sexuality in Israel, England, and the United States from early twentieth century to the present. While a few of the contributors frame their essays theoretically, most of the essays are close readings of specific artists, films, or novels about or by Jews. Its breadth is the collection’s greatest strength as it brings together perspectives from different genres, sexualities, and locales. The volume opens up new directions for cultural studies of Jewish sexuality...

...This anthology breaks new ground, exploring unstudied cultural contexts for the conversation about Jewish sexuality. The authors’ willingness to frame “Jews” and “sex” and the connections between them in the broadest ways creates new objects for inquiry. These essays boldly tackle difficult issues such as sex work, pornography, and antisemitic stereotypes. They question previously held assumptions about Jews and sex, shifting the conversation away from the religious and theological and towards the secular and cultural but also making connections between these worlds. The portrait of a naked Annie Sprinkle as Eve accompanied by fruit and serpent that adorns the cover of the volume reveals the possible new directions for inquiry this book opens up, and this volume is a welcome addition to this field of inquiry.

Shofar is a quarterly, interdisciplinary journal of Jewish Studies, and is the official journal of the Midwest and Western Jewish Studies Associations. It publishes peer-reviewed scholarly articles, opinion pieces, readers' forums, pedagogical essays, and book reviews. Some recent and forthcoming contributors include Steven Nadler, Judith R. Baskin, Ira Sharkansky, Louis H. Feldman, Donna H. Divine, Seth Ward and Lawrence Baran.

Rebecca Alpert, Temple University

 
*****06 March 2008
In the Biblical sense: revealing Jewish sex
 
Reviewer:Kate Davies
Publication:Hampstead & Highgate Express
 

A Jewish academic is set to ruffle some religious feathers by publishing a book exploring raunchy themes in the Old Testament.

Jews and Sex is the title of Dr Nathan Abrams' latest work, a collection of controversial essays on topics including sexual imagery and homosexuality in the Bible, lesbian Yiddish poetry and Jews in pornography.

"It all started with an essay I wrote for the Jewish Quarterly on pornography and then my publisher contacted me about a book," said Dr Abrams, who grew up in Highgate and is now a lecturer at Bangor University...

Kate Davies

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