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It’s exaggeration and mockery that goes beyond sarcasm, specifically posed on the feminine. It tells the story of the ugly and morbid sometimes with a hint of wit. It may sound fictitious but at the same time exposes what has shaped reality. It expresses what the “truth” could not capture. It is poetry, parody, tragedy, agony, anguish, and irony; all combined to shock conventions and empower the marginalized. It is called Gurlesque.

Mocking and Celebrating the Female

She looks like the Sunday comics She thinks she's Brenda Starr Her nose job is real atomic All she needs is an old knife scar

Who remembers this punkish pop late 70’s song from Blondie? It tells a girl vs. girl tongue-in-cheek story, you know, like when the popular girls in school compete against each other. The ref goes like this:

Yeah, she's so dull, come on rip her to shreds She's so dull, come on rip her to shreds

And that is the title of the song, “Rip Her to Shreds”. It’s a comical take on how women mock each other in rivalry. The next verse goes on to describe this reality in a parody fashion:

Oh, you know her, “Miss Groupie Supreme” Yeah, you know her, “Vera Vogue” on parade Red eye shadow! Green mascara! Yuck! She's too much

In a BBC interview, Deborah Harry, the lead singer of Blondie and who also co-wrote this song with band member, Chris Stein, said that the song was actually about what gossip columns do to people’s lives.

This suggests that the song is a reflection of how the media portray women and influence the readers’ perception about women. The song reflects this reality through exaggeration of the female experience and by depicting it in its extreme. What you get is a tune that is tastefully sarcastic, funny and fun at the same time. Even more fun as Debbie sang it with an in-your-face feminine tone, and when performed live, with a badass grrrl attitude that was not yet popular in the 1970s. Thus, ironically, this narrative of female stereotyping which demeans women has brought the female experience from the margins to the center.

Now fast forward to the 80’s, an era where female solo artists, bands, and band leaders were slowly emerging. An anthem of female celebration had hit the charts in 1984—a cover song, “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”, sung by a quirky red Mohawk female vocalist, Cyndi Lauper, which was released a year earlier. This was timely as this was when pop videos were the music industry’s new trend and youths were glued to MTV, thus amplifying the song’s message to youngsters through visualization. The storyline of the song’s video centers around Cyndi walking home under the morning light in last night’s gown and telling her parents that “girls just wanna have fun”.

I come home in the morning light my mother says when you gonna live your life right Oh mother dear we're not the fortunate ones And girls they want to have fun Oh girls just want to have fun

And in another verse of the song:

Some boys take a beautiful girl and hide her away from the rest of the world I want to be the one to walk in the sun....

Afterwards in the video, Cyndi and her female friends come together in one frame, singing “girls just wanna have fun” and later they are marching and dancing in the streets with male onlookers, some even joining them, creating the narrative that women as a collective are changing values.

The song does not explicitly talk about discrimination or equal rights or anything else as such, but just the simple message that women, like men, are entitled to enjoy their life (have fun). The video illustrates this in a comical and parody manner just as the way the singer presents herself in a comical, playful female—sometimes self-mockery—image, quite different to the typical sexualized female representation promoted by the music industry.

Interestingly, the song was originally penned by male songwriters Robert Hazard and Lolly Vegas and was intentionally written from a male perspective. Cyndi changed parts of the lyrics and the sound, shifting the narrative and turning it into a female empowerment anthem.

The 90s: Gurelsque and Grunge

Fast forward again, now to the 90s. This era not only saw the emergence of more female musicians, but also a different way of representing women through music and fashion. In pop culture, women wearing leather and jeans or unisex attire had been typically associated with female autonomy and independence. In contrast, the 90s popularized babydoll-like dresses that had begun resurfacing in the 80s.

Babydoll dresses were typically associated with femininity, but the 90s had given them a whole new meaning in expressing female sexuality. Not only because the skimpy babydoll attire was worn with masculine boots, but because the new babydoll mixed the pure with the profane, vulnerability with empowerment, and the virgin with the whore. Not surprisingly this babydoll version of the 90s was subsequently known as the “kinderwhore dress”, which was made fashionable by female rock musicians, particularly in the grunge scene.

... the new babydoll mixed the pure with the profane, vulnerability with empowerment, and the virgin with the whore.

During the same time, a new poetics had emerged—the Gurelsque—which was employed by majorly female writers and poets who used parody and mockery to describe the female experience. This form of poetry and writing disrupts traditional values about the feminine by transforming femininity in its extreme into subversiveness that challenges the power structures. This decade also saw the birth of Third Wave Feminism which principles (such as diversity, inclusiveness, and intersectionality), resonate with Gurlesque aesthetics. Gurlesque was initially used to describe a form of poetics, but it has then been expanded to other forms of arts such as music, although probably unintentionally by the songwriters as Gurlesque was a term initially created by scholars.

Gurlesque (later also known as New Grrly Poetics) was first coined by American feminist poets and scholars Arielle Greenberg and Lara Glenum to describe a new female poetics that emerged in the turn of the millennium. However, there are earlier writers commonly associated with Gurlesque, such as Sylvia Path and Gertude Stein. Moreover, Gurlesque is influenced by other forms of arts which arose further back in history.

... Gurlesque ... challenges what is considered normal or natural in relation to society’s norms on gender and femininity by using mockery and ridicule ...

The word Gurlesque derives from girl culture, burlesque, and grotesque. Burlesque (Italian—burla: joke, ridicule, mockery) is a musical and theatrical parody popular in early 17th century Europe. Initially, grotesque is a term used in literature and drama to describe something strange or unusual, but generally it describes something comical, ugly, distorted, bizarre, or shockingly and disturbingly inappropriate. Combine these with girl culture, then you get Gurlesque, an artistic expression which challenges what is considered normal or natural in relation to society’s norms on gender and femininity by using mockery and ridicule and by transforming these norms into a different feminine culture that may appear bizarre, ugly, and disturbingly unacceptable to society.

In the 90s, Gurlesque was attributed to female solo artists or bands led by female musicians, particularly in grunge, a genre which emerged on the onset of the 90s. Hole, the grunge band led by main songwriter Courtney Love, and particularly their album “Live Through This” (1994), is regarded as displaying Gurlesque features in its compositions, such as lyrical expressions of morbidness. The songs in this album, which almost all were co-written with lead guitarist and band co-founder, Eric Erlandson, are generally considered to represent feminist themes—the experiences of unjust women endure in society through female objectification, sexual violence, motherhood, and personal relationships. These themes are in line with Third Wave Feminism that rose in the same decade.

Live Through This album cover (Wikipedia)

The cover of the “Live Through This” album is a good example of what would be called Gurlesque art by those who use the term. The cover shows a woman with a blondish feathered haircut wearing a beauty queen crown. Her smudged eye make-up almost running down her cheeks due to tears of joy, her wide gaping smile and her arms tightly embracing a bouquet all display a sense of eerie exaggeration, mockery, and ugliness. It’s a parody of what it means to be beautiful in a male-dominated society—the tragedy of being female. The album cover is now an icon of the grunge decade and of Hole as one of the best grunge bands. The iconic cover and the album’s songs are also celebrated for their feminist symbolism and as the legacy of an era.

Gurlesque: Challenging Power through Subversiveness

Gurlesque was a term used in the 90s by feminist scholars, arising from their observation of the arts and literature during this decade that employed the use of girl culture, burlesque, and grotesque to describe the female experience. Nonetheless, the essence of Gurlesque can be found earlier in the works of a few (song)writers, poets, and artists. Gurlesque serves as an awakening and resistance as it transforms femininity into a form of subversiveness that challenges the power structures which oppress women as a social class.

Gurlesque continues to find its relevance in the 2000s, where a number of poets are associated with this form of poetry. You can check out some of their works published in the book, Gurlesque: the new grrly, grotesque, burlesque poetics (Lara Glenum and Arielle Greenberg, eds.).

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2024)

#music #subculture

Top image: Courtney Love in a babydoll dress performing with her band, Hole (Pinterest)

Sources

Cooper, Sabrina (2019) 'The Story Behind Hole’s Iconic Live Through This Album Cover.' AnOthermag.com. https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/11646/the-story-behind-hole-s-iconic-live-through-this-album-cover-ellen-von-unwerth. Accessed June 15 2024.

