“JAP” – Baiting, cont’d.

A Coral Springs, Florida boutique named PAJ (“JAP” spelled backwards) has found itself at the center of controversy involving its name and marketing techniques. The store advertises “‘JAP’-Dollars” and some of the store’s merchandise is emblazoned “Jewish American Princess” or “JAP Country Club.”

Several rabbis and prominent local community leaders have spoken to owner Barbara Fedderman and her male partner in an attempt to have them change the store name. Fedderman has refused, claiming that she is “proud to be a Jewish princess” and meant no offense by the name or her marketing campaign.

Coral Springs is more than 70 percent non-Jewish and has a recent history of anti-Jewish cults in the local high school.

And in yet another example of how devastating the “JAP” stereotype can be, Villard Books recently published Death of a “Jewish American Princess”: The True Story of a Victim on Trial by Shirley Frondorf The book details the trial of Steven Steinberg, who was charged with murdering his wife, Elana, in 1981. His defense was that his wife was a “JAP”, and that he was driven to violence by her excessive shopping sprees.

The Phoenix restauranteur claimed to be sleepwalking at the time he killed his wife by stabbing her 26 times. Incredibly, the jurors accepted this as a reasonable explanation for his action, and acquitted him.