New Article: Mor & Davidovich, Same-Sex Attraction, Behavior, and Practices of Jewish Men in Israel

Mor, Zohar, and Udi Davidovich. “Same-Sex Sexual Attraction, Behavior, and Practices of Jewish Men in Israel and the Association with HIV Prevalence.” AIDS Care (early view; online first).

 
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540121.2016.1146400
 
Abstract

In order to efficiently direct efforts and resources required for the prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infection among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Israel, it is necessary to define their particular behaviors, estimate their size, and assess the HIV-burden. This cross-sectional study included a sub-sample from a random representative National study performed in Israel, which included Jewish males aged 18–44 who completed online anonymous questionnaires regarding their sexual attraction and practices, commercial sex-work, as well as condom and substances’ use. Additionally, participants were asked to identify themselves as gay, bisexual, or heterosexual. National estimates regarding prevalence of risk-behaviors and HIV-infection among MSM were based on the Statistical Abstract of Israel and the National HIV Registry, respectively. Of the total sample of 997 men, 11.9% reported lifetime male sex encounters, while 4.5% and 3.7% self-identified as gay or bisexual, respectively. The estimated population of self-identified Jewish gays/bisexuals aged 18–44 in Israel was 94,176, and in Tel-Aviv 33,839. HIV prevalence among MSM was estimated at 0.7% in Israel and 1.0% in Tel-Aviv. MSM were more likely to live in Tel-Aviv, had higher levels of education, and were scored higher on several determinants of sexual risk in comparison to those attracted to women, including early sexual debut, greater number of sexual partners, ever paid/been paid for sex, sexually coerced, and substance use. In conclusion, MSM were involved in greater risk behaviors than those who only had female sex partners. Most MSM were living in Tel-Aviv and their estimated HIV prevalence was 1.0%.

 

 

 

New Article: Erhard & Ben-Ami, The Schooling Experience of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Youth in Israel

Erhard, Rachel L., and Eyal Ben-Ami. “The Schooling Experience of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Youth in Israel: Falling Below and Rising Above as a Matter of Social Ecology.” Journal of Homosexuality (early view; online first).

 

URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2015.1083778

 

Abstract

Research on the schooling experience of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) youth in Israel and in other western countries has been largely risk focused, whereas extrinsic and intrinsic protective factors, which enable LGB adolescent students to cope with school homophobic bullying, are often overlooked. To address this shortcoming, the researchers conducted a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with twenty LGB-identified secondary school students. The findings and implications emphasized the key role of adequate ecological protective factors for LGB youth in enhancing effective coping mechanisms in response to school homophobic bullying.

 

 

New Article: Mor et al, Arab Men Who Have Sex with Men in Israel

Mor, Z., Grayeb, E., and A. Beany. “Arab Men Who Have Sex with Men in Israel: Knowledge, Attitudes and Sexual Practices.” HIV Medicine (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hiv.12301

 

Abstract

Objectives
Arab men who have sex with men (AMSM) are becoming visible in society, and reports of HIV infection and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are emerging. This study aimed to assess the knowledge of AMSM regarding HIV transmission, their attitudes towards condom use and their sexual practices compared with Jewish MSM (JMSM), and to evaluate AMSM–JMSM friendships and sexual encounters.

Methods
Participants in this cross-sectional study completed questionnaires in Arabic or Hebrew. The outcome variable was unprotected anal sex (UAI) in the previous 6 months with a partner(s) whose HIV status was discordant or unknown. AMSM and JMSM indicated if they had friends or sexual encounters from the other ethnic group.

Results
The questionnaires were completed by 342 (16.2%) AMSM and 1775 (83.8%) JMSM in 2012. AMSM were more likely to be religious, ‘closeted’ and married than JMSM; their knowledge regarding HIV transmission was inferior and attitudes towards condom use were less favourable. AMSM reported less alcohol and drug use than JMSM, were more likely to be attracted to and have sex with women, and reported a greater number of sexual partners and more UAI. Being AMSM was a predictive variable for UAI in the multivariate model. While 178 AMSM (52.0%) reported that most of their close friends were JMSM, 251 (73.4%) had only/mostly sexual encounters with JMSM. Among JMSM, 41 (2.3%) reported that their close friends were AMSM, and 308 (17.3%) had only/mostly sexual encounters with AMSM.