Oliva, Melanie (2016) 'What Is Gurlesque Poetry? A third wave of feminism, sexuality, and femininity revisited.' The Odyssey Online. https://www.theodysseyonline.com/gurlesque-poetry. Accessed 1 May 2024.

Volpert, Megan (2024) 'The enduring feminist legacy of Hole: 30 years later, must we still “Live Through This”?' Salon.com. https://www.salon.com/2024/04/11/hole-live-through-this-courtney-love/. Accessed 23 April 2024.

Videos

Cyndi Lauper YouTube Channel (2009) Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Official Video). https://youtu.be/PIb6AZdTr-A?si=KQIzN6OcWs4FwpXT. Accessed 17 June 2024.

Warmer Music Videos YouTube Channel (2016) Blondie – Rip Her To Shreds (Live). https://youtu.be/b18RIMN5NBg?si=eJpk4FsZ-wlBk7KM. Accessed 17 June 2024.

A European Social Survey data (published in 2023) revealed that heterosexual couples reported lower life satisfaction when the wife/partner was the breadwinner compared with when the husband/partner works or both are working. Looking at this and other surveys in the US taken in the last decade, it appears that there is a nostalgia for the Donald Draper golden era where men being the sole breadwinner was the norm. After over a half a century of the so-called sexual revolution in Western societies, why are the men still expected to hold the primary role of the main provider for the family, while, as further findings show, men are adversely affected by this expectation?

Who Wears the Pants Matters

First, let’s discuss the surveys in more detail. The European Social Survey also showed women's life satisfaction is lower (6.33) when they are the sole earner and higher (7.10) when their husband/partner is the sole earner. Men’s life satisfaction is 5.86 when his wife/partner is the sole earner, versus 7.16 when he is the only earner. In fact, men and women struggle—but men most—in terms of mental health issues in situations when their spouse/partner is the breadwinner and they are jobless.

This tells us that heterosexual couples in the European countries surveyed (United Kingdom, Spain, Slovenia, Portugal, Poland, Ireland, Germany, France, and Finland) are happier when they are able to fulfill their livelihood under traditional gender norms. Any deviation from conforming to the traditionally ascribed roles for men and women resulted in adverse effects for both sexes, but particularly more for men. Reasons may lie in lower income when women work than a two-earner or male-breadwinner household and the psychological pressure that men particularly experience when they cannot provide for the family.

Take Thee to Be My Wedded Husband

Another survey, by the Pew Research Center in 2017, revealed that over 70 percent of Americans say that men should be the family’s provider. The survey which looked at heterosexual marriages found that 71 percent of women surveyed expected their male partners to be the breadwinner to qualify as a good partner, notwithstanding 39 percent of women said that women should be able to provide financially for their families.

Of the men surveyed in the Pew study, 72 percent said that to be a good partner, it is important for the man to be able to financially support his family, while just 25 percent of men thought that a woman needs to be a breadwinner to be a good wife. This shows that the traditional sexual division of labor is at the center of heterosexual marriages and not being able to conform to these roles may devalue one’s eligibility as a potential spouse.

Lower well-being in unemployed male in heterosexual unions is fairly universal.

Reflecting on the findings of a previous study in 2016 by the University of Connecticut, it appears that society puts a heavier burden on men than women in taking on financial responsibility in the family that it affects men’s well-being. The survey revealed that American men who took greater financial responsibility in the family reported a strain in their well-being with negative effects on their health.

What’s also interesting is that the European Social Survey findings furthermore showed that the issue of lower well-being in unemployed male in heterosexual unions is fairly universal across the nine countries surveyed. It is even the case in more gender-equal countries such as Finland.

Aggrieved Entitlement

The survey findings could be linked to the economic challenges Western countries face and which are affecting the middle-class, the class that tends to maintain the status quo of traditional gender roles. These challenges have brought about discontent in the people of the class as they are not able to live the comfortable life their parents had lived.

Sociologists have referred to the above experience as “aggrieved entitlement”, a concept introduced by American gender expert Michael Kimmel, which refers to the anger and resentment experienced by individuals of a dominant or privileged group when they feel they are losing the traditional privileges they believe their group has been entitled to for generations. These traditional privileges include what was or apparently what is still considered men’s superior position as the provider of the family.

The postwar economic boom and the idealization of prewar traditional family values in the West during the 1950’s–60’s made it possible for men of the middle- and upper-middle class to take on the role of sole breadwinner as portrayed by Donald Draper, the character in the US TV series Mad Men (a situation similar in other Western countries). However, over the decades, stagnant wages and job insecurity, wage gaps in favor of the rich, and changes in women’s economic roles all impact on how men of the privileged group are able to take on their privileged role as sole breadwinner.

The Oppression of the Privileged

A country's struggling economy is one of the main causes of men’s loss of privileges. For example, the rise in the cost of living and housing has caused some privileged groups to feel that they are suffering from an injustice which further caused the men, especially, to feel disempowered by not being able to have control over and secure their “rights”.

The above condition has caused resentments targeted towards specific ethnic groups as individuals from some privileged groups perceive that social changes driven by factors such as changes in the population, economy, or labor market have redistributed the privileges which had been exclusively enjoyed by their families for generations. This may also be exacerbated by a leadership crisis where leaders have failed to solve economic issues which affect privileged groups.

Aggrieved entitlement reflects how patriarchal values oppress men, even the privileged.

Aggrieved entitlement reflects how patriarchal values oppress men, even the privileged, as well as women, and in some instances may even have a more negative effect on men. Nevertheless, the loss of male power by giving up the breadwinner position would disrupt the power imbalance between the sexes and the order of things maintained by the privileged groups. This power structure has proven difficult to transform by social changes that have been driven by feminism, as it serves capitalism, among other ways, by reproducing the labor force and sustaining a gendered labor market.

Thus, to prevent mental health issues in relation to financial responsibilities in the family, it is about time that in socializing children, society introduces values that do not promote traditional gender roles. However, for any fundamental change to take place that would lead to equality, changes that could transform the patriarchal family structure and the class structure in society are what’s needed, which of course is not within the scope of this essay.

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2024)

You might be interested to read: Political Strongmen and the Crisis of Democracy

#gender #labor #work #sociology #class #men #mentalhealth #wellbeing #breadwinner

Image: Mad Men Parodies (Pinterest)

Sources

ABC News Australia (2024) 'Growing concerns cost-of-living crisis is influencing the rise in extremist views.' YouTube. https://youtu.be/yhb3br85mGs?si=8sWHRFIXlBzweuky [22 March 2024].

Bankole, Sam (2024) 'Joey Barton, Aggrieved Entitlement, and the Myth of White Male Privilege.' The Oxford Student. https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2024/01/17/joey-barton-aggrieved-entitlement-and-the-myth-of-white-male-privilege/ [23 March 2024].

Bode, Nicole (2017) 'Why men are (still) expected to be the breadwinners.' Ladders. https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/report-fewer-men-ever-breadwinners [24 March 2024].

Kowalewska, Helen (2023) ‘Male’ and ‘breadwinner’—breaking the link.' Social Europe. https://www.socialeurope.eu/male-and-breadwinner-breaking-the-link [23 March 2024].

Kutsch, Tom (2016) 'Men who act as breadwinners face negative health effects, study finds.' The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/aug/19/men-breadwinners-health-effects-wellbeing [24 March 2024].

Pew Research Center (2017) Americans say a man should be able to support a family financially but don’t say the same about women. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/09/20/americans-see-men-as-the-financial-providers-even-as-womens-contributions-grow/ft_17-09-20_spouses_americanssay/ [24 March 2024].

“We are containers, it's only the insides of our bodies that are important.” (The Handmaid’s Tale)

That's a quote from The Handmaid’s Tale, a dystopian novel by Margaret Atwood published in 1985, many of you may be familiar with.

