AN ALL-AMERICAN SEX SCANDAL
SO LONG, Alvy Singer, and all your hapless brothers. Looks like US Jewish men have decided that they have had enough of the whole shlemiel thing personified by the hero of Woody Allen’s Annie Hall.
In recent years, there has been a spate of sex scandals involving US politicians, nearly all of them Jewish.
It all began in 2008 when New York Governor Eliot Spitzer quit after the New York Times exposed his highpriced, call-girl habit.
Then, in 2011, Anthony Weiner quit Congress when he was caught sending sexually suggestive texts and pictures to women who were not his wife. Recently, Mr Weiner has attempted a comeback through his bid to become New York City mayor. But, just last week, this comeback, which had been accompanied by numerous magazine articles featuring a domesticated and humbled man, was derailed when it was revealed that he had not kicked his habit of “sexting” strangers.
This time he did have the foresight to use an alias, but unfortunately it was “Carlos Danger”. If only his communications team could have helped him choose a more subtle nom de guerre.
While the east coast was contemplating whether they would still vote for “Carlos”, the west coast was contending with the fact that San Diego mayor Bob Filner, who quit Congress last year to become the city’s
first Democrat mayor in 20 years, did not turn out to be the progressive saviour they were hoping for.
Mr Filner recently resigned over allegations of sexual harassment, which included touching women inappropriately and trying to talk about sex when clearly no one was interested.
There was also something called the “Filner Headlock”, in which he would allegedly put his arm around a lady staffer and escort her to a place where they could be alone.
There’s one more — and it just might be the kookiest. Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen was caught tweeting messages to a bikini model during President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address last February. At first, Mr Cohen claimed she was his long lost love child, until DNA tests proved this false. When a reporter asked him about her, he told her that she was very attractive but he was not going to talk about it.
So what is behind these Jewish men gone wild?
It is hard to say, although it might have something to do with whatever made BuzzFeed’s “The Official Ranking Of The 51 Hottest Jewish Men In Hollywood” earn over 100,000 likes on Facebook.
Perhaps Jewish men, a little more assimilated and a little more powerful than the generation before them, are dead set on shaking off the nebbish, impotent reputation of the Jewish male of yesteryear. These guys appear to be obsessed with their virility and will seek out any opportunity to demonstrate it, whether it’s appropriate for not — and most of the time, it’s not.
Now, I am all for empowered Jewish men but, guys, you’ve got to keep it together. Because as it is now, you’ve replaced the shlemiel with a shonde. Elissa Strauss is a writer and journalist based in New York