Liza Hadiz

Preventing poverty in old age requires addressing social and economic inequalities throughout the life course.

Her red nail polish glistens under the soft light as she raises her glass of wine. Her hands, like her nails, are well kept, although the greenish color and fine lines on their backs reveal that she has many old stories to tell.

You cannot help but notice the creases around her red lips as they touch the rim of the glass. She’s quite aware that the people around the table are looking at her. She appears to welcome the attention, always keeping her graceful, aristocratic posture in check. She then glances briefly in my direction and looks away. You could tell that she had quickly decided that I didn’t belong to her kind (well, I am here only because my friend happened to be a friend of the manager of the restaurant).

You wonder what she did for a living and imagine it in your mind. Maybe she was a painter? Maybe a dancer? Perhaps she ran an inherited family business? She seems like some old countess living off old money, someone who never had to lift a finger her entire life.

And just when you think you have every reason to dislike her, she flashes a warm, generous smile, revealing a neat row of well-cared-for teeth and the wrinkles around her eyes that even makeup could not hide. Suddenly you think, she may just be as nice as your poor old auntie.

Speaking of aunties, I know an Aunt Sally. She’s that nice woman across the street that used to come home from work in the evening carrying bags full of groceries. Her children were often left with her mother-in-law or a babysitter until she’s home to care for them. It has been a long time since I last saw her as I’ve left town years ago to live closer to the city after securing a permanent job there. After getting laid off and living on a tight budget, I’ve moved back and just realized how much time had passed. Not only because of the changes around the neighborhood but also in the people I used to know, particularly Aunt Sally.

Sally had since failed to return to the workforce, despite occasionally finding freelance work when lucky.

I passed Sally one afternoon last week while she was carrying half a bag of groceries. We politely said our hellos, but to be honest, I almost didn’t recognize her. Clearly the years had been hard on her. Tina, her niece and a former college friend of mine whom I’ve remained in touch over the years, told me that she still visits her Aunt Sally every now and then. Tina said that Sally and the kids have been struggling to get by since Sally’s involuntary early retirement. Sally had since failed to return to the workforce, despite occasionally finding freelance work when lucky. Gosh, I thought to myself, forty years spent in the workforce (with a college degree, I might add), forty years of trying to make ends meet. She had put her kids to college, paid off her mortgage, and yet today, she is still struggling to survive and, in fact, slipping into poverty. Her college-educated children could not help much as they are too struggling to find work. Wow, that’s two generations facing unemployment!

Her sense of self-identity is defined by her work.

My older cousin Nora also faced involuntary retirement two years ago, although hers was not an early retirement. In fact, she remained in her company for two years beyond the official retirement age. Still, she couldn’t get enough of working. Just a month after her last day at the company, she was already traveling to another city to coordinate a workshop. Apparently, she had something like a phased retirement. In her final years of employment, she worked fewer hours and used the time to attend training courses that would add to her set of skills while planning her post-retirement pursuits. Smart woman, my cousin Nora. But of course, she had the money for those courses—which allowed her to enter the gig economy—and a passion for work. She has been an independent woman all her life, even when her husband was still alive, and she prided herself on her independence. She is certainly not the type to spend her day babysitting her grandchildren or go off on a cruise and just be idle. Her sense of self-identity is defined by her work.

“Life is short. I don’t want to be a slave all my life”

I have always found it interesting that Nora has a childhood bestie who is her complete opposite. Nora and Jenny have known each other since they were six years old, and Jenny is always present at Nora’s birthday parties where family is invited, so I’ve met Jenny dozens of times. In contrast to Nora, Jenny chose to take early retirement from her company. During our conversations around a table with expensive birthday cake and specialty coffee, she would often say that she had had enough of the fast-paced corporate world—toiling after hours for an insatiable boss and enduring a manager breathing down her neck. “Life is short. I don’t want to be a slave all my life,” I remember her saying on at least two occasions.

Having had a dual-income household and only one child, who now works for the government, has made it possible for Jenny to live and grow old with her husband of twenty-five years largely on social security benefits. I believe she is content living a simple and decent life in a modest house on the outskirts of the city, which she and her husband had saved up for almost their entire working life.

Sociologists have criticized the concept of work and retirement for being largely founded on middle-class assumptions.

Well, if corporate life feels like slavery, I wonder how factory workers would describe their working experience, and how they would retire. Many of us have heard stories of blue-collar workers who were forced to work, even after formal retirement, until their bodies gave out. When they do retire, they retire poor. Informal workers face similar issues, some working odd jobs with no pension plan, which raises the question: Is retirement even a choice? Then, I think of Aunt Sally, an educated former white-collar worker carrying a grocery bag only half full. Retirement may have saved her from “slavery”, but can she afford to be free?

I must admit that I occasionally read rather mediocre advice on the internet about aging and retirement, such as what is called “active aging”, in which retirees are encouraged to actively engage in voluntary or part-time work as a continuation of their professional identities. However, would all workers want to maintain their professional identity after retirement? Many workers, unfortunately, continue to work well into old age not to preserve their social status or sense of identity, but out of necessity.

How people experience retirement can reflect the accumulation of wealth for some and the accumulation of poverty for others.

Sociologists have criticized the concept of work and retirement for being largely founded on middle-class assumptions. The concept is generally viewed as a linear progression from education to career, and finally to retirement; the latter being equated with leisure. It overlooks the inequalities and labor market structures that shape how people from different social classes, occupational strata, and cultural backgrounds participate in the labor market and ultimately withdraw, voluntarily or involuntarily, from paid work. Furthermore, it is not only class-blind but also gender-blind. It disregards the effects of pay gaps and work interruptions experienced by women, as in most societies, women bear the primary responsibilities for unpaid caregiving and domestic work, which affect retirement savings and opportunities.

How people experience retirement can reflect the accumulation of wealth for some and the accumulation of poverty for others, particularly those with low incomes, limited access to better employment opportunities, inadequate or no pension coverage, and few or no assets. Earlier perspectives on retirement often individualize these problems, such as perceiving it as a person’s failure to adapt, maintain their health, save adequately, or prepare for old age. Today, there is greater recognition that retirement-related issues are rooted in broader structural conditions and should not be reduced to problems at the individual level.

Inequalities accumulate over the years, addressing them early in life is what will prevent the older population from falling into poverty.

Over the years, some governments have moved away from these narrow and often distorted retirement frameworks toward new policies based on the principle that security in old age is a social right. However, such policies will be insufficient if they solely focus on benefits provided to older adults. Instead, governments should promote universal social rights that are not tied to formal employment, such as access to healthcare, education, income security, pensions, and support them through strong public services across the life course. Inequalities accumulate over the years, addressing them early in life is what will prevent the older population from falling into poverty.

By the way, do you see yourself in any of the people I’ve described? This question extends to the male readers as well. Personally, I see a reflection of myself in Aunt Sally.

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2026)

#women #gender #labor

You might be interested to read: Labor Disguised as Love: Tradwives and the Politics of Domestic Ideals in Times of Crisis

Image: Nataliia Vladimirova on Unsplash

Sources

Hardy, Melissa (2019) 'Diversification in Retirement Inequality.' J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci, 2020, Vol. 75, No. 4, 823–826. Doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbz147.

Wanka, A. (2019) ‘Change Ahead—Emerging Life-Course Transitions as Practical Accomplishments of Growing Old(er).’ Front. Sociol. 3:45. Doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2018.00045.