Dystopian novels tend to intensify reality—the inequality, oppression, or violence of what the future could hold. It is fictional but not purely detached from reality. Women’s reproductive capacity has been a recurring theme in dystopian tales of a dark world where women are enslaved to breed children for a despotic society.

This is not too far-fetched. If we look back a few decades ago women’s womb was part of political campaign of the fascist regimes of Germany and Italy to “encourage” women to procreate a specified race. In 1930s Germany, through the Lebensborn program, facilities were established for Aryan women to breed with SS soldiers for the sacred goal of achieving a pure Aryan state. In Mussolini’s Italy, giving birth was biological labor arranged with the efficiency and mass production akin to manufacturing factories to produce a new generation that will strengthen the military. In both regimes, women were awarded medals based on the number of children they produced, which was their act of servitude to the state.

Decades after the Second World War, along with industrialization, many countries experienced an economic boom after consistently implementing a strict population control policy. China’s one-child policy is one of the extreme examples of how population control is implemented at the cost of women’s reproductive rights, where coerced abortion, sterilization, and contraception took place. During the course of this policy, infanticide and femicide were also common practice. Just as during the rule of the fascist regimes, women’s body became a tool to achieve the goal of the state.

Women of ethnic minorities have also been the target of population control. To limit an ethnic population, minority women experienced coerced contraception without their consent. This happened to the Inuit people of Greenland, where in the 1960s, Inuit women and adolescent girls had IUD inserted into their bodies without their knowledge. Another case was the women of the Roma minority of socialist Czechoslovakia who experienced forced sterilization, first reported in the late 1970s.

Then there are cases of rape used as a weapon of war, executed for the purpose of ethnic cleansing. Such a case occurred in former Yugoslavia during the 1990s, where women of the Bosniak ethnic group were systematically raped. In conflict situations, men have also been victims of sexual violence, but war crimes and genocide are gendered. Such as in cases where women are impregnated as a war strategy, mothers and the children will serve as a representation and reminder of how their identity, community, and nation have been torn down.

In the 21st century we are haunted by population decline and for some nations, the fear of the extinction of an ethnicity. Several countries in Asia and Europe are facing a significant drop in fertility rate. A number of policies to raise fertility rates are also targeted at men, nevertheless, pressure is on women because they are the ones that can make it happen. Various government policies in the form of allowances for newborns, parental leave, and availability of daycare centers have not led to much change. Women and also men, such as in Japan, China, and South Korea, for a number of economic and cultural reasons are not eager to have children.

The reasons include the high costs of raising children, lack of affordable quality childcare, and women’s double and even triple burden because caring roles, including housework, are culturally still the main responsibility of women even with women’s high participation in the labor force. Data have shown that globally women spend more hours than men in unpaid carework. According to The World’s Women 2020: Trends and Statistics, “on an average day, women globally spend about three times as many hours on unpaid domestic and care work as men (4.2 hours compared to 1.7).”

Meanwhile, according to experts, continued low fertility rate—under 2.1, the number of children needed to be born to a woman in their reproductive years—will result in an irrecoverable condition. This means an aging society and a collapsed pension system due to scarce labor. Solving population decline is complex, there are economic issues, cultural issues, and the issue of a nation’s identity. The fear of ethnic replacement or even extinction justifies the opposition to immigration and the need for the native population to bear children. So in other words, attempts to maintain existing class structure (inequity) and ethnic preservation contribute to the continued population decline some countries are facing.

The year 2020 saw a global decline of democracy, which is part of a global trend of democratic decline and rising authoritarianism of the last 30 years (Freedom House, 2021). As scholars today are talking about the rise of fascist or authoritarian governments, it raises the question of how population decline will be addressed in the near future, particularly considering that women in countries with continued low fertility rate are refusing to have the required number of children. Will abortion and voluntary sterilization be less available to some women and perhaps only available to those who are marginalized? Will this lead to a history of state-condoned sexual violence repeating itself? When all policies fail, will this lead to a dystopian future where women’s bodies are treated as mere containers to achieve the goals of the state or, worst of all, wombs at the mercy of draconian laws?

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- 2023

You might be interested to read: Fertility and the Labor of Care

Read about modern political strongmen: Political Strongmen and the Crisis of Democracy

Image: Katie M. Berggren via Pinterest

#population #gender #reproductiverights #dystopia

Sources

Barrett, Claire (2021) ‘Building the “Master Race”: Nazi Women Were Awarded Medals to Bear Children.’ Historynet.com https://www.historynet.com/building-the-master-race-nazi-women-were-awarded-medals-to-bear-children/ [31 December 2023]

HistoryExtra (2020) The Woman Who Gave Birth for Hitler https://www.historyextra.com/period/second-world-war/woman-birth-hitler-lebensborn-aryan-child-hildegard-trutz-germany/ [31 December 2022].

Morgan, Melissa (2021) ‘Understanding the Global Rise of Authoritarianism.’ Stanford https://fsi.stanford.edu/news/understanding-global-rise-authoritarianism [31 December 2023]

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2020) The World’s Women 2020: Trends and Statistics https://www.un.org/en/desa/world%E2%80%99s-women-2020#:~:text=On%20an%20average%20day%2C%20women%20globally%20spend%20about,times%20as%20much%20as%20men%20on%20these%20activities [31 December 2023].

Wills, Matthew (2022) ‘Mussolini’s Motherhood Factories.’ Jstor Daily https://daily.jstor.org/mussolinis-motherhood-factories/ [12 April 2022].

Dark, gloomy, with a dash of horror. That is how Goth literature is mostly described. Looking back, Goth gave the stage to medieval women writers challenging the norms of the day. Centuries later, Goth grew into a subculture in the music genre, the fashion world, and as a way of life that represents nonconformity. This element of nonconformity in Goth, often romanticized as being dark feminine energy, has continued to evolve to this day in pop culture, in clubs, in the life lived by today’s Goth generation.

As a literary genre, Goth came out of the post-Romanticism era in medieval England. Some say it is a subgenre of Dark Romanticism. Classic Goth features dark romance with a damsel in distress in a remote, gloomy castle in the mountains, waiting to be rescued.

If we take a look at what, or rather who, the term Goth referred to, we will see that it referred to a Germanic tribe which were responsible for the fall of Western Rome. The ancient Goths, called the barbarians by the Romans, invaded Rome and weakened Roman culture. Their kingdoms rose after the demise of the Western Roman Empire. The two branches of the tribe, the Visigoth and Ostrogoth, where its people were believed to have originated from Scandinavia, paved the way for the rise of medieval Europe while spreading Goth culture. The term Goth was then generally used to describe a style of medieval architecture that was popular in the 12th to 16th centuries. The castles typically featured masonry pointed arches and stained-glass windows—the epitome of Goth architecture.

So how did this medieval genre with its signature chivalry trope turn into a subculture of rebellion and nonconformity?

The medieval setting in literature characterized by remote castles, mystery, and terror with romantic overtones were known as Goth because of its association with medieval architectural type of settings. The first novel to be called gothic was one given such name by the author himself. Horace Walpole’s Castle of Otranto, published in 1764 was the first gothic novel, where he used the subtitle, “A Gothic Story.” He used the term to describe something barbarous and medieval. Other novels following this style of dark and medieval setting with the damsel in distress trope have since been labeled Gothic.

So how did this medieval genre with its signature chivalry trope turn into a subculture of rebellion and nonconformity?

Although it is one of the most classic forms of patriarchy in literature, Goth in fact gave rise to women writers and more women readers. The genre emerged at a time when women’s literacy in England was on the rise as well as the educated middle-class. Women began to write and more were reading. Ann Radcliffe is considered to be the first Goth female writer; her first novel, The Castles of Athlin and Dubnayne (1789), was written anonymously. Then she rose to fame and fortune with four more novels during her lifetime. This was an important moment in history as it was around the time Mary Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). Although Radcliffe's writing still leaned towards the patriarchal values of the time, over the years, Goth evolved as more women authors began to create less traditional female characters and thus began the conversation of patriarchal oppression and social change.