Conclusions
The knowledge of AMSM regarding HIV transmission and their attitudes towards condom use were less favourable than those of JMSM, and they performed more UAI. AMSM may benefit from targeted interventions, including reconciling their same-sex attraction in positive terms. Same-sex attraction and gay identity may provide common ground to strengthen Arab–Jew communication in Israel.

 

 

New Article: Goldsmith, Israel, Palestine, and Queer/Feminist Ecologies

Goldsmith, Mitch. “From the River to the Sea: Israel, Palestine, and Queer/Feminist Ecologies.” UnderCurrents 19 (2015): 17-26.

 

URL: http://currents.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/currents/article/view/40251 [PDF]

 

Abstract

This paper seeks to provide an ecofeminist and queer critique of Israeli aggression towards and occupation of Palestine in three parts. Firstly, providing a critical analysis of tropes surrounding the creation of the Israel including early policies relating to land and afforestation. Secondly, by revealing how these tropes about the founding of Israel expose racist understandings about the supposed nature of Palestinians and Arabs (as backwards, queered and so on) and Thirdly, how these projections in the two previous sections about Israeli ingenuity and the supposed natural inferiority of Palestinians and Arabs informs current ecological mal/development in Israel and Palestine.

 

 

CFP: Homonationalism in Hebrew (NAPH, June 2016)

I am looking for participants in a panel about Israeli homonationalism for the 2016 National Association of Professors of Hebrew conference (Providence, RI, June-21-23).

Please contact me at segalo[at]cofc. edu

Oren Segal, College of Charleston

Homonationalism in Hebrew: Representations in Literature, Drama, and Cinema

Following Jasbir Puar’s 2007 conceptualization of homonationalism, it became fashionable in Queer Studies to explore the various ways in which mainstream gays foster patriotism in order to assimilate into Western societies. Only a few scholars address this issue in the Israeli context, prominently among them Aeyal Gross, but, except of Raz Yosef, who examines this phenomenon in Israeli cinema, the conversations about the Israeli configuration of homonationalism are limited to the Social Studies perspective. Aiming to widen the scope of the discussion, this panel intends to explore cultural representations in literature, drama, and cinema of the unique Israeli fusion of nationalism and homonormativity. Since homonormativity supports and maintains the national structures that discriminate against individuals that fail to achieve or intentionally reject the narrow terms of acceptability, this panel also wishes to pay close attention to representations of non-normative sexualities and non-binary identities. This panel will provide another dimension to the current debate about homonationalism and offer the possibility to enrich it with questions about the cultural backgrounds of the Israeli manifestation of gay patriotism.

New Article: Shilo et al, Individual and Community Resilience Factors Among LGBQ in Israel

Shilo, Guy, Nadav Antebi, and Zohar Mor. “Individual and Community Resilience Factors Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer and Questioning Youth and Adults in Israel.” American Journal of Community Psychology 55.1-2 (2015): 215-27.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10464-014-9693-8

 

Abstract

Drawing on resilience theories, this study examined the individual and community factors of Israeli lesbians, gays, bisexuals, queers, and questioning (LGBQs) that contribute to positive mental health and the degree to which individual and community protective factors mitigate the adverse effect of risk factors for poor mental health. Differences in resilience factors between LGBQ youth and adults were explored. Data were collected on 890 LGBQ youth and adults. Findings emphasize the role of community-level resilience factors in the lives of LGBQs, and that these support systems differ slightly between the two age groups. Among youth, family support was both a strong predictor for well-being and a protective factor for mental distress. Although family support was found as a resilience factor among adults as well, other community-level factors (friends’ support, LGBT connectedness and having steady partner) were found as protective factors for poorer mental health. These findings suggest for efforts on fostering familial support for LGBQ youth and a multi-level system that offers support at the familial, peer, relationship and community levels for both LGBQ youth and adults.