POPULAR TOPICS #subculture Gurlesque: Poetics of the Bizarre, Ugly, and Feminine #films Mrs. Robinson, Countercultures, and Politics #history The Dutch Golden Age, Golden for Whom? I also write articles here: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/

Remember this old Dolly Parton song?

Workin' 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin' Barely gettin' by, it's all takin' and no givin' They just use your mind and you never get the credit It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it 9 to 5, yeah, they got you where they want you There's a better life and you think about it, don't you?

Of course we do, Dolly.

Written in 1980, the song captures how the work life affected women. Today, it appears that women are not just thinking about a better life but are actually doing something about it—well, at least those who have the option. Enough of the fast lane. Why endure the stressful life of the girlboss when there is a better life—the blissful life of the tradwife?

The Tradwife

The King’s College London (2025) defines a tradwife as a modern-day housewife who embraces traditional gender roles—typically focusing on homemaking, childcare, and supporting her husband—while often sharing her idealized lifestyle on social media.

Housework tends to be seen as drudgery, yet tradwives on social platforms certainly know how to make us forget this by curating an image of homemaking that is inspiring, effortless, and desirable. While many share useful tips and knowledge, how some tradwife influencers make food from scratch in floral or skimpy dresses, with full make up, when they have babies or young children to care for, raises the question—Is it parody? Is it fantasy? What it is—as have been discussed by many commentators—is a business. It’s a way for stay-at-home moms to earn income, so it’s essentially working from home. For the successful ones, with over 500k followers on Instagram, this is substantial earnings, certainly enough for them to pay someone to take care of their children or to do the household chores while they film.

The tradwife trend continues to spark controversy.

Tradwives on social media have surged in popularity over the past few years, attracting both praise and criticism. In the US, their rise has been framed as a cultural resistance to the girlboss culture, and for some, as a political resistance to liberalism—the cultural and ideological framework that conservatives perceive value working women over women who are homemakers. Check out, if you haven’t, the social platforms of Classically Abby and Nara Smith.

In the UK, tradwife culture is not directly tied to party politics, nonetheless it is shaped by the rise of conservatism in recent years. The ideal of domestic life as something that British women should aspire to is reflected in the success of UK tradwife influencers, such as Emily (@maverickmother) and Thuy Improta (@ministryfromhome). While this aspiration can be linked to nostalgia and faith, according to the British Social Attitudes Survey (1984 to 2022) conducted by King’s College London, the trend is more of a reflection of widespread burn out and frustration with a labor market that fails to provide work-life balance or adequate accommodation of family life.

The tradwife trend continues to spark controversy. Some view it as women’s natural gender role, often justified by religious beliefs, while some see it as regressive and antifeminist. In contrast, others argue that women who choose to be homemakers (but what about men, though?—more on that later) can still be aligning themselves with feminism as feminism is about choice for women. Yes, but some choices in life come with privilege, and so does the choice of being a traditional wife in the real sense of being a stay-at-home mom or wife who does not work to earn income. Certainly, in today’s economic climate, only a minority of families can survive on a single income. This adds to the controversy surrounding the idealization of the tradwife life on social media—it is sometimes despised as it sparks class antagonism. For some others, however, it’s simply a fantasy being sold—something to enjoy, nothing more than social media entertainment.

Idealization of Domestic Life Through the Times

Why has the idealization of women’s traditional role re-emerged as a trend in recent years in the US and UK, and across other Western countries? Looking back, we see a recurring pattern: domestic life for women tends to be idealized during periods of economic crisis, instability, war, and geopolitical conflict. For example, with the collapse of the German economy following World War I, the country looked to the Nazi regime to rebuild the country. The Weimar era of women’s emancipation was quickly replaced by the idealization of women’s domesticity and motherhood was institutionalized as civic duty. During the Great Depression of 1929, in Western Europe and the US, traditional wife ideals were reinforced and women were pressured to leave the labor market, countering the gains of the suffragette movement.

In contrast, the postwar economic boom following World War II saw the rise of the suburban housewife ideal in Western Europe and the US. Prewar nostalgia and anxieties about instability made traditional values feel safe. However, this reality was further intensified by Cold War cultural politics, where governments promoted the nuclear family—with husband as breadwinner and wife as homemaker—as the model household that is essential for maintaining the stability of the capitalist economy and the moral strength of Western democracy.

The 1970s and 1980s were marked with economic stagflation and social upheaval in both the US and the UK under the Reagan and Thatcher era. Dissatisfaction with liberal policies, economic struggles, and perceived moral decline following the cultural changes achieved in the 1960s gave rise to an era of conservatism that tied the revival of traditional family values with national politics.

... domestic life for women tends to be idealized during periods of economic crisis, instability, war and geopolitical conflict.

The 1990s was a decade of multiculturalism, globalization, and advances in women’s rights, yet these developments coexisted uneasily with conservative backlash and cultural anxieties. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, security concerns took precedence, sidelining globalization and fueling a shift toward nationalism and cultural conservatism. At the same time, rising inequality had already begun to erode middle‑class stability, setting the foundation for the 2008 economic collapse. Inevitably, the 2008 financial crisis was met with a populist revival. As in earlier periods of instability, the surge of conservative populism in Europe and the US drew on family and tradition as anchors of stability.

Similarly, the uncertainty brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic—combined with the current economic downturn, perceived failure of liberal policies, and ongoing geopolitical conflicts—has fueled political polarization and a cultural revival of conservatism and traditional domestic ideals. Amid these instabilities, support for the idealization of women's domesticity grew stronger, as reflected in today’s tradwife trend.

It’s interesting to note that surveys conducted in the past years reveal that heterosexual couples are happier when they are able to fulfill their livelihood within traditional gender norms and that men experience adverse mental health issues when they cannot meet societal expectation of being the primary earner. This has been discussed in a previous blog post here. Amid the economic downturn of recent years, these findings are in line with the pattern of economic instability and a resurgence of traditional norms.

Labor Disguised as Love

What is striking is that women’s traditionally ascribed work is viewed as having no economic value, while in reality, domestic work plays a crucial role in providing the labor market with ready workers, thus sustaining the wider economy. The freshly ironed shirt prepared for a husband to wear to work, the hard-boiled eggs made before he faces the day, and the children raised for the next generation of workers are all examples of how household labor underpins the capitalist system. Economically devalued, household work and caregiving are unpaid labor disguised as love—essential, invisible work that allows the system to perpetuate itself.

Yet, tradwives on social media have commodified the imagery of the traditional wife and her unpaid labor through big tech platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. Furthermore, they have become mouthpieces for conservative ideology. Ironically, these successful tradwife influencers—who monetize the alternate lifestyle of domestic bliss—are, in another form, girlbosses themselves.

Economically devalued, household work and caregiving are unpaid labor disguised as love ...

Tradwives on social media may—for a few minutes or hours—divert other women from the exhaustion of nine-to-five work into a nostalgic vision of blissful family life; nonetheless, it is a path only accessible to a minority of people. To improve the lives of the majority, the real focus should be on structural changes in policies and the labor market. Such changes should promote genuine work-life balance that would enable both spouses to participate in the labor force and in managing the household and child-rearing, such as through the provision of paid maternity and paternity leave. This means that the role of full-time homemaker should not solely be a choice for women—but equally as an option for men.

We must advocate for changes that support equal and flexible roles within the household, rather than reforms that reinforce gender-segregated family structures, which only perpetuate discrimination in the labor market. This would save men and women from adverse mental health outcomes and could help prevent families from facing severe economic hardship. These changes would strengthen society’s resilience and help break the recurring cycle of retreating into the comfort of traditional domestic ideals that perpetuate inequality.

