I don't know too much of the historical specifics, but I know there has been much tension between African Americans and Jewish Americans in the past 50 years. It was kind of shocking for me to realize this, because as a Jew, I have always identified with African Americans and their struggles. When I was a child, my parents gave me books about slavery and civil rights, and books about the Holocaust and Anne Frank, and I always thought I was reading about the same thing. I don't want to sound ridiculously idealistic, as I do understand there are great differences in our cultures and struggles, but I've always felt that Jews and blacks have quite a bit in common -- we're more expressive, emotional and blunt than your average Protestant American, and we understand oppression in similar ways. I like black people, and I'm sorry I currently live in such a white state. B.J., I am sad to hear that you've had such negative experiences with Jews.
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 29, City : Eden Prairie, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Professor, Social class : Middle class, When I was in Paris, I noticed that lots of Parisian women were dressed beautifully. I felt conspicuously like a tourist dressed in the casual clothes from my backpack. Perhaps Parisian standards for what one wears to a club or museum are just more formal than what Americans are used to?
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 29, City : Eden Prairie, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Professor, Social class : Middle class, I met an Asian-American woman recently who was accepted to a graduate program in the Midwest. The graduate school office assured her that she spoke English very well, but that they would need her Test of English as a Foreign Language scores before she was admitted. She told the school she was born in Chicago and that she was very offended-- and then enrolled in another program. I've never experienced anything like this, but I'm sure it would drive me crazy-- my sympathies!
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 29, City : Eden Prairie, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Professor, Social class : Middle class, I remember once, a few years ago, watching a young black woman dancing and singing at a bus stop with a Walkman, and I thought, why can't I do that? Why are white folks so darn quiet?
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 29, City : Eden Prairie, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Professor, Social class : Middle class, I'm glad you asked this question. I know other Jews disagree with this position, but I am an agnostic who strongly identifies as a Jew in term of ethnicity. Although I am uncertain as to the existence or the nature of a higher power, I feel strongly connected to my ancestral traditions and to my place in history as a Jew. Just because I do not worship the God of my ancestors does not mean I do not feel connected to them or their culture in other ways. One reason Jews feel more connected with other Jews ethnically, as opposed to the ethnicity of those from the countries we came from, is because Jews from those places usually had much more in common with other Jews than their non-Jewish neighbors. Who cares that my grandparents came from Bessarabia? They were persecuted there, and would have been killed by the Nazis if they had not come to the U.S. They did, however, share a culture with other Jews throughout Eastern Europe, and I choose to honor that. I find it troubling that when I tell people I am Jewish, they assume I am talking about religion. Other ethnically-conscious Americans (Irish-Americans, African-Americans, etc) can talk about their cultural background without talking about religion. Why can't I?
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 29, City : Eden Prairie, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Professor, Social class : Middle class, I know it seems difficult when you're 15, but just be yourself and don't worry about what others think of you, especially boys. If high school in the United Kingdom is anything like high school in the United States, then the best advice I can give you for dating is to just wait. High school is filled with boys who are too young to not be shallow. They see the same ridiculous media ideals that the girls do, and they don't know any better yet. You don't need to show your legs. You just need to be in a better environment to meet males who appreciate you for who you are, and that will come later. So, hang in there, honey!
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 29, City : Eden Prairie, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Professor, Social class : Middle class, Yes, women fart. I just ate tuna salad with lots of onions, and I've been farting all afternoon. I let out some pretty rancid ones sometimes. We also burp, hiccup, pick various body parts and scratch ourselves. No, we don't do these things in front of other women very often, except maybe our sisters and moms and closest friends. We're taught that these normal body fuctions are unacceptable. My father is a fairly flatulent man, and I didn't realize until I was in elementary school that it wasn't acceptable to fart in public, especially for a girl. There are all kinds of ways that women are taught to hate their normal bodies. We diet incessantly, layer our faces with makeup, pimple cream and wrinkle cream, color our gray hairs ... and hold in our farts. The only man I feel comfortable farting in front of is my fiance, which is no doubt a sign of true love and trust.
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 29, City : Eden Prairie, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Professor, Social class : Middle class, It's sad, isn't it? We live in a culture where women are taught to compete with each other for men's attention, and where friendships between women aren't valued nearly as much as romantic relationships with men. My father told me straight out once that it was OK for a woman to break plans with a girlfriend if a date came along. A 10-year-old girl I know told me recently that she hopes her breasts get bigger soon so that she can get boys' attention! Women are taught to feel horribly insecure about ourselves, and when a woman comes along who is intelligent, attractive and/or secure, she is seen as suspect and a threat.