New Article: Amihay, Color Photography and Self-Outing in Jewish Women’s Comics

Amihay, Ofra. “Red Diapers, Pink Stories. Color Photography and Self-Outing in Jewish Women’s Comics.” Image & Narrative 16.2 (2015): 42-64.

URL: http://www.imageandnarrative.be/index.php/imagenarrative/article/view/811

 

Abstract

In this essay, I analyze the function of color photography in autobiographical comics through a comparative analysis of confessional works of comics by two Jewish women artists, Jewish-American cartoonist Dianne Noomin’s 2003 comics spread “I Was a Red Diaper Baby” and Israeli cartoonist Ilana Zeffren’s Pink Story (written in Hebrew). While exploring the tensions evoked in these works between comics and photography and between black-and-white and color representations, I highlight an important difference in the nature of the images used in each work, evoking yet another tension: that between private and public. I demonstrate that these works by Noomin and Zeffren represent the array of private and public photographs available to any autobiographer, ranging from public images taken from posters, magazines, and video screenshots to intimate family snapshots. I argue that the choice between personal and public photographs in these works poetically determines the path of self-outing in each work, thus representing the two key options for such an act of self-outing, namely, using the personal sphere as a path to the public one or vice-versa. Finally, I address the role of Jewish identity in these two self-outing comics. I posit that while Jewish heritage is not a major factor in either work, the fact that in both cases the community of reference is a minority group within a Jewish community plays a significant role, introducing specific dilemmas into the already complicated identity struggle. By shedding light on the unique function of color photography in autobiographical comics about ethnographically charged self- outing experiences, the analysis of these specific works introduces to a wider audience two important yet insufficiently explored voices of women cartoonists.

 

New Book: Navot, The Constitution of Israel: A Contextual Analysis

Navot, Suzie. The Constitution of Israel: A Contextual Analysis. Oxford: Hart, 2014.

 

 

This book presents the main features of the Israeli constitutional system and a topical discussion of Israel’s basic laws. It focuses on constitutional history and the peculiar decision to frame a constitution ‘by stages’. Following its British heritage and the lack of a formal constitution, Israel’s democracy grew for more than four decades on the principle of parliamentary supremacy. Introducing a constitutional model and the concept of judicial review of laws, the ‘constitutional revolution’ of the 1990s started a new era in Israel’s constitutional history. The book’s main themes include: constitutional principles; the legislature and the electoral system; the executive; the protection of fundamental rights and the crucial role of the Supreme Court in Israel’s constitutional discourse. It further presents Israel’s unique aspects as a Jewish and democratic state, and its ongoing search for the right balance between human rights and national security. Finally, the book offers a critical discussion of the development of Israel’s constitution and local projects aimed at enacting a single and comprehensive text.

Click here for a full Table of Contents (PDF).

New Article: Brown, Re-examining the Transnational Nanny

Brown, Rachel H. “Re-examining the Transnational Nanny. Migrant Carework beyond the Chain.” International Feminist Journal of Politics (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14616742.2015.1007728

 

Abstract

This article explores whether the concept of a global care chain is useful in understanding the migration of careworkers internationally. It examines how an affective approach to understanding migration could supplement the care chain analysis by accounting for the overlapping, shifting, contingent and non-linear networks of emotion that arise during migrations. Analyzing carework through the lens of an “affective economy” is more revealing of the multiple experiences of Filipino gay and transgender caregivers in Tel Aviv and New York, Peruvian careworkers in Spain and Polish careworkers in Germany, as but three brief, illustrative examples. First I will discuss what the care chain approach can illuminate about the multiple and varied stories of migrant careworkers and how it may also essentialize or oversimplify their experiences. I will then suggest that the model naturalizes the caring, biological mother and reinforces geographical and ideological binaries such as North/South, winner/loser and domination/dependency. Finally, I will discuss how the care chain model presents a linear conception of time and space, obscuring the overlapping and multi-directional routes of migration that careworkers travel. Ultimately I will argue that an affective approach creates the theoretical language that can help build what Chela Sandoval calls a coalitional consciousness.