Radcliffe herself bore the label of being anti-Catholic because her novel The Italian (1797) portrayed elements of Catholicism negatively. Later female Goth authors, such as Louisa May Alcott, Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, and Mary Shelley would challenge gender roles and raise issues concerning subjugation, class, and female autonomy through their female characters.

Siouxsie Sioux (Pinterest)

Centuries later, in the music scene, Goth rock became a genre that embraces this attitude of dark fearlessness. This genre is marked by its poetic lyrics that romanticize darkness with themes of nihilism, sadness, pain, and death presented by haunting vocals, heavy basslines, and distorted melodies with an ambience of gloom. Well, of course this is a generalized description, however, the dark music and style of Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Cocteau Twins are often used as typical examples of Goth music and fashion, whether the bands like it or not.

Gothic rock emerged during the post-Punk era in late 70s Britain with Joy Division and Bauhaus considered as pioneers. The genre flourished throughout the 80s, and then further evolved in the 90s and 2000s. To go with the music, Gothic fashion reflected the dark mood with its trademark black attire, dark hair and makeup, and often androgynous appearance. However, dark eye makeup aside, Nico (German singer-songwriter, once of the Velvet Underground) with her proto-Goth sound is the godmother of Goth rock.

Women found their voice through Goth literature in 18th century England and women authors used it as a means to express critique of the society they lived in. Because of the famous Gothic women writers and their nonconforming narratives, Goth is associated with women’s equality and modern-day feminism. Fans of Gothic novels will find a somewhat wide range of this literature penned by female authors today.

Interestingly, centuries after the emergence of female-penned classic Goth literature, out of Goth rock emerged a new female image of feminine rebellion and empowerment. Earlier, the punk era saw more women playing in bands. However, during post-Punk, we saw the rise of a few female icons in Goth rock, like Siouxsie herself, and they were definitely no damsel in distress.

Goth is not just a literary or music genre or even fashion trend.

Fashion-wise, Goth faded in the 90s but like the cycle of fashion that repeats itself, Goth has re-emerged—sometimes called Neo-Goth for ditching the black dress code—but still maintains the dark feminine energy that fuels Goth-girl power. Examples are in today’s popular TV series, such as Wednesday, or Goth clubs in different parts of the world.

Goth is not just a literary or music genre or even fashion trend, although it may be for some. Goth actually represents a way of life that is, according to its followers, founded on equality and values outside established norms. Today’s Goth generation tries to live a life of freethinking and sexual freedom founded on a gender egalitarianism which was considered lacking in previous subcultures. Although today’s Goth subculture is post-feminist, it nevertheless faces the struggle of achieving inclusivity and ousting heterosexist norms. The revolution goes on!

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2023)

#Goth #gothic #Gothliterature #Gothrock #Gothfashion #music #feminism #gender #subculture

Top Image: Rob Oo (Wikimedia)

You might be interested to read: Who Were the Mods? Modernism and Paris After the War Check out my other blog, Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl for topics on gender and history.

Sources:

Darya (2018) ‘What the Hell Is Goth Music? Brief History of Goth Rock.’ Miss Mephistopheles. https://missmephistopheles.wordpress.com/2018/07/20/where-the-hell-did-goth-music-come-from-and-what-the-hell-is-it-the-history-of-goth-rock/ (Accessed 19 July 2023).

Jarus, Owen (2022) livescience.com. https://www.livescience.com/45948-ancient-goths.html (Accessed 19 July 2023).

Ledoux, Ellen (n.d.) ‘The Female Gothic: From the Second-Wave to Post-Feminism.’ Atmostfear Entertainment. https://www.atmostfear-entertainment.com/literature/books/female-gothic-second-wave-post-feminism/ (Accessed 20 August 2023).

Wilkins, Amy C. (2004) '“So Full of Myself as a Chick”: Goth Women, Sexual Independence, and Gender.' Gender and Society, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 328–349. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4149405 (Accessed 19 August 2023).

The coronation of King Charles III on May 6th, 2023, marking a new era in the UK, coincides with another important event over a century ago. On May 6th, 1910, King Edward VII died, technically ending the Edwardian era and marking a start of a new one. In King Edward VII’s coronation in 1901, Queen Alexandra’s crown was adorned with the Koh-i-noor diamond—today, a controversial gem considered by some as symbolizing colonialism and imperialism, and which Queen Consort Camilla avoided to wear in her coronation. Interestingly, like today, the sentiments of anti-imperialism, albeit in no reference to the gem, had also echoed throughout the Edwardian era.

Although King Edward VII died in 1910, historians use the term Edwardian era to include the years onto the beginning of the First World War. Because the era was just before the Great War, some romanticize it as a golden age of a laid-back life with nostalgic summer garden parties. This created a misconceived image of a less turbulent era, while in fact it was a time of the upsurge of labor rights and suffrage.

Because the era was just before the Great War, some romanticize it as a golden age of a laid-back life with nostalgic summer garden parties.

Angels and Labors

The Industrial Revolution and urbanization during the Victorian era brought the prosperous middle class into the Edwardian era. However, class divisions (although less stringent) and wage gaps from the previous era were much intact in the new era, as was the gender ideology. It was considered inappropriate for upper- and middle-class women to work. However, advances in technologies, such as in transportation and communications, had opened more doors to Edwardian women who had to work for a living.

Thus, working class and lower middle-class women continued to play an important economic role for the country. According to the statistics of Edwardian times, one of every ten women were in paid employment. Women worked as teachers, clerks, and physicians’ assistants. With advances in photography, some well-to-do women as well worked as models. However, most working women were from poor households, who toiled in gender-segregated and low-paying jobs, and struggled in bad labor conditions, barely surviving; many also worked as domestic workers.

Women march with their symbol of freedom, the bicycle (bustle.com)

Like the Victorian era, the ideal middle-class woman was the “angel in the house” with servants. The typical middle-class household would have at least one live-in domestic worker, typically a woman. Interestingly, due to the middle-class lifestyle and the rise in consumerism, middle-class families even during this period were already reducing the number of children they’d like to have. Abortion (which was illegal) was the birth control method widely used.

Nevertheless, some changes late in the Victorian period provided impetus for Edwardian women’s advancement. One example is how Victorian women were able to defy society’s mores and gravity by learning to ride the bicycle. This made mobility less of an issue for most Edwardian women, especially as bicycles had become affordable to the masses. The bike was revolutionary in the sense that it gave women the freedom of movement and changed restrictive fashion. The split skirt which flows open during riding allowed Edwardian women to pedal with ease. The vehicle became a symbol of women’s liberation.

Against the backdrop of British leisure, however, was rising suffrage and labor activism ...

Suffrage and Labor

Against the backdrop of British leisure, however, was rising suffrage and labor activism, which was the momentum of the Edwardian era. The suffragette movement grew stronger and louder, despite protesters being arrested and forced fed in jail if they went on hunger strikes. Socialist thoughts began to flourish and labor strikes peaked. Between 1900 and 1911, the percentage of the working-class population involved in strikes increased more than three times.

Suffragettes were also involved in labor activism. In 1903, suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst and others established the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). The suffragette movement raised women workers’ issues, spurred rallies, and push for unionizing. Although not always on the same page with the suffragettes, women workers also advocated for suffrage, such as members of the Federation of Women Workers.

Pankhurst being arrested (Mashable.com)

In fact, in this era, there were issues raised that working women still face today. The welfare of working mothers as well as nurseries and childcare for all working women were issues already being raised at this time, particularly by suffragette and socialist, Ada Nield Chew. However, not surprisingly, the campaign did not gain much traction.

Domestic labor issues also did not find wide support due to conflict of interest between poor and wealthier women. The Domestic Workers’ Union (DWU) was established in 1909 and it campaigned for a 10-hour workday and for household work to be treated like industrial labor.

The Paradox

Moreover, anti-imperialists sentiments echoed through the era similar to today. Breaking away from Victorian values, Edwardian literature grew critical of imperialism, colonialism, and the class system.

Actually, anti-imperialist sentiments in Britain had begun in the late 19th century, but the controversial Second Boer War (1899–1902) had generated an increasingly critical view from radical liberals and socialists. In addition, the exploitation, abuse, and death occurring in indentured labor of the Indian people shipped to British colonies also sparked criticism towards the Empire until the practice finally ended in 1917.