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 29, City : Eden Prairie, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Professor, Social class : Middle class, I think it differs for everyone, but that in general, it's a good idea to wait until after high school for sex. There's so much emotional baggage and peer pressure associated with sex that it can be a lot to deal with emotionally for someone who isn't very mature yet. I think teenagers often have sex for the wrong reasons-- insecurity, a need to be loved, boredom, etc. And, of course, there's the risk of pregnacy and STDs. There's a lot of fun experimentation teenagers can enjoy without full sexual intimacy, and I think for most teenagers, that's more appropriate and emotionally healthy. Besides, when you're young and virginal, kissing and holding hands and messing around can be a wonderful thrill, which you lose when you become more sexually active. Why give that up that innocent fun so early?
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 29, City : Eden Prairie, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Professor, Social class : Middle class, Many women cannot have orgasms through intercourse alone. Some studies even indicate that the majority of women do not have orgasms through intercourse alone. This has nothing to do with whether your girlfriend likes women, and it has nothing to do with you. Biologically, it's just harder for many women to have orgasms than it is for men. Unlike men, intercourse isn't an experience that brings women the most direct clitoral stimulation. There's a lot of mythology out there about female orgasms. Freud believed there were two kinds of female orgasms, clitoral ones, which he called 'immature,' and vaginal ones, caused by intercourse, which he called 'mature.' This is a load of bull, as all female orgasms originate in the clitoris, even when they are caused by intercourse. Please don't join the ranks of insensitive men who make women feel bad because they have 'incorrect' orgasms. If oral sex brings her to orgasm, then do it. And no, she's not ignorant about her sexuality. Women understand our own experiences, which sometimes are different from men's, so please don't assume she's 'ignorant' if she doesn't respond to you sexually the way you expect.
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 29, City : Eden Prairie, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Professor, Social class : Middle class, I've been saying the same thing about a minority uprising - especially after the incidents of African Americans being discouraged from voting in Florida, and the media playing this down. Most whites are ignorant about how angry many minorities are (and why, in my opinion, most of this anger is justified). People like W want to pretend we're all 'colorblind' and that everyone is equal now. I'm a little more optimistic than you, Alma, because I hope that with as little legitimacy as he has, and as little brains as he has, W won't be able to get a shred of work done, and we'll wind up with a lesser evil like Gore for 20 years. As for gay rignts issues, my heart is with you. Despite all the progress we've made in the last few years, too many people don't think there's anything wrong with discriminating against gays.
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 29, City : Eden Prairie, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Professor, Social class : Middle class, L.W., I think some of it has to do with fear. Many Whites are afraid of people who are not White, especially African Americans. What comes across as acting superior might actually be fear. This doesn't make it right, of course, and the fear isn't rational, since Whites have done a whole lot more harm to minorities in this country than vice versa.
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 29, City : Eden Prairie, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Professor, Social class : Middle class, When I was a freshman, I first came to my classes dressed in the trendy clothes I wore to high school, all made-up and hair curled. Then I looked around one day and noticed that all the older girls wore jeans and big sweatshirts and had their hair in pony tails. That was the end of the dress-up act for me. I thought it was great that class didn't have to be a fashion show the way it was in high school. Enjoy it while you can. Someday, you might be expected to wear an uncomfortable suit to work everyday, and you'll miss the ratty jeans.
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 29, City : Eden Prairie, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Professor, Social class : Middle class, Because that's the stereotypical garbage we see in the media. The continent that has the highest percentage of terrorism is South America. And remember the Oklahoma City bombing, the most notorious terrorist attack in American history - committed by a white man? It seems to me that anti-Arab stereotypes and racism are the last remaining socially acceptable kind of overt racism.
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 29, City : Eden Prairie, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Professor, Social class : Middle class, A few years ago, I asked my dad if he had seen the movie 'Waiting to Exhale.' He told me no because, as a white man, he did not feel he could relate to any of the main characters in the film, who were all African American women. It occured to me that if African American women had this attitude, they wouldn't go to the movies very often. This is why there are so few minorities in advertising, and in other forms of mass media as well. People who are white are accustomed to watching images that we 'identify' with, and are not accustomed to having to identify with images of people who are different than us. People who are not white, of course, have to learn to identify with images of whites all the time, or else turn off the TV and never see a movie. Unfortunately, our system is a market-driven media system, where profit counts over absolutely everything else, especially the way different kinds of people are represented. Advertisers include mostly whites because that's who the majority of the audience will identify with, and because they expect that the people of color in the audience will identify with them as well. Many whites don't realize there is any 'race' at all in all-white commercials, and are puzzled as to why people of color think they are racial-- but make a commercial with people of color, and suddenly you have a commercial about 'race' that people like my dad can't 'identify' with. It's a sick system that promotes the idea that white is the norm that everyone else should be measured against. Incidentally, my Media & Society class will be talking about this very issue next week, and if it's any consolation, I have found that my mostly white students are disturbed when they suddenly realize how few images of people of color there are in advertising.
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 29, City : Eden Prairie, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Professor, Social class : Middle class, 
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