Anna Kleiman - Scandalogist
Looking for a fascinating lecture for your company, team or group? Searching for enriching content for international Women’s day, Pride month, or in light of contemporary protests or civil unrest?
I’ve got you covered!
I’m Anna Kleiman, a long-time Russian-Israeli field activist and a Scandalogist - researcher of Scandals, currently writing my PhD at University of Amsterdam (UvA).
I produced the SlutWalk in Jerusalem for 5 years and established LOTEM – non-violent direct action platform for feminist resistance, a catalyst of the biggest feminist uprising (2018-2019) in the history of Israel, successfully advocating for budgets to counter femicide and domestic violence, and pushing for reforms in laws and policies.
Seems like the amount of scandals is endless these days: corruption, sex, violence, mass hysteria, all boosted by dynamics of social media and cancel culture. In politics, public health or visual culture, I will bring some sense into the current hot topic, or give you a taste of scandals from the past, be it Parisians spitting on a painting in the 19th century Salon or feminists burning bras and Hustler magazines in the 60’s.
As both a rigorous academic and a field activist with a decade-long backround in provoking scandals, my angle is one of a kind. Interlaced with humour and a plenty of visuals, I bring a sociological analysis of the different actors in the orchestration of scandals, as well as real-world experience and a look “behind the scenes”.
Themes may include:
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Feminist activism from the 19th century to this day: Suffragettes, Take Back the Night, abortion rights, SlutWalk and the MeToo movement, struggle against Sexual Violence and Femicide.
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Strategies of activism – on the streets and online, in traditional and social media, lobbying, work with and against authorities, public mobilization and social discourse.
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Approaches to social change – “Rehabilitators”, “Hands-Shakers”, “Tire-Burners”, their relationship to change and to each other.
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Solidarity between struggles, in history and today: Labor rights and the LGBTQI movement; LGBTQI and Feminism; Anti-occupation movement and ultra-ortodox jews in Israel; Mental health advocats and cannabis legalisation movement; and much more.
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Visual resistance: How photos can shift public opinion? Non-violent direct action in Israel and around the world, on the streets and on the red carpet, and media engagement in different socio-political spheres.
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I offer customized lectures, contact me to discuss your specific lecture interests and needs!
Watch my Lecture on the SlutWalk
I analyze the SlutWalk movement in Israel, and the visual resistance tactics that protesters use to counter rape culture, rape logic (Hill 2016) and victim blaming. I categorize different types of body inscriptions and read the perception of the march and its strategic provocativeness on the streets as well as on traditional and social media. The lecture is based on my MA thesis
Education
2021-present
University of Amsterdam
PhD: School of Cultural Analysis (ASCA)
Dissertation: Dirty looks: The role of the feminine visual in discourses normalizing sexual violence from the 19th century to this day
Supervisors: Prof. Murat Aydemir, Dr. Noa Roei
2018–2020
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Lafer Center for Women and Gender Studies
MA: History of Art and Gender studies, Cum Laude
Thesis: All Eyes on Us: Visual resistance in the Israeli SlutWalk movement
Supervisor: Prof. Moshe Sluhovsky, Grade: 99\100
2014-2017
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
BA: Theater Studies and History of Art, Cum Laude
Lectures and Conferences
2021-present
Annual lecture in the BA course “Bodies in Public”, Humanities faculty, University of Amsterdam, about visual resistance in the SlutWalk movement in Israel.
2023
“Olympia:Assassinating a Painted Woman in the Parisian Salon of 1865”, CARP conference: Character Assasination, illiberalism and Erosion of Civic Rights, University of Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit, the Netherlands.
2022
“Leave Olympia Alone: Reversing the Approach to the Parisian Salon Scandal of 1865”. 4th International Conference in Scandalogy: Political Scandals in the age of Populism, Partisanship and Polarization, University of Bamberg, Germany.
2021
“Embroidery as Feminist Resistance: Global Socio-Historical Glance”, part of an artistic-activist project with the Coalition of Women’s organizations in Israel, and the Austrian visual artist Katharina Cibulka.
2021
“All Eyes on Us: Provocativeness in the Israeli SlutWalk and its presumption on social media”, 3ed International Conference in Scandalogy: Scandals in New Media Environments, University of Bamberg, Germany.