Workers’ strikes continued throughout the era as the working class became increasingly dissatisfied with labor conditions. Between 1911 and 1914, there were over 3000 workers’ strikes; hence the period is known as “the Great Labor Unrest”. It was during this period, in 1906, that the Independent Labour Party (founded in 1893) established the Labour Representation Committee, which was then named the Labour Party.

Ready for the garden party, girls? (Pinterest.com)

During the war, suffragists took a break to focus on their support of the country. Women worked in replacement of men to support the war effort and supposedly for this contribution, they were awarded the right to vote, albeit not universal suffrage, in 1918. However, the war had destroyed an era which many cherished.

Coined the Golden Age of British life, the Edwardian era was nonetheless a hotbed of turbulence as different groups struggled against inequalities. In short, the era was a paradox of social unrest and summer garden parties.

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2023)

#Edwardian #suffrage #labormovement #Britain #history #gender

Top image: Portrait of socialites Violet Morene and Yvonne Fitzroy modelling for Bassano, circa 1910 (npg.org.uk).

Check out my other blog, Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl for topics on gender and history.

Sources:

Edgerton, David (2020) 'Britain's Persistent Racism Cannot Simply Be Explained by Its Imperial History.’ The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/24/britain-persistent-racism-imperial-history (Accessed 20 May 2023).

Gershon, Livia (2021) ‘Who Does the Drudge Work? Answers from Edwardian Britain.’ JSTOR Daily. https://daily.jstor.org/who-does-the-drudge-work-answers-from-edwardian-britain (Accessed 20 May 2023).

Harvey, Ian (2017) ‘The Most Beautiful Women of the Edwardian Era.’ thevintagenews. https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/06/06/the-most-beautiful-women-of-the-edwardian-era/ (Accessed 7 May 2023).

HistoryExtra (2023) Edwardian Women: Their Lives, Rights & Fashion. https://www.historyextra.com/period/edwardian/what-life-like-women-edwardian-britain/ (Accessed 20 May 2023).

Intriguing History (2015) Women's Roles in Edwardian Era of British History. https://intriguing-history.com/womens-roles-in-edwardian-era/ (Accessed 21 May 2023).

Manners, William (2015) ‘The Secret History of 19th Century Cyclists.’ The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2015/jun/09/feminism-escape-widneing-gene-pools-secret-history-of-19th-century-cyclists (Accessed 7 May 2023).

Stephenson, Andrew (2013) ‘Introduction: Edwardian Art and Its Legacies.’ In Visual Culture in Britain Vol. 14, No. 1. Taylor & Francis. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14714787.2013.750826 (Accessed 18 May 2023).

Thorpe, J.R. (2017) ‘The Feminist History of Bicycles.’ Bustle. https://www.bustle.com/p/the-feminist-history-of-bicycles-57455 (Accessed 30 April 2023).

Victorian Era (2022) Features of Edwardian Era Literature. https://victorian-era.org/edwardian-era-literature.html (Accessed 20 May 2023).

Wikipedia (2023) Indian Indenture System. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_indenture_system (Accessed 20 May 2023).

Wikipedia (2023) Great Unrest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Unrest (Accessed 20 May 2023).

Early in the morning of the special day, the noise and bustle of families getting ready echo through the open windows of the building. Quickly, Antonietta pours the coffee already waiting on the stove, brings the filled cup to the table—between the uniforms she had just ironed—to add some sugar. Now with cup, saucer, and teaspoon in her left hand and uniforms draping on the arm, she walks to each bed to wake the kids one by one. While taking small sips of coffee from the spoon, she hands each child their uniform. Finally reaching the last bed—the sixth and biggest—she wakes her husband and hands him the coffee. The rounds are not over yet. Next to Papa, buried under the covers, is their youngest!

This is the special day, all of Rome are getting ready for the parade. Not Antonietta, however, even though she is a big supporter of Il Duce. Her wifely duties do not allow her the luxury to spend a whole day out of the house, unlike women who have domestic helpers. Antonietta will miss the historical moment Il Duce welcomes German fascist leader, Adolf Hitler, on his seven-day visit to Italy.

Hitler’s visit to Italy on May 3rd, 1938 was a significant moment in the history of fascism. Despite the fanfare, Mussolini or Il Duce, as he was called, did not agree to a military alliance with Germany. Nonetheless, after this visit, Mussolini began introducing laws which marginalized Italy’s Jewish people.

Having stayed home, on that special day Antonietta experienced a life changing moment. Whilst trying to catch her escaped bird, it was when she by chance met her neighbor, Gabriele, who lived across her apartment building. The bird had flown near Gabriele’s window while he was at his desk, contemplating suicide. After an exchange of visits on that day, she learned that Gabriele was a radio broadcaster who was fired and will be deported to Sardinia. His crime: being gay. Unlikely as it may seem, the two instantly connected. They both learned of each other’s life and their different views of the government, and as the story unfolds, the odd couple fell in love.

This is the storyline of the critically acclaimed Italian film A Special Day, directed by Ettore Scola and produced by Carlo Ponti. Released in May 1977, starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, the film received many awards, including the César Award, Golden Globe Film, and Nastro d'Argento, in addition to two Academy Award nominations. Interestingly, Mussolini’s granddaughter, Alessandra Mussolini was cast in the film.

Through the events of one day, the film gives a daunting picture of life under fascism. The omnipresence of the ruler in daily life is interwoven into the narrative and through the background sound of the parade taking place.

The story revolves around Antonietta (Sophia Loren), a low-educated, lower middle-class housewife. She is the image of the ideal Italian woman under fascism—an admirer of Il Duce, a devoted housewife and mother; a devotion extended to the state. “I have six children”, Antonietta said as she introduced herself to Gabriele (Marcello Mastroianni). “By the seventh, they will give you a bonus.”

The government gave prizes and compensations to encourage women to bear many children with the aim of increasing the Italian population and army reserve. Single men, like Gabriele, in contrast, were taxed.

Antonietta’s husband (John Vernon) is the typical Italian fascist male of the time—the breadwinner and savior who treats his wife like an inferior being and has affairs with other women. Nevertheless, like the beloved Italian woman of the time, her family and the kitchen are the center of Antonietta’s life. From the kitchen table she would gaze out the window while pouring the remains from other cups into her cup—never really having her own cup (or life), except during Gabriele’s visit. Il Duce is present in family life through his picture that overlooks the kitchen. How the occupants are able to see each other through the windows is an extension of state surveillance.

“You forgot to take this,” said Gabriele, who suddenly appeared at Antonietta’s door, holding The Three Musketeers, the book which he had recommended earlier to Antonietta. He ended up coming inside and grinding coffee beans (and spilling some on the floor) for the cup of coffee Antonietta had offered. Then came a knock on the door. The caretaker (Françoise Berd) had come to warn Antonietta about Gabriele, who she knew was visiting Antonietta.

However, Antonietta was smitten by Gabriele, a liberal, antifascist, and gay radio broadcaster on the verge of suicide.

However, Antonietta was smitten by Gabriele, a liberal, antifascist, and gay radio broadcaster on the verge of suicide. How they made love, considering Gabriele’s sexual orientation, is open to interpretation—except for the conclusion that Antonietta had changed him. In fact, it was Antonietta who was changed by this encounter as she now sees fascism in a different light.

The film, however, did not fully capture the public life of Italian women under fascism. Although confined to domesticity, thousands to millions of women were enrolled in government-created women’s organizations.

In line with the state’s gender ideology, many women’s organizations focus on maternal health issues and care for newborns. However, these organizations were not merely a campaign to mobilize female supporters. They served an important purpose in reducing Italy’s high infant mortality rate, which was at 106.2 deaths for every 1,000 lives in 1938—the highest in Europe. Mussolini believed that a rapid increase in the Italian population could be achieved by banning contraception, illegalizing abortion, and establishing mass women’s organizations, where women worked to assist other women to improve hygiene, health, and nutrition.

From this view, fascist policies which excluded women did not completely isolate women from society.