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2026)

#history #politics #women #gender #feminism #labor

You might be interested to read: Political Resistance and Propaganda: From Dadaism to Slopaganda (Part 1)

Image: Pinterest

Sources

Boylan, A. M. (1989) Containment on the Home Front: American Families During the Cold War [Review of Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era, by E. T. May]. Reviews in American History, 17(2), 301–305. https://doi.org/10.2307/2702934.

Brechenmacher, Saskia (2025) 'The New Global Struggle Over Gender, Rights, and Family Values.' Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Paper. https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2025/06/the-new-global-struggle-over-gender-rights-and-family-values [Accessed 29 June 2026].

Chance, Maia (2026) What Tradwife “Influencers” of Centuries Past Share with Their Social Media Contemporaries. Literary Hub. https://lithub.com/what-tradwife-influencers-of-centuries-past-share-with-their-social-media-contemporaries [Accessed 29 June 2026].

Kibwana, Thomas Joel (2024) 'The Death of Liberalism and the Rise of Conservatism: A Global Shift and Its Implications for the Global South' The Chanzo. https://thechanzo.com/2024/11/10/the-death-of-liberalism-and-the-rise-of-conservatism-a-global-shift-and-its-implications-for-the-global-south [Accessed 29 June 2026].

King's College London (2025) The Tradwife Phenomenon Isn't a Return to Tradition, It's a Plea for Balance. https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/the-tradwife-phenomenon-isnt-a-return-to-tradition-its-a-plea-for-balance [20 June 2026].

Sonno, Tommaso, Helios Herrera, Massimo Morelli, and Luigi Guiso (2022) Financial Crises as Drivers of Populism: A New Channel (2022) CEPR. https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/financial-crises-drivers-populism-new-channel [Accessed 29 June 2026].

Sykes, Sophia and Veronica Hopner (2023) Tradwives: The Housewives Commodifying Right-Wing Ideology. Global Network on Extremism and Technology. https://gnet-research.org/2023/07/07/tradwives-the-housewives-commodifying-right-wing-ideology [Accessed 29 June 2026].

POPULAR TOPICS #subculture Gurlesque: Poetics of the Bizarre, Ugly, and Feminine #films Mrs. Robinson, Countercultures, and Politics #history The Dutch Golden Age, Golden for Whom? I also write articles here: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/

How dark is Dark Academia? As dark as the society we live in. Beyond the comfort of its moody, sometimes haunting ambience, Dark Academia reflects the fractures of a broken society.

Dark Academia debuted on Tumblr in 2015 and spread across various social media platforms in the late 2010s, reaching mainstream popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, it remains a subject of discussion, inspiring recent novels and films. Even the vintage tweeds and wool fabrics associated with Dark Academia fashion continue to find their place in the wardrobes of younger audiences. Moreover, the appeal lies in the imagery of a nostalgic dark intellectual fantasy world, embracing isolation, melancholy, and the pursuit of knowledge—an escapism from the drudgery of academic life.

Why the need to escape?

Students entering college in the 2010s faced a labor market still recovering from the Great Recession. While a college degree was considered the path to many middle‑class jobs, investing in a degree presented a higher risk. In some parts of Europe, austerity measures led to budget cuts in universities, while in the US, state funding for public colleges fell sharply. As a result, many colleges raised tuition and fees, and youth unemployment pushed more students into prolonged study. In the US and UK, students heavily relied on loans with rising debt levels. Furthermore, following the recession, youths saw an erosion of humanities programs through budget cuts, departmental closures, and declining enrollment. All these pressures set the stage for the Dark Academia trend.

Dark Academia unfolded across social media, connecting students and building collective identity.

Amid growing anxieties over student debt, cuts to humanities programs, uncertain career prospects—and later, the isolation and loneliness intensified by the pandemic—Dark Academia unfolded across social media, connecting students and building collective identity. It offered study rituals, academic identity, and even fashion style—all of which functioned as coping mechanisms. Moreover, in times of uncertainty, the aesthetic provided comfort by affirming that the pursuit of a degree, particularly in humanities, could still yield cultural capital.

Nostalgia is central to Dark Academia. The aesthetic romanticizes an era—particularly the early-to-mid 20th century, or even earlier—when intellectual life was closely tied to Western elites and studying ancient art, Classical Greek, and classical literature conferred social prestige. Ivy League institutions, along with Oxbridge, cultivated an exclusive world for those fortunate enough to belong. In modern life, Dark Academia goes beyond imagery of books, libraries, and the walls of Gothic university architecture. It extends well into the lifestyle of coffee shops and late-night studying accompanied by classical or gothic-inspired music, and the fashion style of distinctive Ivy League cardigans, tweed blazers, and plaid shirts.

Why this obsession with studying and nostalgia?

As mentioned above, Dark Academia emerged as a form of escapism to cope with financial anxieties surrounding higher education, the pressures of academic life, and the uncertain future of the humanities. As a psychological response to these crises, imagery of Ivy League and Oxbridge traditions from a time when intellectual and academic identity defined prestige—a distinctive feature of Dark Academia aesthetic—served as a nostalgic refuge.

The solitary life of late-night studying is romanticized in Dark Academia, somewhat sensualizing the image of the tortured poet, artist, or intellectual and casting moody, melancholic ambience. This allure is further reinforced by an interior design trend that favors muted palettes of white, black, beige, brown, dark green, and navy blue, accented with textbooks, candles, and vintage ornaments. Such settings echo the atmosphere described in The Secret History—the Das Kapital of Dark Academia.

The grandeur of solitude in pursuing intellectual growth within the fantasy world of Dark Academia has, over the years through various digital platforms, built a collective identity and a flourishing community among younger audiences grappling with the lingering effect of the recession while adjusting to isolation under COVID-19 policies.

While Dark Academia romanticizes the imagery of studying humanities, its appeal expanded during the pandemic, reaching students across disciplines and even audiences beyond academia because it offered a community, belonging, and a coping mechanism. With the erosion of humanities majors intensifying in recent years in the US and parts of Europe, Dark Academia continues to serve as a nostalgic refuge. For humanities students, it provides a way to reclaim intellectual identity as well as cultural capital amid the devaluing of their field. It serves a similar purpose for other students and young people who—amid instability—yearn for intellectual prestige alongside its cultural identity.

A self-reflective evolving aesthetic

Paradoxically, while idealizing a bygone world centered on academic elitism, Dark Academia classics—such as the film Dead Poets Society (1989) and Donna Tartt’s novel The Secret History (1992)—also challenge the tradition of conformity and the moral codes long upheld in academic institutions. Thus, Dark Academia is a trope of nonconformity, antiauthority, and, to some extent, antiestablishment—a self-reflective aesthetic, ever evolving.

Dark Academia is a trope of nonconformity, antiauthority, and, to some extent, antiestablishment ....

Therefore, we cannot talk about Dark Academia without addressing its white, male-Anglo elitism. This ethnocentrism has been widely discussed, and as the trend continued to spread, criticism as well as resistance to its Western elitism gave rise to what can be described as a neo-Dark Academia, where the aesthetic is adjusted and adapted to embrace inclusion and diversity. This reformed or reimagined Dark Academia—while still loyal to the rebellious spirit of its prototype, Dead Poets Society and to the dark allure of its birth mother, The Secret History—has transformed itself by bringing feminist, queer, black, and decolonial reinterpretations. Since its peak, Dark Academia has increasingly incorporated non-Anglophone literature, traditions, and cultures into its narratives, drawing from Asian, African, and Latin American sources.