2019
“The Decency Dissent: Kuroda Seiki’s French nudes meet the Japanese nakedness”, International Conference on Gender Studies: “Gender, Citizenship and Ethnicity”, University of Cambridge, The UK.
2019
“The Decency Dissent: Kuroda Seiki’s French nudes meet the Japanese nakedness”, FCVC19: 2nd International Fashion, Costume and Visual Culture Conference, Roubaix, France.
2019
“All Eyes on Us: Visual Resistance at the Israeli SlutWalk”, Women and Gender in Israeli Art Conference, The Women and Gender Research Association, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
2018
“Dress to Oppress: Israeli Culture Minister Wears Jerusalem”, FCVC18: 1st International Fashion, Costume and Visual Culture Conference, Zagreb University, Croatia.
2018
“SlutWalk: Continuity and the Future of the Israeli Feminist Struggle”, The Sophie Davis Forum on Gender, Conflict Resolution and Peace, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
2018
“Dress to Oppress: Israeli Culture Minister Wears Jerusalem”, 2nd International Conference of Scandalogy: Culture of Scandals – Scandals in Culture, Bamberg University, Germany.
2018
“Dress to Oppress: Israeli Culture Minister Wears Jerusalem”, the National Students Conference for Advanced studies in Art History and Visual Culture, Hebrew University, Bezalel Academy and Shenkar College, Jerusalem, Israel.
Work Experience
2020
Lafer Center for Women and Gender Studies, Faculty of social sciences; Faculty of Law, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
A teaching assistant in three courses:“Human Rights, Feminism and Social Change” by Dr. Tal Nitzan;”Law and Gender” by Dr. Nourit Zimerman, ““Critical views of Gender and Social Order” by Prof. Tammar Zilber. Themes: Criminology, legal feminism, business administration, sociology, post- and de-colonialism, visual culture, feminist activism.
2011 – 2017
Israeli Broadcasting Authority
Writer, presenter and producer of the program “Young mind – the youth and students program” of Reshet Alef. Starting 2016, I assumed the position of editor-in-chief of the program. I also worked as a literature reviewer on Reshet Bet.
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Lafer Center for Women and Gender StudiesThesis: All Eyes on Us: Visual resistance in the Israeli SlutWalk movement
Supervisor: Prof. Moshe Sluhovsky, Grade: 99\100
Activism
2018 - present
Founder of LOTEM - Counter Gender-based-terrorism Unit
A national non-institutionalized platform for non-violent direct action and field activists against Sexual, domestic and gender-based violence and discrimination. LOTEM has ignited the feminist protests of 2018-2019, the biggest feminist uprising in the history of the country.
2016 - 2021
SlutWalk JLM
Part of the multi-national SlutWalk movement, lead and produced the Jerusalem SlutWalk, an annual march against sexual violence, victim blaming and rape culture. I worked with government and enforcement institutions, managing traditional and social media, lead volunteers’ teams, collaborated with organizations and businesses, gave interviews and trained interviewees.
2011 - 2018
Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance (JOH)
Volunteered in producing Pride Parades, protests, assemblies, and dialogue circles, participated in various advocacy and educational programs throughout the country. In summer 2015 I joined the group of spokespeople for the Open House, following the murder in the pride parade. In 2017 elected to the Board of Directors.
Academic Publications
Kleiman, Anna. (2023). Leave Olympia Alone: Reversing the Approach towards the Parisian Salon Scandal of 1865. Scandalogy IV:Scandalogy 4: Political Scandals in the Age of Populism, Partisanship and Polarization (pp. 93-107). Berlin and London: Springer Nature.
Kleiman, Anna. (2022). Hips Don’t Lie: Visual Resistance to Panoptic Perceptions of Sexual Violence in the Israeli SlutWalk. In Haller and Hendrik (Eds.), Scandalogy III: Scandals in New Media Environments (pp.153-179). Berlin and London: Springer Nature.
Kleiman, A. (2020). Dress to Oppress: Performing Blasphemy on the Red Carpet. in Clothing Cultures 6(1), pp. 35-55.
Kleiman, A. (2020). Dress to Oppress: Performing Blasphemy on the Red Carpet. In Haller and Hendrik (Eds.), Scandalogy II: An Interdisciplinary Field (pp. 249-271). Köln: Herbert Von Halem.