From this view, fascist policies which excluded women did not completely isolate women from society. Women, in fact, had an important social role within the fascist framework, whilst any role was absent in the previous liberal state. Although these organizations controlled and limited women’s role as reproductive machines, in their own way, they empowered women. It was the first time any assistance of the kind, which improved women’s knowledge and skills about health and maternity, included women of all levels of the society. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of these organizations is debatable and despite a nationwide propaganda to promote the nobleness of motherhood, the population did not significantly increase and many women continued to work because of necessity.

All in all, A Special Day depicts how fascism penetrated into the private sphere, controlled and oppressed the individual, as reflected in the lives of Antonietta and Gabriele. She was treated as the chattel in the battle for population; he, the male degenerate.

In the evening of the special day, the authorities came for Gabriele. While gathering his things, he accidentally found a few coffee beans in the pocket of his suit. Slightly bewildered, he took a quick glance across the window. Minutes later, from her window, Antonietta watched as Gabriele leaves in the night escorted by two men. She was reading aloud the first few pages of The Three Musketeers—the political tale he left her with.

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2023)

#films #cinema #Italy #fascism #history #gender

Images: Cult Film trailers: https://youtu.be/KloWrqcHAF0

Read about modern political strongmen: Political Strongmen and the Crisis of Democracy

If you are interested in how population polices affect women, read: Only Women Breed: Population Policies and Gender

Sources:

Cavendish, Richard (2008) ‘Hitler and Mussolini Meet in Rome.’ Historytoday https://www.historytoday.com/archive/hitler-and-mussolini-meet-rome (Accessed 22 January 2023).

Monti, Jennifer Linda (2011) The Contrasting Image of Italian Women under Fascism in the 1930’s. Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects. 714. https://surface.syr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1706&context=honors_capstone (Accessed 26 December 2022).

A painting can give you a captivating glimpse of the past and narrate the history of a people. This is exactly what the work of Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) presents to the world. Through his trademark paintings of middle-class Dutch women in an interior setting—with subtle details of tiles, decoration, furniture, musical instruments, dress, jewelry, and hair style—Vermeer provides a window to the prosperous life of the Dutch Golden Age.

The Dutch Golden Age spanned from 1588 to 1672, when the Dutch Empire was at its peak in science, the arts, the military, and trade, and was experiencing a cultural boom in the seventeenth century. Through the ships of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Dutch West India Company (WIC), the empire ruled the sea, gaining colonies in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. With these conquests, back home, the Dutch middle-class flourished.

The lifestyle of the affluent Dutch middle-class as seen in Vermeer’s paintings was made possible through no other than the exploitation, marginalization, and enslavement of the indigenous people in the colonies. The Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), dubbed “the pearl of the East”, was an important colony for the Dutch empire as it secured the empire’s power over the spice trade.

Jayakarta (now Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia), a strategic harbor city, was burned down and conquered under the command of VOC official, Jan Pieterszoon Coen, in 1619. Coen rebuild the city on its ruins to become VOC’s new administrative base, which was subsequently renamed Batavia, after the Dutch’s mystical ancestors. Following the establishment of Batavia, to secure VOC’s monopoly of the spice trade, Coen seized Banda Island—formerly the sole producer of nutmeg. The Banda Massacre is inseparable from Coen’s legacy, where under his command, 14,000 local inhabitants were killed and over 1,000 enslaved, mainly sent to Batavia.

“By the last decades of the Dutch Golden Age, slaves of ethnic diversity comprised half of the Batavia population.”

Slave labor was an important commodity in the Dutch colonial empire. The function of the VOC administrative city of Batavia relied heavily on slaves acquired from various parts of the Dutch East Indies. By the last decades of the Dutch Golden Age, slaves of ethnic diversity comprised half of the Batavia population. Slaves lived in atrocious conditions but were fragmented as an oppressed group, mainly because they identified themselves by their ethnicity and not their oppression.

To strengthen Dutch political and economic domination, social relations were regulated, including race and gender relations. The city of Batavia was not only developed to replicate Amsterdam, but most importantly, it was designed to support racial segregation. The European colonizers mainly lived in the center of the city, others from non-European countries, such as the Chinese, Arabs, and Indians, lived closer to the center.

The indigenous people, many who were slaves brought in from across the archipelago, were concentrated further to the margins of the city, with some exceptions, particularly for those who worked in the household. This led to the practice of concubinage—the bondage of indigenous women—by VOC officers. Under cohabitation, these women (later referred to as nyai) worked to provide domestic and sexual services in the home of the VOC men living in Batavia as well as other foreign men.

For women enslaved in domestic settings, the labor offered an opportunity for vertical mobility, as they were often provided with clothing, money, and jewelry. However, they faced the double stigma of race and gender. The slave women under concubinage and their children were looked down by the local people. Children from these relationships were also not legally recognized by their father and the colonial state.

Furthermore, Coen was disgusted by the practice of interracial sexual relationships. In fact, Coen had attempted to curb, albeit unsuccessfully, the practice of concubinage by prohibiting it.

Coen may have not been too successful in regulating the sex life of his officers, but he was certainly successful in expanding the Dutch Empire, making him a hero of the Dutch Golden Age, at least until recent reflection. Once a hero, now he is considered a villain by some; part of the legacy of a celebrated era now condemned by many.

The Dutch Golden Age was made possible through economic exploitation, slavery, political oppression, and racial and sexual subjugation. This fact is of course not visible in the Dutch paintings of the era, such as the work of Vermeer, which depicted the lifestyle of a privileged few who were able to thrive through the atrocities against the colonized. Thus, to accurately describe this reality, some Dutch historians now refer to the era as simply, “the seventeenth century.”

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2022)

#history #Netherlands #Indonesia #Batavia #colonialism

More about the Dutch East Indies: VERMEER’S ART AND THE LEGACY OF COLONIALISM THE MAKING OF THE WESTERN FAMILY IN THE DUTCH EAST INDIES

Sources:

Fraga, Kaleena (2022) The Story of Batavia, The Indonesian City Violently Colonized by the Dutch. All That's Interesting. https://allthatsinteresting.com/batavia (Accessed 28 August 2022).

Ganbold, Nicole (2021) ‘Dutch Golden Age Explained.’ DailyArt Magazine. https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/dutch-golden-age-explained/ (Accessed 23 August 2022).

Kehoe, Marsely L. (2015) ‘Dutch Batavia: Exposing the Hierarchy of the Dutch Colonial City.’ Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Arts. https://jhna.org/articles/dutch-batavia-exposing-hierarchy-dutch-colonial-city/ (Accessed 28 August 2022).

Republika (2016) ‘Kisah Nyai dan Pergundikan di Batavia.’ Bagian 2 Republika https://republika.co.id/berita/nasional/umum/16/02/19/o2qyfh385-kisah-nyai-dan-pergundikan-di-batavia-bagian-2habis (Accessed 28 August 2022).

VOI (2022) 'Today’s History, May 28, 1619: Jan Pieterszoon Coen Conquered Jayakarta with Additional War Fleet from Maluku.' Voice of Indonesia. https://voi.id/en/memori/172731/history-today-may-28-1619-jan-pieterszoon-coen-conquer-jayakarta-with-additional-war-fleet-from-maluku (Accessed 28 August 2022).

Wikipedia (2022) Batavia, Dutch East Indies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batavia,_Dutch_East_Indies (Accessed 23 August 2022).

Wikipedia (2022) Dutch Golden Age. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Golden_Age (Accessed 23 August 2022).

Pictures:

Picture 1: A Lady Seated at a Virginal, 1672 by Johannes Vermeer (Wikimedia Commons) Picture 2: The Love Letter, 1669-1670 by Johannes Vermeer (Wikimedia Commons)

To this day, the torso of a female corpse lies somewhere in a German hospital, identity unconfirmed. Or perhaps it has been buried in a location undisclosed by German authorities. The headless and limbless corpse was found in the basement of Charité Hospital, Berlin in 2007 by forensic medicine head, Dr. Michael Tsokos. This was the beginning of the task to uncover the truth surrounding the death of 20th century socialist martyr, Rosa Luxemburg.

