Jewish “Bad Girls”: Transgressive Narratives and Rebellious Daughters in Contemporary British Jewish Women’s Writings

This contribution to a special issue on gender looks at contemporary Jewish women fiction writers in the UK who, following the sexual revolution, depict the rebellion against the restrictive gender roles and behavioural rules of the Jewish home. I will argue that the subversive representation of transgressive behavior demonstrates tensions between, on the one hand, loyalty to the Jewish home and the imperative of communal or tribal continuity and, on the other, the pull of ideologies and agendas which encourage women to be independent in a society that affords them freedom to do what they want.