 
 
 
 
 

New Article: Ziv and Freund-Eschar, Pregnancy Experience of Gay Couples Expecting a Child Through Overseas Surrogacy

Ziv, Ido and Yael Freund-Eschar. “The Pregnancy Experience of Gay Couples Expecting a Child Through Overseas Surrogacy.” Family Journal 23.2 (2015): 158-166.

 

URL: http://tfj.sagepub.com/content/23/2/158

 

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the emotional experience of pregnancy for gay couples who turn to overseas surrogacy and face a geographical distance from the pregnancy. In-depth interviews were conducted with 16 gay intended fathers, mean age 35.5 years, most of whom expected a child through surrogacy in India. The unborn children’s gestational age ranged from 10 weeks to 32 weeks. A qualitative thematic analysis of the interviews shows that the interviewees felt frustration and anxiety due to their distance from the physical pregnancy and, specifically, their inability to experience the physical presence of the fetus. The resulting emotional disconnect from the developing fetus impacted the development of their parental sense during the pregnancy. The results highlight the importance for the intended parents of establishing a close relationship with the surrogate mother, as is customary in the United States but generally not in countries such as India. The findings support the value of establishing international guidelines for cross-border reproductive services.

New Article: Marshall, Love Stories of the Occupation

Marshall, David Jones. “Love Stories of the Occupation: Storytelling and the Counter-Geopolitics of Intimacy.” Area 46.4 (2014): 349-51.

 

URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/area.12138_3/abstract

 

Abstract

Though research on Israel/Palestine often privileges the macro-geopolitical perspective, a growing body of work has begun to catalogue the ways in which the violence of occupation is carried out through intimate spaces and practices. However, often missing from such accounts is an understanding of intimacy as a counter-veiling political force. Looking at the ‘Love Under Apartheid’ project in Palestine, and queer anti-occupation organising in Israel, this paper considers how storytelling can serve as both a research methodology and political intervention, changing the way geopolitical stories are told and unfold.

New Book: Yosef and Hagin, eds. Trauma and Memory in Israeli Cinema

Yosef, Raz and Boaz Hagin. Deeper than Oblivion. Trauma and Memory in Israeli Cinema. New York and London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013.

 

URL: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/deeper-than-oblivion-9781441199263/

 

In this collection, leading scholars in both film studies and Israeli studies show that beyond representing familiar historical accounts or striving to offer a more complete and accurate depiction of the past, Israeli cinema has innovatively used trauma and memory to offer insights about Israeli society and to engage with cinematic experimentation and invention. Tracing a long line of films from the 1940s up to the 2000s, the contributors use close readings of these films not only to reconstruct the past, but also to actively engage with it. Addressing both high-profile and lesser known fiction and non-fiction Israeli films, Deeper than Oblivion underlines the unique aesthetic choices many of these films make in their attempt to confront the difficulties, perhaps even impossibility, of representing trauma. By looking at recent and classic examples of Israeli films that turn to memory and trauma, this book addresses the pressing issues and disputes in the field today.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: Sweet on the Inside: Trauma, Memory, and Israeli Cinema Boaz Hagin and Raz Yosef

Chapter 2: Postscript to Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation Ella Shohat

Chapter 3: Gender, the Military, Memory, and the Photograph: Tamar Yarom’s To See If I’m Smiling and American Films about Abu Ghraib Diane Waldman

Chapter 4: The Event and the Picture: David Perlov’s My Stills and Memories of the Eichmann Trial Anat Zanger

Chapter 5: The Agonies of an Eternal Victim: Zionist Guilt in Avi Mograbi’s Happy Birthday, Mr. Mograbi Shmulik Duvdevani

Chapter 6: Traces of War: Memory, Trauma, and the Archive in Joseph Cedar’s Beaufort Raz Yosef

Chapter 7: Memory of a Death Foretold: Fathers and Sons in Assi Dayan’s “Trilogy” Yael Munk

Chapter 8: Queering Terror: Trauma, Race, and Nationalism in Palestinian and Israeli Gay Cinema during the Second Intifada Raya Morag

