Opinion: Discussions about antisemitism need to include gender and sexuality

Mie Astrup Jensen - Gender and sexuality are important and often overlooked factors in discussions about antisemitism, argues PhD candidate Mie Astrup Jensen (UCL Gender & Sexuality Studies and UCL Hebrew & Jewish Studies) in The Conversation. The last few years have been a time of increased antisemitism in Europe. In a 2018 study of 16,395 people, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) found that 85% of participants considered antisemitism to be a "very big" or "fairly big" problem in their country. The Community Security Trust, a charity that protects UK Jews from antisemitism, logged 2,255 reported incidents of antisemitism in 2021. This was a record high for a single year, and up from 1,684 in 2020. These high numbers are notable given that Jews make up just 0.5% of the English and Welsh population, and that many incidents are not reported. In response to this unsettling trend, there have been more discussions about antisemitism and how to combat it.