Reinterpretations in contemporary works have carried Dark Academia beyond nostalgia. R.F. Kuang’s Babel (2022) lays bare how colonialism, racism, sexism, and class inequality are embedded in academic institutions. In satirical mode, Emerald Fennell’s film, Saltburn (2023) mocks the toxicity of Western elitism and the pursuit of class mobility. M.L. Rio’s If We Were Villains (2017), echoes a Shakespearean tragedy while centering on queer love in an academic setting. Other works, such as Victoria Lee’s A Lesson in Vengeance (2021) exemplifies how contemporary Dark Academia has shifted away from male‑dominated narratives, emphasizing women and queer voices, while Katie Zhao’s How We Fall Apart (2021) moves further by centering Asian American women’s experiences. Yet across these diverse reinterpretations, the persistence of rape culture—manifested in hazing traditions and other practices—within elite universities remains underexplored in Dark Academia critiques.

The paradoxes that dismantle a broken society

In short, Dark Academia is both a literary genre and an aesthetic subculture that indulges in a nostalgic fantasy of an imagined past. The decolonial reinterpretations and resistance which have emerged within the Dark Academia community challenge the Anglo-elitist and patriarchal narratives reproduced through this aesthetic, seeking to re-write them. This creates another paradox: Dark Academia as both nostalgic escapism and cultural resistance. It is through these contradictions—elitism versus nonconformity and nostalgia versus innovation—that Dark Academia evolves into an aesthetic mirroring the fractures of a broken society, while simultaneously dismantling the cracks that hold it together.

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2026)

#literature #subculture #fashion #film

You might be interested to read: The Art of Controlling Cultural Meaning: Art Nouveau and Art Deco in the Third Reich

Images: Pinterest

Sources

Bookish Brews (2022) Dark Academia: The Truth About the Genre & Subculture. https://bookishbrews.com/dark-academia-the-truth-about-the-genre [Accessed 20 February 2026].

Bulaitis, Z. H., (2025) ‘Navigating Dark Academia: Student Identity, Nostalgia, and neo-Victorian Influences Online.’ Open Screens 7(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.16995/OS.10894.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (2018) Unkept Promises: State Cuts to Higher Education Threaten Access and Equity. https://www.cbpp.org/research/state-budget-and-tax/unkept-promises-state-cuts-to-higher-education-threaten-access-and [Accessed 12 March 2026].

Cordon, Nancy (2025) '“Not by a Jury of Our Peers”: The Roles of Privilege and Critique in Dark Academia.' Paper Shell Review. https://english.umd.edu/research-innovation/journals/paper-shell-review/spring-2025/not-jury-our-peers-roles-privilege-and [Accessed 13 February 2026].

Millán, Lara Lopez (2023) The Dark Academia Aesthetic: Nostalgia for the Past in Social Networks. https://doi.org/10.33008/IJCMR.2023.08.

Nguyen, Maryann (2022) Nostalgia in Dark Academia. University of Strathclyde, Scotland. https://pure.strath.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/156280631/Nguyen_EWCP_2022_Nostalgia_in_dark_academia.pdf [Accessed 24 February 2026].

Wikipedia (2026) Student Loans and Grants in the United Kingdom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_loans_and_grants_in_the_United_Kingdom [Accessed 10 March 2026].

POPULAR TOPICS #subculture Gurlesque: Poetics of the Bizarre, Ugly, and Feminine #films Mrs. Robinson, Countercultures, and Politics #history The Dutch Golden Age, Golden for Whom? I also write articles here: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/

In November 2025, Sotheby’s sold the most expensive modern artwork ever at auction—for $236.4 million. The painting is not only a Viennese Secession-Art Nouveau masterpiece that prompted collectors to bid generously, but it also has a fascinating history behind it—what it stood for and how it was part of a campaign to control cultural meaning.

When modernist style was labeled degenerate art

Gustav Klimt’s painting of 20-year-old Elisabeth Lederer, daughter of Vienna’s Jewish cultural elite and patron, was completed in 1916, just two years before the death of the artist. After the 1938 annexation of Austria, it was seized by the Nazis. Remarkably, it escaped destruction, and then found its way back to the family, and entered Leonard Lauder’s collection in the 1980s. What makes the story fascinating is that Elisabeth herself, then in her forties, was saved from prosecution because of the portrait. Klimt had become an internationally acclaimed artist by that time, Elisabeth’s arrest would have brought attention to Nazi persecutions. According to contemporary accounts, Elisabeth even claimed that Klimt, who was not Jewish, was her father.

The Nazi regime of the Third Reich systematically confiscated art that did not conform to its ideology. Styles deemed “un-German”, including modernism, such as expressed in the Art Nouveau movement (or Jugendstil, as it was known in Germany), were frequently targeted. They were denounced as “degenerate art” because of their modernist style and cosmopolitan nuance—blending influences from Asia and other parts of the globe—and moreover, because of the artists’ tie with wealthy Jewish patrons.

Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer by Gustav Klimt. (wikimedia.org)

Art Nouveau emerged as a revolt against historicism

Art Nouveau (roughly 1890–1910) is commonly described as a form of decorative modernism, notable for its long, sinuous lines, organic motifs, and Japonisme and other Asian influences. This is demonstrated in the portrait of Elisabeth, where a Japanese-inspired patterning decorates the background. Art Nouveau, often associated with Brussels, emerged as a revolt against the historicism of 19th century art.

With a craft‑centered ethos that sought to unify fine and applied arts, Art Nouveau—influenced by the earlier Arts and Crafts movement in Britain—regarded factory production as producing low-quality goods that degraded both objects and workers. Art Nouveau’s emphasis on artisanal skill was a response to industrial modernity. While the movement did not reject technology, it objected to the lack of artistry in mass production and sought to elevate decorative handwork and craft as a means of social and aesthetic reform.

Art Nouveau was a movement with a social and political agenda

Art Nouveau was avant-garde, the style of the new generation and emergent bourgeoisie eager to distinguish themselves from the old nobility and conservative society. While largely an urban and often elitist movement, it sought to improve everyday life—promoting well-being, a renewed connection to nature, and greater beauty and functionality in the domestic environment—not just for the wealthy but also the working class.

Interestingly, Art Nouveau developed its distinct regional traits across Europe. For example, dominant colors signal local identity: Vienna used black and white; Brussels identified with orange and green; Spain favored bright, saturated colors; and Italy chose soft pastels and earthy tones. In some regions, the style carried a political statement, such as in Finland, Art Nouveau motifs became associated with cultural and political emancipation from Russia. In the Czech lands and Poland, folk motifs and historic references with modern forms were blended to assert national culture under imperial rule. Similarly, in Catalonia, Art Nouveau was an expression of the people’s struggle for independence.

A somewhat scandalized advertisement for the Job cigarette company (1896) by Czech painter and graphic artist Alphonse Mucha who became the defining figure of Art Nouveau. (theartstory.org)

Thus, Art Nouveau functioned as a coherent movement with a social and political agenda: achieving societal progress and sovereignty.

Inevitably, Art Nouveau lost its popularity after World War I following the collapse of traditional patronage and a postwar recovery that needed mass production, consumerism, and affordable design. Despite this fact, when the Nazi regime came into power decades later, it still confiscated Art Nouveau and other modernist works for their perceived internationalism, moral inferiority, and past associations with Jewish patrons.