Dr. Rosa Luxemburg (born March 5, 1871) was a revolutionary socialist, a prolific writer, and political theoretician considered to be one of the key historical figures of the Left. Her activism began in her native Poland where she was forced to leave in 1889 to avoid authorities and move to Switzerland. After studying in Zurich University, she was one of the first women in the world to have a doctorate in economics. Luxemburg moved to Germany 1897 to join the socialist movement, where she obtained German citizenship.

In Germany in 1915, with German socialist, Karl Liebknecht, Luxemburg co-founded the anti-war Spartacus League (Spartakusbund). This caused them both to spend most of World War I imprisoned for opposing the war and Germany’s involvement in it. Luxemburg viewed that war and nationalism will destroy the international workers’ solidarity. Luxemburg and Liebknecht continued their opposition after being released in 1918 and subsequently had to go into hiding.

On January 15, 1919, Luxemburg and Liebknecht were found and arrested by members of the Freikorp, a right-wing paramilitary group. It was on this night that they were both murdered separately. It is believed that Liebknecht was shot from the back in Tiergarten park. He was buried in Friedrichsfelde cemetery. There were eyewitness accounts of Luxemburg being hit by a rifle butt on the head and shoulders, however, Luxemburg’s whereabouts were unknown until a few months later, when a body of a woman was found afloat along Berlin’s Landwehr Canal. It was officially identified as Rosa Luxemburg and then buried next to Liebknecht.

The discovery of an embalmed female torso in the Berlin hospital in 2007, almost 90 years after Luxemburg’s death, reignited the mystery surrounding her murder. After studying the corpse, Dr. Tsokos had reasons to believe that it could be Luxemburg, particularly because the hips showed signs of osteoarthritis which matched Luxemburg’s condition when she died. Luxemburg’s legs were of differing length causing her to walk with a limp.

As with the autopsy conducted of the body pulled out from the canal, it did not show this particular sign of hip damage and the rifle butt blows said to have been inflicted upon Luxemburg. These inconsistencies suggest that those who carried out the original autopsy in 1919 were pressured to confirm that it was Luxemburg’s body. Then, who was the woman found in the canal and buried next to Liebknecht? The initial grave was vandalized by the Nazis in 1935 and the remains were never recovered.

These circumstances led Dr. Tsokos to conduct a series of investigation to obtain Luxemburg’s DNA in order to confirm the identification of the mystery corpse. He began his investigation by trying to obtain saliva samples which in turn led him to trace Luxemburg’s ex-lovers.

Polish politician, Leo Jogiches—Luxemburg's former lover—was murdered for investigating her death. Luxemburg's love letters to Jogiches—who once threatened to kill her if she took another lover—are now part of a collection of Rosa's letters published in 2011. Initially, Dr. Tsokos tried to obtain these love letters to retrieve any traces of Luxemburg’s saliva that might remain on the back of the postage stamps but was unsuccessful.

Further search led Dr. Tsokos to another of Luxemburg’s ex-lover—physician, social economist, and political activist, Kostja Zetkin. Zetkin who was much younger than Luxemburg was the son of her best friend, Clara Zetkin—pioneer of International Women's Day. Unfortunately, it was not possible for Kostja Zetkin 's descendants, who are now living in the United States, to find anything that used to belong to Luxemburg that Zetkin had kept.

Dr. Tsokos even tried to obtain strands of Luxemburg’s hair kept by another former lover, German lawyer, Paul Levi. However, this too led to no avail.

The search was then directed toward Luxemburg’s surviving relatives. Finally, a DNA sample was obtained from Luxemburg’s great-niece from her brother’s side. Unfortunately, test results from the male relative line have only 40% to 60% certainty. This is the anticlimax in the story of the murder of the socialist hero, a murder ordered by Captain Waldemar Pabst. The corpse is now with the German government who had said that they will do further testing, but no announcement has since been made. Still, every year in January, Luxemburg’s admirers hold a march to the Friedrichsfelde cemetery to commemorate the death of the revolutionary icon.

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2022)

#RosaLuxemburg #socialism #Germany #history

Sources

Coast Reporter (2017) ‘A headless corpse in Berlin and its Sunshine Coast connection.’ http://www.coastreporter.net/news/local-news/a-headless-corpse-in-berlin-and-its-sunshine-coast-connection-1.23075668 (Accessed May 2018).

Connolly, Kate (2009) ‘The hunt for Rosa Luxemburg.’ The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jun/10/rosa-luxemburg-berlin (Accessed 28 May 2018).

europeana.eu (2022) Rosa Luxemburg: radical revolutionary. https://www.europeana.eu/en/blog/rosa-luxemburg-radical-revolutionary (Accessed 1 May 2022).

Gietinger, Klaus (2020) ‘The Man Who Murdered Rosa Luxemburg.’ Jacobinmag. https://jacobinmag.com/2020/01/rosa-luxemburg-murder-waldemar-pabst-germany/ (Accessed 16 January 2020).

Jagarnath, Vashna (2017) ‘Rosa Luxemburg: freedom only for the members of one party isn't freedom at all.’ The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/rosa-luxemburg-freedom-only-for-the-members-of-one-party-isnt-freedom-at-all-85865 (Accessed 20 May 2018).

Kauffmann, Audrey (2010) ‘Murder mystery over “Rosa the Red”’ Telegraph.co.uk. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/6980408/Murder-mystery-over-Rosa-the-Red.html (Accessed 16 May 2018).

Spiegel Online (2009) ‘Berlin Authorities Seize Corpse for Pre-Burial Autopsy.’ http://m.spiegel.de/international/germany/rosa-luxemburg-mystery-continues-berlin-authorities-seize-corpse-for-pre-burial-autopsy-a-667606.html (Accessed 29 May 2018).

Starke, Helmut Dietmar (2020) ‘Rosa Luxemburg: Life, Revolutionary Activities, Works, & Facts.’ Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rosa-Luxemburg (Accessed 17 May 2020).

Witt, Emily (2011) ‘The Mystery of Rosa Luxemburg’s Corpse.’ Observer http://observer.com/2011/03/the-mystery-of-rosa-luxemburgs-corpse/ (Accessed 20 May 2018).

Wroe, David (2009) ‘Rosa Luxemburg murder case reopened.’ Telegraph.co.uk. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/6840393/Rosa-Luxemburg-murder-case-reopened.html (Accessed 18 May 2018).

(Republished)

Speeding down the road on her pale blue Triumph 21, Jane turns and stops to join the other bikers at the side of the road. Mick, her boyfriend, is waiting for her. They are part of the Rockers, one of Britain’s youth subculture of the 1960s. They are all going to Clacton to spend Easter weekend at the seaside. It turned out to be a day they would never forget.

Fifty-six years later, Jane recalls what had happened that Easter weekend in 1964. “By the time we arrived at the seaside, Mods had crowded the beach.”

This was the beginning of the infamous ‘Battle of Pier Gap’. The clash between two youth groups, the Rockers and the Mods, would make history on this beach. By the end of the day at Clacton, arrests were made on both sides.

Mary, who was also present at Clacton that day, left the scene on her Vespa after her fellow Mods, boyfriend Jimmy and cousin John, had been arrested. The next morning, she woke up to a media frenzy which shook the country. The papers reported about a youth gang fight on the beach, describing it as the moral decadence of Britain’s future generation. Mary realized that the whole thing was blown out of proportion.

The overwhelming press coverage had turned the Rockers and the Mods into the image of Britain’s ruthless teens. As Mary remembers it, “Some of the things that the papers said happened were true, but most weren’t.”

The Mods were a new breed of British youngsters that emerged after the Rockers during the 1960s. They ditched the loud motorbike, heavy leather jacket, denim, and boots—the ‘50s-rooted culture that the Rockers worshipped—for scooters and continental style attire. Mods danced in R&B and Jazz clubs, while Rockers listened to American ‘50s Rock and Roll. They may have not liked each other, but any clashes were, as Jane described, “harmless compared to England’s backstreet gang fights.”

