Joyce Antler (born 1942) is an author and Professor Emerita of American Jewish History and Culture, and of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Brandeis University; she retired from her teaching roles in 2016.[2][3]

Joyce Antler
Born1942
Brooklyn, New York[1]
Alma materStony Brook University, PhD
Occupation(s)Author, professor, social and cultural historian
EmployerBrandeis University
Notable workJewish Radical Feminism, The Journey Home: How Jewish Women Shaped Modern America, and You Never Call! You Never Write! A History of the Jewish Mother
Websitehttps://www.joyceantler.com/

Antler founded Brandeis University's Women's and Gender Studies program,[4] and co-founded MIT's Graduate Consortium of Women Studies.[5] She is one of the founding board members of the Jewish Women's Archive in Brookline, Massachusetts, and was the Chair of its Academic Advisory Council for several years.[3]

Academic career

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Antler's book, The Journey Home: Jewish Women and the American Century (1997), was described in The New York Times as a work which elucidates the struggles of sexism and antisemitism faced by a selection of Jewish women whose activism helped to shape American society and culture.[6] Her next notable book, You Never Call! You Never Write!: A History of the Jewish Mother (2007), takes on stereotypes of Jewish mothers.[7] Her 2018 book, Jewish Radical Feminism: Voices from the Women's Liberation Movement, addresses the high rate of participation of Jewish women in the US women's liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s;[8] it was also a finalist for the 2019 PROSE Awards from the Association of American Publishers.[9]

Apart from her academic prose, Antler has also written plays, including "Year One of the Empire," which was originally written and performed in 1973.[10] The play, written alongside Elinor Fuchs, returned to the stage in 2008.[11]

In the Fall of 2020, Antler delivered the Steinbaum Memorial Lecture at Boston's Temple Israel (Boston).[12] In October 2023, Antler took part in a panel discussion alongside Anita Hill titled "Brandeis Women Who Changed the World"; both women have been professors in their respective fields at the institution for years.[13]

Activism

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In the 1970s, Joyce Antler's activism was crucial to the eventual repeal of New York's abortion ban,[14] three years before Roe v. Wade made abortion legal on a federal level (until June 2022 when Roe v. Wade was overturned).[15][16] The change Antler helped with made New York the first state to allow abortions on demand.[3] In the years that followed, she co-authored works on maternal health for publications including the Bulletin of the History of Medicine.[17][18]

Notable works

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Books

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  • Lucy Sprague Mitchell: The Making of a Modern Woman (1987)
  • America and I: Short Stories by American Jewish Women Writers (1990)
  • The Journey Home: Jewish Women and the American Century (1997)
  • Talking Back: Images of Jewish Women in American Popular Culture (1998)
  • You Never Call! You Never Write!: A History of the Jewish Mother (2007)
  • Jewish Radical Feminism: Voices from the Women's Liberation Movement (2018)

Articles

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  • "'After College, What?': New Graduates and the Family Claim" (1980) in American Quarterly
  • "Feminism as Life-Process: The Life and Career of Lucy Sprague Mitchell" (1981) in Feminist Studies
  • "Progressive Education and the Scientific Study of the Child: An Analysis of the Bureau of Educational Experiments" (1982) in Teachers College Record
  • "One Clove Away from a Pomander Ball: The Subversive Potential of Jewish Women's Humor" (2010) in Studies in American Jewish Literature
  • "Beyond the Ivory Tower: American Jewish History for a Public Audience" (2014) in American Jewish History
  • "History and Gender" (2014) in Frontiers: A Journal of Women's Studies
  • "Women's Liberation and Jewish Feminism after 1968: Multiple Pathways to Gender Equality" (2018) in American Jewish History

See also

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References

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  1. ^ https://www.haaretz.com/life/2018-12-08/ty-article/the-radical-jewish-feminists-and-why-they-never-spoke-of-their-jewish-identities/0000017f-f5a0-d318-afff-f7e3ef7d0000
  2. ^ "Research Portal". scholarworks.brandeis.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-16.
  3. ^ a b c "Joyce Antler". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 2024-06-16.
  4. ^ "VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT: JOYCE ANTLER". Veteran Feminists of America. 2022. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
  5. ^ Perry, Ruth; Antler, Joyce; Fall, Renee; Frader, Laura Levine; Green, Carol Hurd; Haber, Barbara; Jardine, Alice; Romero, Christiane Zehl (1996). "Inventing a Feminist Institution in Boston: An Informal History of the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies at Radcliffe College". NWSA Journal. 8 (2): 60–83. ISSN 1040-0656.
  6. ^ Shapiro, Susan (March 23, 1997). "Books in Brief: Nonfiction". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2018-04-08. Retrieved 2024-06-16.
  7. ^ Martin, Michel (2007). "You Never Call, You Never Write!". NPR. Retrieved June 16, 2024.
  8. ^ Schwartz, Penny (2018-12-07). "A history of the radical Jewish feminists and the one subject they never talked about". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 2024-06-16.
  9. ^ "Association of American Publishers Announces Finalists for 2019 PROSE Awards - AAP". 2019-01-16. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
  10. ^ "Year One of The Empire; The Other Bostonians The Sovereign States, 1775-1783 America the not always beautiful The Decline Of American Gentility America". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-16.
  11. ^ Hampton, Wilborn (2008-03-07). "History Lessons, With Song and Dance". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-16.
  12. ^ Naomi_Ribner (2020-11-14). "Fall 2020 Steinbaum Lecture with Joyce Antler". Temple Israel of Boston. Retrieved 2024-06-16.
  13. ^ "Anita Hill, Joyce Antler '63 discuss Brandeis women who changed the world – The Brandeis Hoot". brandeishoot.com. Retrieved 2024-06-16.
  14. ^ Malnik, Amanda Xinhui (January 19, 2022). "Looking to Joyce Antler's Writing on Reproductive Rights". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 2024-06-16.
  15. ^ Raucher, Michal (2023-01-06). "Jews Who Have Had Abortions". Journal of Jewish Ethics. 9 (1): 141–147. doi:10.5325/jjewiethi.9.1.0141. ISSN 2334-1777.
  16. ^ Antler, Joyce (2021-04-05). "A "Bad Girl" on the Campaign for a Safe Abortion". Lilith Magazine. Retrieved 2024-06-16.
  17. ^ Antler, Joyce; Fox, Daniel M. (1976). "The Movement Toward a Safe Maternity: Physician Accountability in New York City, 1915-1940". Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 50 (4): 569–595. ISSN 0007-5140.
  18. ^ "When Abortion Was a Crime". publishing.cdlib.org. Retrieved 2024-06-16.