Art Deco became a symbol of multiculturalism, cosmopolitan and urban lifestyle

As the Art Nouveau movement waned in the 1910s, what would become Art Deco in the 1920s began to emerge. This new art movement, closely associated with Paris, echoed the shift in design philosophy that was in line with the postwar years of rebuilding. With its simple design for easy production and reproducibility, it reflected the rapid industrialization and vast technological advancements taking place. Its clean lines, bold colors, and streamlined geometric forms symbolized modernity, progress, structure, and order, but its decorative richness separated it from modernism. Patterns of zigzags, square spirals, and aerodynamic curves reflected international grandeur and glamour. Art Deco too drew inspiration from various cultures, including Africa, Asia, and the Americas, as well as from different historical periods—symbolizing postwar multiculturalism, and an urban, cosmopolitan lifestyle.

The Côte d’Azur Pullman Express poster (1929) was designed by French artist Fix‑Masseau who worked in the Art Deco idiom that dominated railway and travel posters of the late 1920s and 1930s. (peoplesgdarchive.org)

While Art Nouveau was reformist and artisanal oriented, Art Deco had revolutionized design for a modern machine‑age society.

Art Deco, like Art Nouveau, was elitist at its height

Art Deco shaped the designs of public goods, such as transportation and social housing, but like Art Nouveau, it remained elitist at its height. With its consumerist ethos, the style represented the interests of the urban middle class with spending power. In this way, Art Deco functioned as an innovative and progressive force in the development of modern industrial capitalism, where mass products with short lifespan were created to stimulate demand.

Post–World War I witnessed the rise of a consumer-oriented middle class which benefited from interwar economic expansion, gradually replacing the dominance of the old aristocratic and bourgeois elites. At the same time, the middle class distinguished itself from working‑class and socialist aesthetics, defining its identity through upwardly mobile urbanity, a lifestyle of consumerism and modernity, and the professional status of white‑collar employment. Among this emerging class was the emancipated “New Woman” of the Weimar era which ended in 1933.

Art Deco inspired designs were used to signify progress

The Nazi campaign sought to systematically control cultural meaning. From 1933 onward, all art was regulated by the Reich Ministry of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda. Any work not aligned to Nazi ideology of Aryan purity and nationalism was targeted. Both Art Nouveau and Art Deco, with their hybrid concepts and modernist styles, were condemned as corrupt by a regime that upheld the supposed superiority of Greek and Roman classical art.

Poster created by commercial illustrator and poster artist Ludwig Hohlwein for Deutsche Lufthansa in 1936, promoting the Berlin Summer Olympics and reflecting nationalistic pride. (pinterest.com)

Nevertheless, when the regime could benefit from a style, it adapted it for political purposes. This is the case with Art Deco, the prevailing design trend during Nazis’ rise to power. In posters and other propaganda media, the regime used Art Deco-inspired elements—streamlined geometry and bold palette—to signify progress, structure, order, discipline, and heroism, in order to persuade and mobilize the population, especially the youth.

The regime mastered the art of controlling cultural meaning

The Nazi regime implemented selective suppression in its cultural policies. Rather than fully banning everything that conflicted with its ideology, the regime instead systematically censored, repressed, or reshaped representations. For example, in the case of the gender ideology that the “New Woman” symbolized, the regime restricted or banned publications that promoted it. Lesbian periodicals such as Die Freundin and Frauenliebe/Garçonne were banned, while liberal magazines such as Die Dame and Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung were adapted or coopted to align with Nazi objectives. At the same time, the regime consistently propagated an alternative imagery of womanhood that emphasized motherhood and patriotism, which would eventually dismantle the “New Woman”.

Cover of the German fashion and lifestyle magazine Die Dame, depicting the style of the New Woman, published in March 1929. (wikimedia.org)

Thus, the story behind Gustav Klimt’s painting of Elisabeth Lederer demonstrates how art—just as other media in its various forms—can be used as a tool to control society, uphold ideology, and legitimize power, whether completely suppressed by being banned, or coopted, adapted, and reshaped to serve those in power. Art Nouveau was one of the modernist art forms frequently targeted for banning, while elements of Art Deco were often adapted and reshaped to conform to the Nazi regime’s cultural and political rhetoric. This illustrates one of the many ways in which a regime could master the art of controlling cultural meaning: art, far beyond aesthetics, becomes a political instrument.

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2025)

#history #art #fascism #Germany #WorldWar1

You might be interested to read: The Salute of Tyranny From Global Power to Existential Anxieties: How Colonialism and Migration Shape the UK

Top image: Euronews.com

Sources

Greenhalgh, Paul (2000) ‘Art Nouveau: Politics and Style.’ History Today Vol. 50 Issue 4 April. https://www.historytoday.com/archive/art-nouveau-politics-and-style [22 November 2025].

Horth, Elisabeth (2009) The Social Agenda of Art Nouveau. Collectors Weekly. https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/guest-column-the-social-agenda-of-art-nouveau [22 November 2025].

Mallya, Sanjana (n.d.) Art Deco and Its Global Influences. Rethinking the Future. https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/architectural-community/a11195-art-deco-and-its-global-influences [22 November 2025].

Middlemiss, Matteo (2018) Why Was Art Nouveau the Art Revolt People Were looking for? The Flame Tree Blog. https://blog.flametreepublishing.com/art-of-fine-gifts/why-was-art-nouveau-the-art-revolt-people-were-looking-for [21 November 2025].

Myrvang, Christine (2015) Art Deco: The Era That Lingers in Spirit. BI Norwegian Business School. https://www.bi.no/en/research/business-review/articles/2015/09/art-deco-the-era-that-lingers-in-spirit-/ [22 November 2025].

Pound, Cath (2018) What Art Nouveau Can Teach Us about National Identity. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180525-what-art-nouveau-can-teach-us-about-national-identity [22 November 2025].

Smith, Elizabeth Anne (2025) Beauty in the Face of Horror: Fashion, Femininity, and Identity During the Holocaust. Thesis. Washington State University. Online PDF document [29 November 2025].

Wikipedia (2025) Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Illustrirte_Zeitung [29 November 2025].

Wikipedia (2024) Die Freundin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Freundin [29 November 2025].

POPULAR TOPICS #subculture Gurlesque: Poetics of the Bizarre, Ugly, and Feminine #films Mrs. Robinson, Countercultures, and Politics #history The Dutch Golden Age, Golden for Whom? I also write articles here: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/

So You Want to See the President!, that's the title of the four-panel suite of paintings that, for decades, hung in the White House. Painted in 1943 by celebrated American artist Norman Rockwell, the suite portrays the waiting area outside the Oval Office, where citizens from various professions and officials gathered in hopes to meet the President. The paintings captured the democratic spirit of the era. At the height of World War II, it reflected a unifying vision of American society.

Amid the anxieties of wartime and economic uncertainty, Rockwell crafted images that evoked the nostalgia of the American Golden Age, depicting the comforts of family life and a secure home. Mainstream media often promoted this image of prosperity—which Rockwell was able to translate so well onto his canvas—to soften the realities of economic hardship and racial tension. Conservative outlets like The Saturday Evening Post used the psychology of nostalgia to soothe public unease rooted in economic vulnerability and to foster a sense of cohesion amid a racialized society. Norman Rockwell would later become a cultural icon, best known for his illustrations in The Saturday Evening Post, from the interwar years to the early decades of the Cold War.