The series of ‘60’s seaside battles (in Margate, Brighton, Hastings, Bournemouth, and Clacton) were isolated events, each causing minor damage. The media turned the events into something more perhaps because they needed “news” to write about after Britain had rose from its war-torn state. For Jane, this did the damage. She resented the fact that, “[their] Rebellion against the system was shifted to a gang war problem.”

Nevertheless, aside from the intention of creating a media sensation, the papers may have been expressing, albeit in a rather exaggerated manner, what at that time appeared frightening to the older, wartime generation: A new generation of teens who are independent and have spending power, and with the military draft abolished, have no responsibility to the country.

The Rockers and Mods were working teens, better educated and some were making more money than their parents. They were able to purchase motorbikes and buy better clothes than their parents. When it came to clothes, the Mod had a distinctive taste, but with a philosophy to go with it.

“It was about individuality,” former Mod, Mary explained, “We didn’t want to be part of the masses, we wanted to be a different working class.” For Mary who is a week shy of her 72nd birthday, the Mods were a symbol of rebellion against the old way of doing things.

Unsurprisingly, the industries welcomed the consumerism of the new generation. The Rockers’ love for big motorbikes resulted in the boom of Britain’s motorcycle industry and the Mods’ love for clothes benefited the fashion industry. Wide media coverage took the Mod look from the streets to the stores. But by this time, for the original Mods, this meant the end of it.

The media and the industries undeniably contributed to the fall of the Rockers and the Mods ‘60s subcultures. “We started from the streets, Mods were underground. It was about freedom. When everybody started dressing the way we did, it was over for me,” Mary, explained. She couldn’t have said it any better.

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2022)

Note:

Mary and Jane are loosely based on real people; Mick, Jimmy, and John are fictitious.

This article has been published on YouMe.social and TheTundra.com in 2020.

You might be interested to read about Britpop: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-not-so-hip-britpop.html

Or read Who Were the Mods?: https://wordsmith.social/cappuccinogirl/who-were-the-mods

#rockers #mods #history #fashion #UK #popculture

The nineteenth to twentieth century in western Europe was a period when the intellectual community and the cultural and art movements flourished. Austria, particularly Vienna, and the Weimar Republic, particularly Berlin, were the centers of these cultural movements where the salon and coffeehouse culture grew. During this period, women enjoyed inclusion in some areas of the public sphere, while economic and political discrimination prevails. The wars, power struggles, and economic and political instabilities all played a role in women’s changing position in society at the onset of fascism.

Vienna, the multicultural city of immigrants in the 19th century, was famous for its European salon culture. Conceived by the middle and upper classes, the salons provided the medium for intellectual discussion and critical thinking. Moreover, the salons provided a space for the integration of the Jewish immigrants into society's elites. The salon culture was also a means of acculturation and emancipation for Jewish women. In Vienna and Berlin, many of these salons were hosted by educated Jewish women. The salon culture, however, was soon replaced by the more accessible and popular coffeehouse culture.

In 19th century Vienna and Berlin, coffeehouses became a meeting place for people from diverse backgrounds, including the less wealthy, and served as a place for intellectuals to exchange ideas and hold discussions. The coffeehouse culture was closely associated with the Jewish intellectual and artistic community. However, coffeehouses excluded women, supporting the conservative gender ideology of the time.

The coffeehouses grew to become an important part of Viennese multicultural urban life. Viennese coffeehouses gave birth to a new generation of movements, such as the Young Vienna modernist literary movement which was spearheaded by male Jewish intellectuals. Vienna’s intellectual community thrived to influence ideas which developed throughout Europe.

Nonetheless the inevitable was to come. The influx of immigrants crowded the city and affected the workforce, turning Vienna into a breeding ground for conservatism, nationalism, and anti-Semitism. In the last decade of the century up to 1914—known as the “Fin-de-Siècle” or turn of the century—the coffeehouse culture faced the challenge of rising anti-Semitism, while the salons continued to decline due to prevalent misogyny and antifeminism.

The golden age of liberalism ended in 1895 when conservative powers took over. This was followed by a weakening middle class and the quite death of the salons. The coffeehouse intellectuals who played an important role in the advancement of liberalism were fighting a losing battle.

Politics took another turn after the First World War. A strong labor and feminist movement grew out of the postwar crisis in Vienna and had set the motion for radical changes in policies which favored the working class, including the women. “Red Vienna”, home to migrant laborers from across the empire, became the haven for workers’ power.

Unsuspectedly too, the Great War was like a blessing in disguise for the women of the Weimar Republic (Germany in 1918–1933). Before the war, Germany was a constitutional monarchy with a parliament elected by adult males. After the war, with the removal of the Kaiser, Germany became a republic with representative democracy. Women were given political and economic rights. Besides gaining the right to vote, women were also granted equality in marriage and the professions.

The new independent woman of the Weimar Republic was coined the “New Woman” and she became the icon of the republic’s golden liberal era and the face of popular media. After women had a taste of economic independence when working during wartime to replace men, many continued to work and enjoyed an active social life. Women were able to do what was unthinkable just a few years before: enjoy the single life, smoke, drink, drive a car, and dance in jazz clubs. The coffeehouses were no longer a male domain as it were before the war; women were free to roam the coffeehouses unchaperoned. In Berlin, the center of Weimar culture, well-known Jewish women writers and artists were regulars at coffeehouses, such as the Romanisch Café.

However, unlike the image of the New Woman and its café lifestyle—which was sexualized and exploited by the media—in reality, women continued to face economic and political discrimination under Weimar liberalism. After supporting the workforce in wartime, the majority of working women became menial workers with the re-employment of men and then used as cheap labor. Meanwhile, in politics, women only had access to areas related to the home and family, such as health, education, and religion.

So, when politics took a different turn and the Nazis came to power—they, although rather ironically, had the blessings of the Weimar women. War reparations, hyperinflation, the collapse of the economy in 1923, and the Depression that followed had the republic on its knees. The economic crisis and a weakened government paved the way for the fascist party, which many, including the Weimar women, saw as offering the only hope for rebuilding the country. With no real political role to play, Weimar women leaders looked to Hitler to secure their political positions and thus gave their support to the Nazi party. Unfortunately, this was poor judgement.

Weimar’s fall in 1933 was followed by Red Vienna succumbing to the economic and political pressure of the conservative federal state in 1934. The end of the Weimar Republic and the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938 saw an exodus of the Jewish population which had played an important role in the development of both countries. Subsequently, women were reduced to their reproductive role under fascist ideology. The crises and weakened regimes provided fascism with the means to rise to power by convincing many that it will transcend liberalism, democracy, and socialism.

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2022)

#Vienna #Austria #Weimar #Germany #war #salonculture #coffeehouseculture #women #gender #fascism #politics #history

I have written about the above topics before, if you're interested read:

More about Vienna and its coffeehouse culture: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/2018/05/turn-of-century-vienna-liberalism.html

More about the Weimar New Woman: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/2020/04/from-weimar-new-woman-to-mother-of.html

Sources

BBC Bitesize (2022) The Growth of Democracy in Germany, 1890-1929. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zcwxrdm/revision/2. (Accessed 29 January 2022).

Buzynski, Isabella and Kai Mishuris (2014) ‘Jewish Café Culture in Berlin.’ ArcGIS StoryMaps https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/73fce8a685b64bb29fe87715bf72dc12 (Accessed 29 January 2022).

Galerie St. Etienne (2006) More Than Coffee was Served, Café Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna and Weimar Germany. https://www.gseart.com/exhibitions-essay/1016 (Accessed 30 January 2022).

Mann, Michael (2004) 'The Rise and Fall of Fascism.' UCLA Book Reviews. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9pg469w2 (Accessed 30 January 2022).

Schirn.de (2017) Splendor and Misery in the Weimar Republic. http://www.schirn.de/glanzundelend/digitorial/en (Accessed 30 January 2022).

Wilhelmy-Dollinger, Petra (1999) ‘Berlin Salons: Late Eighteenth to Early Twentieth Century.’ Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. Jewish Women's Archive. https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/berlin-salons-late-eighteenth-to-early-twentieth-century. (Accessed 30 January 2022).