User:Sgaldston/Gender and Judaism

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Gender and Judaism is an emerging subfield at the intersection of Gender studies, Queer studies, and Jewish studies. Gender studies centers on interdisciplinary research on the phenomenon of gender. It focuses on cultural representations of gender and people's lived experience. Similarly, Queer studies focuses on the cultural representations and lived experiences of queer identities to critique hetero-normative values of sex and sexuality. Jewish studies is a field that looks at Jews and Judaism, through such disciplines as history, anthropology, literary studies, linguistics, and sociology. As such, scholars writing about gender and Jewish studies are considering gender as the basis for understanding historical and contemporary Jewish societies. This field recognizes that much of recorded Jewish history and academic writing is told from the perspective of “the male Jew” and fails to accurately represent the diverse experiences of Jews with non-dominant gender identities.

History
Jewish law, or halakha, recognises gender ambiguity, and has done so throughout Jewish history. The Talmud recognises six different sexes, being defined according to physical presentation (or lack thereof) and primary and secondary sexual characteristics. The concept of a Tumtum being a person of ambiguous gender and/or sex is dealt with, as is the concept of the androgynos, being a person characterised with elements of both genders.

Founded in 1986, the U.S.-based Association for Jewish Studies woman's caucus, works "to advance the study of gender within the Association for Jewish Studies and within the wider academic community"  and widely influenced Jewish studies as a whole to incorporate a gendered perspective in Jewish Scholarship. AJS holds at least one panel on gender every annual meeting, provides funding for presentations on gender and Judaism and published a collection of syllabi pertaining to gender.

Due in part to the Association for Jewish Studies' Woman's caucus, Gender and Judaism has drawn scholarly interest due to the rapid growth of its intersecting fields during the late 20th century, fueled as well by popular and academic attention to Jewish feminism. As universities established women's studies programs, they were often highly influenced and connected to Jewish studies as well. For instance, in 1997, Brandeis University established the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, which aims to "develop fresh ways of thinking about Jews and gender worldwide by producing and promoting scholarly research and artistic projects." In addition, controversies over the role of women in Jewish denominations and the gender separation in orthodox Judaism has drawn attention to gender roles, as constructed and regulated by religious institutions. For this reason, besides the academic attention, the liberal Jewish movements turn to gender and Judaism to reinforce their own mission and identity. Notably, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College has established the Gottesman Chair in Gender and Judaism and operates Kolot — the Center for Jewish Women's and Gender Studies ", the first such center established at a rabbinical seminary (1996).


 * Zachar (זָכָר): This term is derived from the word for memory and refers to the belief that the man carried the name and identity of the family. It is usually translated as "male" in English.
 * Nekevah (נְקֵבָה): This term is derived from the word for a crevice and probably refers to a vaginal opening. It is usually translated as "female" in English.
 * Androgynos (אנדרוגינוס): A person who has both "male" and "female" physical sexual characteristics. 149 references in Mishna and Talmud (1st – 8th centuries CE); 350 in classical midrash and Jewish law codes (2nd – 16th centuries CE). According to Rabbi Meir in the Mishna it is "a unique creature, neither male nor female".
 * Tumtum (טומטום): A person whose sexual characteristics are indeterminate or obscured. 181 references in Mishna and Talmud; 335 in classical midrash and Jewish law codes. Rabbi Meir contrasts it with the Androgynus saying it is not a unique creation, "sometimes a man and sometimes a woman". Unlike the Androgynos, the Tumtum's gender can be revealed to be either male or female and as such has different roles under halacha. Some Rabbi believe Abraham and Sarah were described to be Tumtum unable to conceive before Yahway intervened.
 * Ay’lonit (איילונית): A female who does not develop secondary sex characteristics at puberty and is assumed infertile . 80 references in Mishna and Talmud; 40 in classical midrash and Jewish law codes.
 * Saris (סָרִיס): A male who does not develop secondary sex characteristics at puberty or has their sex characteristics removed. A saris can be “naturally” a saris (saris hamah), or become one through human intervention.