​​​No fear of new images of masculinity​​

There were about 10 young men. They were around 18 years old. Short shaved hair, fit, tall. In their eyes: anger. Or maybe even hatred? These men all stood up together while I was still reading. They made a show of leaving the room, at least that's how I interpreted it. What did I read? A passage from my novel "Wir doch nicht" – a dystopia in which a far-right party comes to power in Germany and degrades women into being childbearing machines. The passage I read at that moment was a scene in which young men around the age of 18 sexually harass a female jogger and touch her against her will.

I've been visiting schools with the novel for two years now, reading from it and discussing right-wing extremism and the image of men that accompanies it with the students. An image of men that conveys brute force, alpha male behavior, dominance and anger. After the reading, during which the 10 students from the vocational school where I was reading had left, I reeled off my usual program – despite great uncertainty: I explained why sexualized violence is even more normalized by right-wing extremists than it already is in our society. I categorized the right-wing extremists' image of masculinity and explained that it is also restrictive for the men themselves. And then it happened again: young men stood up and left the room.

On the train home, I felt my own anger growing. Men of all ages should be able to deal with women holding up a mirror to them by now, damn it. I, at least, no longer want to accept the fact that men react to supposedly excessive demands or insecurity with rejection or anger because they supposedly haven't learned to deal with their feelings in a different way. This argument does not begin to explain where misogyny and repressive behavior toward women come from. The motto "boys will be boys" must be done away with once and for all.

Unyielding negotiation of equal rights

It may sound contradictory, but one vehicle for change could be female anger. By this I don't mean the radical expression of uncontrollable emotions, but alternatives to those behavioral attributes that are still often assigned to women today – a moderate, calm, reserved demeanor. "Female rage" can be read as a reaction to patriarchally-dominated worlds in which women are expected to conform and subordinate themselves. An important tool for using this rage constructively is language: We must learn to argue more relentlessly – in art, in journalism, in the private sphere and in politics. We need to design utopias and formulate drastic proposals for solutions. And we must demand that masculinity in these and other contexts is no longer defined on the basis of oppressive structures.

Art, which has always been used to design utopias for new social conditions, is also an important instrument for negotiating this. Theater and the performing arts in particular open up spaces in which both the performative power of new social images and the confrontation with strong feelings – and reactions to certain topics – can be negotiated.

One example is the theater production "Rausch und Zorn" by LIGNA, a collective of media and performance artists. The aim of the project is to use immersive acoustic experiences to get viewers to engage with the topic of authoritarian rulers and reflect on their own options for taking action. To this end, the audience is actively confronted with the rhetorical vehemence of fascist rulers and statements by politicians via headphones; their reactions are directly incorporated into the performance. One of the central questions of the project is: How is the apparently seductive power of populist slogans generated, that is currently leading more and more people in Europe down right-wing or far-right paths?

Right-wing ideologies and their images of masculinity

The topic is directly linked to the question of repressive and power-hierarchical gender structures. Women who publicly stand up for their rights, for a life without sexualized violence and without oppression, for example, are constantly confronted with hatred. Sometimes, as in my case, "only" through demonstrations of power or dismissive gestures. But it often becomes more explicit and violent. Feminists are insulted, sexualized and often threatened online. Migrant women and women with a migrant background are particularly affected, because misogyny and racism go hand in hand and are two complementary pillars of misanthropic far-right ideologies. This is because the supremacy of white, heterosexual, healthy men is consolidated – according to the logic of right-wing extremists – by systematically suppressing other genders, as well as people with disabilities, a different sexual orientation or a history of migration.

Many women have reported for years about how much they are affected by hate. During my reading, I also clearly felt that insecurity can quickly turn into fear. I was less self-confident that day, discussed less vehemently, lowered my head more often and no longer looked at the young men who stayed in the room a little longer.

A still patriarchal social structure is perpetuated by centuries of traditions of male dominance and is reinforced by stereotypical images in culture – from male-dominated cultural institutions, to courting bachelors on reality TV, to self-appointed men’s coaches on TikTok.

It is precisely this image of masculinity that right-wing extremists around the world are exploiting. Maximilian Krah of the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) said on TikTok: "Real men vote right." Björn Höcke, another AfD politician, postulated: "Only if we become manly will we be able to defend ourselves." They also stoke fears: Feminists want to make "our German men" effeminate, they say, want to suppress or even eradicate masculinity. It is obvious that this has an effect on young men in particular, who are searching for direction and a role in society.

The anti-feminist backlash

This contributes to a social effect that has been observed for decades: the so-called backlash. The more strongly one side of a society advocates progressiveness and gender equality, the stronger and more hardened the counter-movement becomes. In her book "Who's Afraid of Women's Studies?" literary scholar bell hooks explains that any profound criticism of patriarchal masculinity threatens existing power structures and thus creates an anti-feminist backlash. The US journalist Susan Faludi also writes in her book "Backlash. The Undeclared War against Women," that the increasing anti-feminist resentment was first set in motion by the growing possibility that women could actually win the fight for complete equality.

Feminist progress and male resistance to this progress grow in parallel, they determine and promote each other. But how can we stop this development, perhaps even heal the rift? Hannah Arendt was already concerned with the question of how literature can not only reflect the plurality of our political reality, but above all make it tangible – how it can open up dialogues and encourage people to become politically active. In her book "Hannah Arendt. Die Kunst, politisch zu denken" (The art of thinking politically), Maike Weißpflug applies these theories to the crises of our current times and searches for democratic solutions. Weißpflug focuses primarily on dealing with the climate catastrophe. Ultimately, however, this approach can be applied to almost all contemporary social problems – including the growing right-wing extremism in Germany and the rest of the world. And in this context also to right-wing images of masculinity.

I am certain that if we decouple the perception of masculinity from structural mechanisms of oppression, we can strengthen our democracy, perhaps even save it. After all, oppression is the breeding ground in which right-wing extremism with all its facets – racism, anti-Semitism, misogyny, hostility toward people with disabilities, queer and trans people – thrives.

For a more permeable society, we need to use language and culture to create living environments that suggest what a new way of living together could look like. We need to design new forms of society and coexistence. Men must also help develop and support these utopias – they must learn that there are countless possibilities for their identities beyond patriarchal structures. Because the opportunity for real change lies in breaking down structural gender dominance.

​​​​This text is part of a series of articles accompanying THE ART OF STAYING MANY program. Elisabeth Wellershaus oversees the series, in which she looks at open and closed spaces in a fragile society with authors such as Esther Boldt, Nora Burgard-Arp, Zonya Dengi and Mirrianne Mahn.

​On 29.6. the workshop "Zorn und Rausch" by the group LIGNA took place (also on 30.06.). On the same day, Alexander Karschnia and Maike Weißpflug hosted the workshop "Eine Welt nicht zu verlieren: Die Kunst, politisch zu handeln oder Hannah Arendt heute" (A world not to lose: The art of acting politically or Hannah Arendt today). Katharina Warda (sociologist), Stella Leder (Institut für Neue Soziale Plastik), Maike Weißpflug (political theorist) and Alexander Karschnia (author, theater maker, dramaturge) discussed which self-empowerment strategies lead to political effectiveness. "Mit starke, sanfte Kindermusikkultur," (With strong, gentle children’s music culture) the feminist musician Sukini/Sookee addressed – also, but not only – the younger visitors with three songs for love and a statement against hate.