My Name Is Barbra

Barbra Streisand has a prominent, aquiline nose; its shape is often seen as stereotypically Jewish. Streisand begins her memoir with one of the first reviews she received, which focused her nose instead of her acting, calling her “an ‘amiable anteater’” (12). Streisand goes on to note several other things her nose was called in the same year—“‘a sour persimmon,’ ‘a furious hamster,’ ‘a myopic gazelle,’ and ‘a seasick ferret’” (12)—emphasizing how often the press fixated on her looks instead of her talent. She accurately describes the frequent commentary on her nose saying “Sometimes it felt like my nose got more press than I did” (12).

Streisand’s idiosyncratic nose became a distinctive feature of her identity, both as an actor and as a Jewish woman. From the beginning of her career, friends and strangers told Streisand to get her a nose job, a suggestion that stems from internalized antisemitism from the wider culture: Throughout her career, she was singled out for being “too Jewish” (619). Even though she never saw anything wrong with her appearance, those around her attempted to change it: Later in her career, her record company’s art department edited the bump on her nose off of an album cover without her consent.

Streisand’s nose is a symbol of her idiosyncratic stardom. Just as her nose is not the supposed ideal, so she too has never fit the mold of a standard woman performer. Yet Streisand’s refusal to “fix” her nose also symbolizes how she stood her ground against criticism and stayed true to herself in her art.