Jewish Bodylore by Milligan Amy K.;

Author:Milligan, Amy K.; [Milligan, Amy K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic
Published: 2018-12-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

The Rosa Winkel

Jewish Navigation of the Reappropriation of a Nazi Symbol by LGBTQ Young Adults

I remember the moment vividly: among the picked over items for sale at a local Pride festival were several religious items. The rainbow Star of David stickers were sold out, and all of the pride yarmulkes were gone. However, a full stack of stickers remained, each emblazoned with a Star of David created by transposing a rainbow and a pink triangle. I stood there and contemplated the sticker. Why hadn’t it sold? Was it a case of being misunderstood or was the introduction of the pink triangle on a religious item offensive, especially on Jewish ephemera? The well-meaning teenager manning the table attempted to close the sale, even going so far as to show me his pink triangle tattoo. Later, while reflecting on this moment, I was struck by the strong gut reaction that I had to seeing the pink triangle on a religious item, a much different reaction than I had toward rainbow-colored items in the same context. Familiar with their early use in the gay rights movement, I began to look with renewed interest for pink triangles and observed their increasing popularity, especially among the younger LGBTQ community, begging the question, why has the pink triangle gained recent importance and how has it been reframed by a new generation? In this chapter I offer a brief overview of the history of the Rosa Winkel, the pink triangle, tracing its usage from Hitler’s Europe to the formation of the American gay rights movement. I analyze contemporary use of the symbol, with particular attention to the tension that exists between perceptions of empowerment versus victimization. I conclude that the pink triangle is a natural folkloric response by young LGBTQ adults who find voice through the symbol by subversively using it to construct a sense of shared community history and mission.

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