The post-First World War period was marked by economic expansion and rapid growth, followed by a flourishing cultural environment and shifting social norms, epitomized by the emergence of the flapper counterculture. It was also a time of political progress as women finally secured the right to vote. Yet the Roaring Twenties was also a decade of economic disparity—low wages for the urban working class and persistent hardship for rural Americans—leaving many vulnerable. Not surprisingly, it was a period of continued racial tensions, marked by the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan and the passage of the restrictive Immigration Act of 1924.

Interestingly, Rockwell’s celebrated depictions of the idealized male breadwinner nuclear family—spanning over four decades—continue to resonate with segments of the American public today.

Nevertheless, under the strict editorial direction of The Saturday Evening Post, Rockwell’s images not only masked the social tensions but also obscured the shifting norms reshaping American society. Readers were deflected from reality by scenes that told the story of a stable and harmonious American society centered on the “typical” male breadwinner and female homemaker nuclear family. Absent in these images were the independent flappers and hardly visible were the working-class, particularly women, both white and of color.

Twenty-five years later, the welfare policies and economic boom of post-World War II made the idealized male breadwinner family attainable, although very briefly, for middle-class and upper-class households. Yet this image of mainly white, suburban families, continued to be perpetuated by mainstream media for decades. It was an image that also aligned with the US government’s Cold War narrative, which promoted the nuclear family as a symbol of capitalist superiority in contrast to the collectivist ideals of communism.

Following the civil rights movement that shifted perceptions about society, new laws and policies were enacted to reduce racial and gender inequality. These reforms transformed social norms and values around family and sexuality, and shaped institutions. However, not all segments of society embraced these changes. Rockwell himself grew weary of the editorial constraints imposed by The Saturday Evening Post and, in 1963, left to work for Look magazine. There, he crafted some of his most controversial works that confronted the inequalities and tensions shaping America.

Like feminism, the far-right views women’s role in care work as undervalued by society; however, far-right supporters generally attribute this to the cultural hegemony of neoliberalism and liberal feminism.

Interestingly, Rockwell’s celebrated depictions of the idealized male breadwinner nuclear family—spanning over four decades—continue to resonate with segments of the American public today. On various digital platforms, some women from diverse ethnic backgrounds who support far-right ideologies have expressed dissatisfaction with contemporary society, describing a sense of peace and empowerment upon embracing traditional gender roles. This discontent often cites feminism for promoting a perception that privileges professional women over traditional homemakers—diminishing the cultural value of housewives and of men as primary providers and protectors.

Like feminism, the far-right views women’s role in care work as undervalued by society; however, far-right supporters generally attribute this to the cultural hegemony of neoliberalism and liberal feminism. This hegemony, in their view, has stigmatized traditional values and gender roles, where masculinity is more often loathed than encouraged and men are no longer seen as women’s protector, both in the social and economic sense. Such cultural dominance, they argue, are among the factors contributing to the decline of what they consider “true American values.”

Furthermore, the hegemony that promotes multiculturalism and diversity is perceived by far-right supporters as contributing to unresolved societal issues, such as job insecurity, limited access to public goods, and increase in crime rates, including violence against women. The increase in immigration is often cited as a cause of these problems even when such claims are not reflected in data and statistics.

The far-right movement, therefore, seeks to restore traditional “native” values as a way of deconstructing what they perceive as a broken society. However, the dissatisfaction is often attributed to shifting cultural norms, while in fact, it stems from systemic issues. The lack of accessible and trustworthy childcare, the absence of family-friendly labor policies, and the persistence of traditional gender roles that impose a double burden on women all contribute to the difficulties faced by many—particularly mothers.

Scholars interpret this as a backlash against the failure of neoliberal governance to deliver broad-based economic security and social cohesion.

Moreover, the movement asserts that saving America from perceived cultural decadence requires strengthening a monocultural national identity and reasserting national control over the economy, as economic sovereignty is framed as a moral imperative to restore traditional family values and cultural order. This vision reflects its supporters’ economic anxieties and fears of cultural displacement. Scholars interpret this as a backlash against the failure of neoliberal governance to deliver broad-based economic security and social cohesion.

Scholars have observed that neoliberal policies in the United States have deepened inequality: wages have stagnated for much of the working class, labor protections and social safety nets have eroded, and corporate profits have soared—concentrating wealth at the top. Privatization and deregulation have rendered public goods such as higher education, healthcare, and housing increasingly unaffordable. Critics of neoliberalism argue that policies prioritizing market efficiency over social equity have fueled job insecurity, housing shortages, rising rents, and racialized vulnerability. These systemic failures have contributed to cultural fragmentation, institutional distrust, and adverse political polarization.

So You Want to See the President!—which was commissioned in 1943 by Stephen T. Early, Roosevelt’s press secretary—depicted various groups in American society, conveying a unifying vision of democracy. Yet it reflects a white, middle-class lens on civic participation, mirroring the exclusionary politics and cultural norms of its time, in which structural diversity and inequality were obscured. The suite was removed from the White House in 2022 following a family ownership dispute and is scheduled for auction. While the paintings hold significant historical value, the suite’s removal is timely given that the country seriously needs to bridge political polarization. To move forward, reflection is urgently needed to envision a post-neoliberal governance that centers equity, care economies, labor protections, and democratic accountability, while dismantling structures that perpetuate marginalization and safeguard concentrated wealth.

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2025)

#history #art #WorldWar1 #WorldWar2 #US #Politics #feminism

You might be interested to read: From Global Power to Existential Anxieties: How Colonialism and Migration Shape the UK

Image: Artnet News

Sources:

Ainsworth, Garrett (2024) ‘Why Neoliberalism Has Failed Us: How Republican Economic Policies Promote Inequality.’ Michigan Journal of Economics. https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/mje/2024/03/18/why-neoliberalism-has-failed-us-how-republican-economic-policies-promote-inequality/ [8 November 2025].

Bradatan, Anastasia (2023) The Overlooked Roles of Women in Far-Right Extremist Organizations and How to Prevent Their Further Radicalization. Fordham Law Voting Rights and Democracy Project. https://fordhamdemocracyproject.com/2023/04/26/the-overlooked-roles-of-women-in-far-right-extremist-organizations [19 October 2025].

Campion, Kristy and Kiriloi M. Ingram (2023) ‘Far-right “Tradwives” See Feminism as Evil.’ Their Lifestyles Push Back Against ‘the Lie of Equality.’ The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/far-right-tradwives-see-feminism-as-evil-their-lifestyles-push-back-against-the-lie-of-equality-219000 [19 October 2025].

Cohen, Alina (2025) ‘Norman Rockwell Paintings That Once Hung in the White House Bound for Auction.’ Artnet News. https://news.artnet.com/market/norman-rockwell-president-white-house-paintings-auction-2704973 [4 November 2025].

Joppke, Christian (2024) ‘Neoliberal Nationalism and Immigration Policy.’ Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/1369183X.2024.2315349 [8 November 2025].

Leidig, Eviane (2021) “We Are Worth Fighting for”: Women in Far-Right Extremism. International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – ICCT. https://icct.nl/publication/we-are-worth-fighting-women-far-right-extremism [19 October 2025].

Shams, Shahrzad, Deepak Bhargava, and Harry W. Hanbury (2024) ‘The Cultural Contradictions of Neoliberalism: The Longing for an Alternative Order and the Future of Multiracial Democracy in an Age of Authoritarianism.’ The Roosevelt Institute. https://rooseveltinstitute.org [8 November 2025].