Chapter 9: “Our Traumas”: Terrorism, Tradition, and Mind Games in Frozen Days Boaz Hagin

Chapter 10: History of Violence: From the Trauma of Expulsion to the Holocaust in Israeli Cinema Nurith Gertz and Gal Hermoni

Chapter 11: Last Train to the Holocaust Judd Ne’eman and Nerit Grossman

Chapter 12: Passages, Wars, and Encounters with Death: The Desert as a Site of Memory in Israeli Film Yael Zerubavel

Chapter 13: “Walking through walls”: Documentary Film and Other Technologies of Navigation, Aspiration, and Memory Janet Walker

Notes on Contributors

Index

 

New Article: Shenkman and Shmotkin, Psychological Welfare among Israeli Gay Fathers

Shenkman, Geva and Dov Shmotkin. “‘Kids Are Joy’: Psychological Welfare Among Israeli Gay Fathers.” Journal of Family Issues 35.14 (2014): 1926-1939.

 

URL: http://jfi.sagepub.com/content/35/14/1926

 

Abstract

This study examined the psychological welfare associated with gay men couplehood (being in relationship) and gay fatherhood. From a sample of 204 Israeli gay men (age range 19-79), we compared 45 gay fathers (55.6% of them being in a steady relationship) with 45 individually matched gay men who were not fathers on indicators of psychological welfare, namely, subjective well-being, depressive symptoms (a reverse indicator), and meaning in life. In line with the study hypothesis, the results indicated that couplehood and parenthood were both associated with higher psychological welfare. Whereas the previously reported heterosexual “parenthood paradox” relates parenthood to decreased levels of subjective well-being along with increased levels of meaning in life, the current study suggests that gay fathers have elevated levels of both subjective well-being and meaning in life. We discuss possible interpretations of the findings.

 

Reviews: Schulman, Israel/Palestine and the Queer International

Schulman, Sarah. Israel/Palestine and the Queer International. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2012.

 

 

Reviews

• Prashad, Vijay. “Putting Palestine on the Map.” Jadaliyya, November 9, 2012.
• Bianco, Marcie. “Review.” Lambda Literary, November 27, 2012.
• Kearns, Gerry. “Gender, Politics, Solidarity.” Dublin Review of Books.
• Clifton, Lois. “Review.” Socialist Review, January 2013.
• Kerr, Ted. “Sarah Schulman’s Joy and the Queer Practice of Everyday Freedom.” Pretty Queer, February 14, 2013.
• Jochnowitz, George. “Pinkwashing is Hogwash When Used Against Israel.” Arutz Sheva, April 5, 2013.
• Somerson, Wendy Elishheva. “Queering Palestinian Solidarity Work.” Tikkun, July 28, 2013.
• Irmas, Jack. “Limited Solidarity with Palestine in Schulman’s Queer International.” Electronic Intifada, July 31, 2013.
• Atzmon, Gilad. “Review.” Veterans Today, August 7, 2013.
• Roffman, Eleanor. “Exposing Pinkwashing.” Women’s Review of Books, September/October 2013.
• Gorshein, David. “Review.” Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 13.2 (2014): 313-315.
• Preser, Ruth and Chen Misgav. “Review.” Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies 11.1 (2015): 111-3.

 

 

Cite: Flanders, Road Movie: Notes from the Field

Flanders, Elle. “Road Movie: Notes from the Field.” Camera Obscura 27.2 (2012): 165-75.

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URL: http://cameraobscura.dukejournals.org/content/27/2_80/165.abstract

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Abstract

This piece follows the author’s journey of making a film about the segregated roads in Palestine, and the ways in which queer subjectivity and radical politics inform the work we produce regardless of subject matter. Offering a counter-narrative to the Israeli government’s dissimulation as a democratic and progressive nation in its advancement of queer-rights (commonly referred to as pinkwashing), “Notes from the Field” exposes the realities of occupation and its impact on the lives of Palestinians, including queers and their profound interventions. Through a critique of the impact of neoliberalism on current queer politics, the piece winds its way toward a suturing of queer identity and questions of nation.