[Ads-l] Is "Jezebel" a racist name?

Thu Feb 11 01:47:19 UTC 2021

It's a known fact that she dated Willy Brown while he was still married.  I would assume they were referring to that.

Apparently Brown had been at the time long estranged from his wife, and dated openly, so it may be unfair and insulting to call her a "Jezebel" under those circumstances, but it is not clear that it was "overtly racist" to call her by that name.
________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Tomas Alvarez <tomasalvarez95 at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2021 5:28:56 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Is "Jezebel" a racist name?

---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Tomas Alvarez <tomasalvarez95 at GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Is "Jezebel" a racist name?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The way the two Baptist pastors from Texas meant it was *overtly racist*.
They might as well have added: "By the way, we're calling her 'Jezebel'
because she is both black and Indian, something we cannot even begin to
understand." I'm noticing a concerning trend in this mailing list of
consistently relativizing racism and misogyny. Are we the ADS list or the
hate list?

Tomas

On Wed, Feb 10, 2021 at 5:04 PM Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> Would have made the Bette Davis movie very contraversial...
>
> On Wed, Feb 10, 2021, 7:01 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > > Further, since the age of American slavery, Jezebel came to be
> understood
> > as an overly sexual Black woman, a stereotype depicted in film and
> fiction.
> >
> > Exx. of the word used in this sense - other than by recent academics?
> >
> >
> > JL
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Wed, Feb 10, 2021 at 3:34 AM Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Jezebel.com describes itself as "A Supposedly Feminist Website."
> > > SG
> > > ________________________________
> > > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> > > Baker, John <JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM>
> > > Sent: Tuesday, February 9, 2021 3:07 PM
> > > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Subject: Re: Is "Jezebel" a racist name?
> > >
> > > The article does make a case for =E2=80=9CJezebel=E2=80=9D being raci=
st as well as
> > sexist:
> > >
> > > =E2=80=9CBiblically, Jezebel was a princess and a prophet. She tried =
to save
> her
> > > own life and tempted a member of the royal guard. In popular culture,
> her
> > > name is used to refer to a =E2=80=9Cloose woman.=E2=80=9D Further, si=
nce the age of
> > > American slavery, Jezebel came to be understood as an overly sexual
> Black
> > > woman, a stereotype depicted in film and fiction. Most recently, the
> > image
> > > of the =E2=80=9CBlack Jezebel=E2=80=9D was popularized in 1970s Blaxp=
loitation films.=E2=80=9D
> > >
> > > I would characterize =E2=80=9CJezebel=E2=80=9D as an insult more pejo=
rative than =E2=80=9Cslut=E2=80=9D
> > > but perhaps not as strong as =E2=80=9Cwhore.=E2=80=9D  Do sexualized =
epithets become
> > worse
> > > when they are directed to black rather than white women?  I don=E2=80=
=99t know;
> > > they=E2=80=99re pretty bad already.
> > >
> > > Note that news article headlines are usually not written by the autho=
r
> of
> > > the article.  I question whether it was appropriate for the headline =
to
> > > focus on the term=E2=80=99s racist implications while ignoring the mo=
re
> prominent
> > > sexist implications.
> > >
> > >
> > > John Baker
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of
> > > dave at WILTON.NET
> > > Sent: Tuesday, February 9, 2021 2:49 PM
> > > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > > Subject: Re: Is "Jezebel" a racist name?
> > >
> > > External Email - Think Before You Click
> > >
> > >
> > > My understanding is that referring to a Black woman as a "Jezebel"
> brings
> > > to bear a cultural stereotype of Black women being hypersexual that i=
s
> > not
> > > present when referring to a white woman by that name. The denotation =
is
> > > still "loose woman," only that it is problematic in additional ways
> when
> > > used to refer to Black women.
> > >
> > > See Dagbovie-Mullins, Sika A. "Pigtails, Ponytails, and Getting Tail:
> The
> > > Infantilization and Hyper-Sexualization of African American Females i=
n
> > > Popular Culture." Journal of Popular Culture, 46.4, 2013, 745-71. Or:
> > "The
> > > Jezebel Stereotype,"
> > >
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/jezebel/__;!!O=
ToaGQ!_jN9Hv1bByM7bqNIdEen4L2zXq_3b-zwNkkGUYoWnYLXo9YciMJczjH9LTZauBRs$
> > > <
> > >
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/jezebel__;!!OT=
oaGQ!_jN9Hv1bByM7bqNIdEen4L2zXq_3b-zwNkkGUYoWnYLXo9YciMJczjH9LT4IeqzP$
> > > >. Also Googling Jezebel and Sapphire turns up a lot. (Sapphire is a
> term
> > > for the stereotype of an emasculating Black woman.)
> > >
> > > There's also a podcast titled "Black Jezebel," which from the
> description
> > > on the Apple Podcasts site takes a sex-positive view of Black female
> > > sexuality. The title would seem to be an attempt to reclaim the word.
> > >
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bla=
ck-jezebel-podcast/id1476628866__;!!OToaGQ!_jN9Hv1bByM7bqNIdEen4L2zXq_3b-zw=
NkkGUYoWnYLXo9YciMJczjH9LdGfMMra$
> > > <
> > >
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bla=
ck-jezebel-podcast/id1476628866__;!!OToaGQ!_jN9Hv1bByM7bqNIdEen4L2zXq_3b-zw=
NkkGUYoWnYLXo9YciMJczjH9LdGfMMra$
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:
> > > ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>> On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> > > Sent: Tuesday, February 9, 2021 11:16 AM
> > > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Subject: [ADS-L] Is "Jezebel" a racist name?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-pastors-unde=
r-fire-referring-123515004.html__;!!OToaGQ!_jN9Hv1bByM7bqNIdEen4L2zXq_3b-zw=
NkkGUYoWnYLXo9YciMJczjH9LeMgG9Aw$
> > > <
> > >
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-pastors-unde=
r-fire-referring-123515004.html__;!!OToaGQ!_jN9Hv1bByM7bqNIdEen4L2zXq_3b-zw=
NkkGUYoWnYLXo9YciMJczjH9LeMgG9Aw$
> > > >
> > >
> > > JL
> > > <
> > >
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-pastors-unde=
r-fire-referring-123515004.html__;!!OToaGQ!_jN9Hv1bByM7bqNIdEen4L2zXq_3b-zw=
NkkGUYoWnYLXo9YciMJczjH9LeMgG9Aw$
> > > <
> > >
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-pastors-unde=
r-fire-referring-123515004.html__;!!OToaGQ!_jN9Hv1bByM7bqNIdEen4L2zXq_3b-zw=
NkkGUYoWnYLXo9YciMJczjH9LeMgG9Aw$
> > > >>
> > >
> > > --
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> > > <
> > >
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.americandialect.org__;!!OToaGQ!_jN=
9Hv1bByM7bqNIdEen4L2zXq_3b-zwNkkGUYoWnYLXo9YciMJczjH9LR_vj1-f$
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> > >
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> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.americandialect.org__;!!OToaGQ!_jN=
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> > > <
> > >
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.americandialect.org__;!!OToaGQ!_jN=
9Hv1bByM7bqNIdEen4L2zXq_3b-zwNkkGUYoWnYLXo9YciMJczjH9LR_vj1-f$
> > > >
> > >
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> >
> > --
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