Stiglitz, Joseph (2024) ‘How Neoliberalism Failed, and What a Better Society Could Look Like.’ Working Paper. Roosevelt Institute. https://rooseveltinstitute.org [8 November 2025].

Williams, Katherine (2024) Women's Engagement with the Far Right: A Quest for a More Holistic Understanding. Compass Hub. https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rec3.12495 [19 October 2025].

Zamora, Daniel and Niklas Olsen (2019) How Decades of Neoliberalism Led to the Era of Right-Wing Populism. Jacobin.com. https://jacobin.com/2019/09/in-the-ruins-of-neoliberalism-wendy-brown [8 November 2025].

POPULAR TOPICS #subculture Gurlesque: Poetics of the Bizarre, Ugly, and Feminine #films Mrs. Robinson, Countercultures, and Politics #history The Dutch Golden Age, Golden for Whom? I also write articles here: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/

Love and geopolitics often intertwine in heartbreaking and unforgettable narratives, whether legend, fiction, or real-life accounts. These stories are typically entangled in ethnic and religious conflict, ideological divide, and forbidden romance framed by identity politics—elements that render resolution unforeseeable.

Love Is Forbidden

Some true love stories are carved into time through poetry and become not only the legacy of a people but also a defining part of their history. One such story is the love affair between the late renowned Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish (13 March, 1941—9 August, 2008) and the Jewish-Israeli young woman he fell deeply in love with in the early 1960s. A woman whom he refers to as “Rita” in his poems—a name that echoes across two decades of his artistic career, shaped by imprisonment, political estrangement, and exile.

In his 1969 poem Rita… Love me, Darwish reflects on the impossibility of their love:

Love is forbidden… Here the police and fate are antiquated Shattered are the idols that you revealed your love

Another passage from the same poem expresses the pain of loss:

Sleep on my dream. Your taste is acrid Your eyes are lost in my silence And your body is full of summer and beautiful death. At the end of the world I embrace you When you withdraw full of the impossible.

Their forbidden love could not survive the political tension it was engulfed in, especially after “Rita”, whose real name is Tamar Ben-Ami, joined the Israeli army—a decision which ended their romance. Nevertheless, intimate love letters Darwish wrote to her in Hebrew—kept secret for decades and later revealed in the documentary, Write Down, I am an Arab (2014)—stands as a testament to how love, ruptured by political and ideological divide, is silently endured.

This silenced love is reflected in the famed 1966 poem, Rita and the Rifle, where Darwish writes:

Oh, the silence of dusk In the morning my moon migrated to a far place Towards those honey-colored eyes And the city swept away all the singers And Rita. Between Rita and my eyes— A rifle.

The death of the romance, plagued by political violence and civil surveillance, impacted Darwish’s art. The love he held for “Rita” remains alive through his poetry, echoing across generations.

Betrayal and Forgiveness

Betrayal potentially arises in a love affair entangled in geopolitics and ideology. One such case is the well-known affair between German-American philosopher Hannah Arendt (October 14, 1906–December 4, 1975) and her professor, the influential yet controversial German thinker Martin Heidegger (September 26, 1889– May 26, 1976). Arendt first met Heidegger in late 1924 as an 18-year-old student at the University of Marburg. Their encounter subsequently sparked a relationship that would last several years—kept discreet due to Heidegger’s marriage. Yet what ultimately shadowed their bond was Heidegger’s later affiliation with the Nazi party, a betrayal that would affect both their personal connection and Arendt’s ethical reflections for decades.

It was only after their love letters were discovered in the 1980s and published that the relationship between Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger became publicly known, igniting intense scholarly debate. The controversy centered on Heidegger’s affiliation with the Nazi Party, which he joined in 1933—just as Arendt, a Jew, was fleeing Germany following a brief detainment by the Gestapo.

In his first letter to Arendt, written in February 1925, Heidegger confesses:

“I will never be able to call you mine, but from now on you will belong in my life, and it shall grow with you.”

A year later, Arendt had broken off the relationship with Heidegger following her move to the University of Heidelberg. However, they continued to correspond into the early 1930s. In April of 1928, a letter from Arendt reflects the depth of their enduring love:

“I love you as I did on the first day—you know that, and I have always known it, even before this reunion. The path you showed me is longer and more difficult than I thought.”

In 1929, on her wedding day, Arendt writes:

“Do not forget me, and do not forget how much and how deeply I know that our love has become the blessing of my life. This knowledge cannot be shaken, not even today ...”

She closes the letter affectionately:

“I kiss your brow and your eyes, Your Hannah”

After a long silence—likely prompted by Heidegger’s Nazi affiliation—Arendt, now in her second marriage, chose to reconcile with him in 1950, not as a romantic partner, but as an intellectual peer. This decision was triggered by their first reunion in Freiburg that same year. The posthumous publication of their postwar letters later revealed the depth and complexity of this renewed connection, leading many scholars to reexamine how Heidegger’s influence and their relationship shaped Arendt’s thought, as Adrent is considered one of the most influential political theorists of the twentieth century.

In The Human Condition (1958), Arendt introduces the concept of natality—the capacity for new beginnings. For her, human freedom is rooted in the ability to initiate anew, even in the wake of betrayal and historical trauma. Natality enables reconciliation not by erasing the past, but by narrating and accepting it, and by exercising judgment toward both past and future.

While reconciliation has its limits—especially in cases of crimes where justice demands accountability—Arendt viewed both reconciliation and nonreconciliation as acts of political judgment. Both are judgments of the past and future and thought and action. These judgments, which require one to think from the standpoint of everyone else and reflect beyond ideological divisions, open the possibility for forgiveness and reconciliation. This framework may illuminate Arendt’s postwar reconciliation with Heidegger, which unfolded through a series of affectionate and intellectually vibrant correspondences between the two philosophers.

Furthermore, Arendt envisioned a shared world of plurality, where difference and equality coexist—not a nation-state founded on ethnic exclusivity. This vision was likely shaped by her lived experience: years spent in exile as a Jew, and her conflicted yet compassionate relationship with Heidegger.

Historical Trauma: Beginning Anew

Even in the face of political oppression and ideological division, love can flourish—persisting between those on opposing sides. Darwish and Tamar’s relationship demonstrates that, in such circumstances, loving “the Other” becomes a political act. His poems have become part of Palestine’s collective memory, shaping how a people remember their past and imagine their future—how they perceive and respond to historical trauma.

In Arendt’s perspective—shaped by her lived experience—historical trauma should not justify vengeance, but rather open a path toward beginning anew: to acknowledge irreversible loss and envision the future. This suggests that even in the face of devastation, forgiveness and reconciliation are key to peace-building—actions that enable coexistence grounded in plurality, dignity, and equality within and across nations. On the ground, this entails a journey of judgment that ensures the meaningful representation of survivors and marginalized groups—including women, though Arendt does not explicitly address gender—in the processes of truth-telling, testimony, inclusive dialogue, and the honoring of collective memory. Could Arendt’s vision help address today’s atrocities?

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2025)

#history #literature #ideology #politics #Palestine #Germany #WorldWar2 #films #fascism

You might be interested to read: The Salute of Tyranny

Images: Darwish via arablit.org; Arendt by Fred Stein via deutschland.de

Sources:

Berkowitz, Roger (2017) ‘1. Reconciling Oneself to the Impossibility of Reconciliation: Judgment and Worldliness in Hannah Arendt’s Politics.’ In Roger Berkowitz and I. Storey (eds.) Artifacts of Thinking: Reading Hannah Arendt's Denktagebuch. New York, USA: Fordham University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780823272204-002.

