Time was when the British seaside town of Brighton was best known for the Royal Pavilion built for King George 1V and the ‘dirty weekends’ his antics made so popular.
Not now!
If self-styled science communicator and comedian Florence Schechter has her way, within the next 12-18 months Brighton’s liberal-progressive citizens may run amok at the ‘Vagina Museum’ she intends to build there.
Schechter, daughter of Klezmer musician Gregori Schechter, offers very plausible educational and cultural arguments in favour of her plan.
But she has a problem: I don’t believe any of them - and neither does an individual named Karl Radl – who has called her a ‘typical filthy Jew’.
The phrase appeared on a photograph caption in a column drawn from Radl’s personal blog that was published on Andrew Anglin’s Daily Stormer during January 2018. There he demeaned her by calling her a ‘jewess’ with a lower-case ‘j‘ and then demanded “Would anyone but a Jew think of such a thing”?
There are many non-Jewish pornographers whom I could cite in Schechter’s defence against this unpleasant antisemite. But I fear that not only does he make some valid points about her business interests, Schechter ignores that much of what she claims her ‘museum’ will cover is already an integral part of British schools’ Personal, Social and Health Education curriculum.
Ms Schechter is a fiercely proud feminist lesbian. Good for her. She also seems to be among those I mentioned at the height of the #MeToo campaign who deliver a mixed message because of their unhealthy over-preoccupation with sex. That is most certainly not good for them – or indeed for someone like me - who deeply resents other people thrusting their sexuality in my face, up my nose and down my throat. Stop it. Please.
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Tonight I lit a candle marking the start of international Holocaust Memorial Day. I do not believe the publishers of The Daily Stormer will follow suit!
So I ask Schechter to cease behaving like an infant and to consider the vast number of stories about antisemitism that have been written and published this past week, especially those that have featured women as either villains or victims. All of them were fully developed human beings – much more than the sum of their private parts. One day, I sincerely hope, so will she.
© Natalie Wood (26 January 2019)
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