The Jewish Assimilation to White Culture & Rape Culture

The unit we covered in the book and in class the past few weeks was one of the most interesting to me. Some of the topics we covered I was very familiar with, and others I have never given much thought to. The first area I focused on in this paper is the transition that Jewish people had from a minority, to being white, which I have not given much thought. The second was the idea of white privilege, and its implications. The third is rape culture, and how we can possibly combat it. Both of these topics I am more aware of, and has been things that have interested me for some time. I hope to further my understanding of these issues by learning from outside sources and using the book and lecture material.

I did have a few previous pre-conceptions about the different topics I chose. My family is Jewish-Romanian, however, I never experienced any discrimination because of this and have always considered myself white, further proving how assimilated Jewish people are into the “white” group. I was somewhat aware of the concept of white privilege, and was aware that I unjustly benefit from it. I knew it was something that was wrong, and was a symptom of the larger problem of racism in America, however I did not ever think about the extent of it. The third topic of rape culture was something I had the most information on, as it was something I studied on my own and was aware of since high school. Because I know the issue so well, and had already researched its many examples, I decided to focus more on how to combat it.

The first topic I thought was interesting was on how Jewish people got assimilated into being white. The book Race, Ethnicity and Gender: Selected Readings by Joseph Healey had an article that talked extensively about how th...

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... knowledge with white privilege and rape culture. All of these issues have affected my life personally, and it was really interesting to additionally exploring them. I think it is important to be educated on all of these in order to be aware of yourself, and know how to impact society more positively.

Works Cited

Healey, Joseph F., and Eileen O'Brien. Race, Ethnicity, and Gender: Selected Readings. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge, 2004. Print. Second Edition.

Moore, Deborah Dash. "Assimilation in the United States: Twentieth Century." Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. 1 March 2009. Jewish Women's Archive. .

"What Is the “Rape Culture?”." Marshell University. Women's Center, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. .