Date of Award
Spring 4-4-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Religious Studies
First Advisor
Krista Dalton
Second Advisor
Max Johnson Dugan
Abstract
This thesis examines the positioning of Jewish identity within the manosphere, focusing on conservative media pundits Ben Shapiro and Dennis Prager. It argues that these figures strategically negotiate Jewishness in relation to race, gender, and religion to position Jews as proper American citizens. By engaging with the concept of masculine Jewish exceptionalism, or the posture that seeks to index a masculine, properly religious, and white Jewish presence into American life, these pundits strategically use Jewishness to secure a seat at the table of American civic religion. This project explores how Shapiro and Prager selectively deploy Jewish identity to align with a Judeo-Christian civic alliance by referencing a twentieth-century model of American Jewish acculturation. Through their participation in online conservative spaces, these commentators construct a Jewish masculinity that can both integrate and differentiate Jews from a Protestant Christian-majority America. Drawing on primary source material such as podcasts, keynote addresses, and YouTube videos, the thesis seeks to assess how Shapiro and Prager’s rhetoric reconfigures the boundaries of Jewish masculine identity within a racialized Judeo-Christian paradigm. This research contributes to discussions in Jewish studies, gender studies, and media studies by demonstrating how online conservative Jewish discourse reflects and reconfigures historical anxieties about Jewish belonging in the United States.
Recommended Citation
Greenberg, Ellie R., "“Gentile Rules”: American Jewish Masculinity and the Manosphere" (2025). Honors Theses. 908.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/honorstheses/908
Rights Statement
All rights reserved. This copy is provided to the Kenyon Community solely for individual academic use. For any other use, please contact the copyright holder for permission.