Çubukçu, Ayça (2025) ‘Arendt, Gaza and Personal Responsibility Under Genocide’, Critical Legal Thinking. https://criticallegalthinking.com/2025/02/03/arendt-gaza-and-personal-responsibility-under-genocide [11 August 2025].

McMahan, Luke (2024) ‘Rita… Love Me: A Poem by Mahmoud Darwish’, Arab America. https://www.arabamerica.com/rita-love-me-a-poem-by-mahmoud-darwish [8 August 2025].

Murray, Eóin (2008) ‘Obligations of Love, Obligations of Politics’, Poetry Ireland. https://www.poetryireland.ie/writers/articles/obligations-of-love-obligations-of-politics [10 August 2025].

Poem Hunter (2013) Rita and the Rifle—Poem by Mahmoud Darwish https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/rita-and-the-rifle/ [8 August 2025].

Popova, Maria (2016) ‘The Remarkable Love Letters of Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger’, The Marginalian. https://www.themarginalian.org/2016/04/25/hannah-arendt-martin-heidegger-love-letters [8 August 2025].

Puspapertiwi, Erwina Rachmi and Sari Hardiyanto (2023) ‘Kisah Mahmoud Darwish, Penyair Palestina yang Jatuh Cinta pada Perempuan Yahudi.’ Kompas.com. https://www.kompas.com/tren/read/2023/12/08/133000065/kisah-mahmoud-darwish-penyair-palestina-yang-jatuh-cinta-pada-perempuan?page=all#page2 [8 August 2025].

Wasserstein, David J. (2012) ‘Prince of Poets’, The American Scholar. https://theamericanscholar.org/prince-of-poets [10 August 2025].

POPULAR TOPICS #subculture Gurlesque: Poetics of the Bizarre, Ugly, and Feminine #films Mrs. Robinson, Countercultures, and Politics #history The Dutch Golden Age, Golden for Whom? I also write articles here: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/

The theme of International Women’s Day (IWD) for March 8th, 2025 is “Accelerate Action for Gender Equality”. How can this be achieved? The IWD website highlights several key areas for action to accelerate gender equality. One important area is economic empowerment for women, and another is legal and policy reform. These areas are interconnected through labor rights, reproductive rights, and unpaid care work, among other issues. Looking back over a century ago, it was these same issues that prompted the need for an international day dedicated to women.

Key milestones in the history of the establishment of International Women’s Day (IWD) include the alleged all-women garment workers' strike in New York City on March 8th, 1857, which addressed demands for shorter working hours, better working conditions, and equal pay. Another significant event occurred on March 8th, 1908, when women workers in the needle trades marched through New York City. Although the historical validity of these two New York events in connection to IWD remains questionable, they continue to be cited in some narratives.

What can be validated is that in 1909, the Socialist Party of America organized the first National Women’s Day on February 28th. A year later, the idea of an International Women’s Day was proposed by Clara Zetkin at the Second International Socialist Women's Congress. Subsequently, the first IWD was observed on March 19th, 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. In 1921, Zetkin proposed that March 8th be the official date of IWD to commemorate the Petrograd women workers' strike on that day in 1917, an event marking the beginning of the Russian Revolution.

Zetkin, a renowned German socialist of the 20th century—often referred to as the mother of International Women’s Day—was not only a staunch advocate for women’s labor rights, but also recognized that women’s oppression was deeply connected to motherhood and unpaid domestic labor. Zetkin argued that the sexual division of labor, including women’s reproductive roles and domestic responsibilities, is a key source of inequality in the home, which, in turn, limited women’s full labor participation and hindered their full emancipation.

Zetkin advocated for child-rearing practices that are free from gender roles, emphasizing the importance of teaching domestic responsibilities to both boys and girls. She believed that raising and educating children should be the shared responsibility of both parents, not solely the mother's role. To enable both parents to participate fully in public life, Zetkin called for state intervention in domestic life, such as the provision of state-supported daycare.

Throughout history, IWD celebrations have spotlighted critical issues, including labor protections (such as equal pay for equal work, labor protection laws, and minimum wage standards); women’s political rights (the right to vote); equal access to education; and women's reproductive rights and protections for mothers and children (e.g., maternity leave and healthcare). Today, according to IWD 2025, accelerating gender equality includes promoting women’s economic empowerment through paid maternity and paternity leave, improved access to financial services for women, and the recognition, redistribution, and reduction of women’s unpaid care work. This includes advocating for flexible work policies and childcare support.

So here we are today with many of the same issues as a century ago.

In terms of policy reforms, there have been successes; however, the outcomes remain insufficient.

For example, Sweden is a pioneer in parental leave, introducing state-mandatory paternity leave as early as 1974. Decades of government initiatives in Sweden have narrowed gender inequality in the workplace, increased gender equality in childcare at home, and established Sweden as one of the world’s most egalitarian countries. Nevertheless, statistics reveal that women still perform a larger proportion of unpaid care work. In Sweden, women spend about 3.7 hours on unpaid care work (including housework), while men spend around 2.9 hours (OECD Stats, 2023).

Furthermore, while these policy reforms have advanced gender equality, they have not adequately addressed protection against gender-based violence.

Iceland, for example, has closed more than 90% of its gender gap through significant reforms in health, education, political empowerment, economic participation, and other sectors, earning its reputation as one of the safest countries in the world. Ironically, women are not safe inside the home. Data from 2023 reveals a concerning rise in domestic violence in Iceland over recent years (Statista, 2024). In fact, the country’s rate of gender-based violence surpasses the European Union (EU) average.

The IWD 2025 website highlights combating gender-based violence as a step toward accelerating gender equality. Ironically, the reality remains that even important advancements in gender equality have often fallen short of ensuring a safe environment for women.

While celebrating achievements and milestones is undoubtedly important, we also need to dedicate more time to reflecting on what is still not working. It’s discouraging that, over a century since the inception of International Women’s Day, we are still struggling with many of the same issues. Women have come a long way, but at times, we have been running in place. Unfortunately, this condition has been exacerbated in recent years by political changes that have created more challenges for gender equality.

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2025)

Updated on March 10th, 2025 to include explanation of key milestones

You might be interested to read: Remembering Rosa on May Day

Visit my other blog: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/

#women #history #socialism #Germany #Russia #US

Image: Statute of Clara Zetkin in Leipzig (via Pinterest)

Sources:

Amnesty International (2009) Women make history. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2009/02/mujeres-hacen-historia-20090227/ [7 March 2025].

BBC News (2024) Is Iceland the best place in the world to be a woman? https://youtu.be/h_y4xMOKWUM?si=Ehja0Pb25tikVKRs [21 December 2024].

Encyclopedia Britannica (n.d.) Why Is Women’s History Month Celebrated in March? https://www.britannica.com/story/why-is-womens-history-month-celebrated-in-march [8 March 2025].

International Women's Day (2025) What are some key ways to ACCELERATE ACTION for gender equality? https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Missions/20724/key-ways-to-ACCELERATE-ACTION [7 March 2025].

Johannes Kepler Universität Linz (n.d.) The History Behind March 8. JKU. https://www.jku.at/en/department-for-equality-equitable-opportunities-and-diversity/gender-diversity-management-unit/the-advancement-of-women-at-the-jku/march-8-international-womens-day/a-history-of-the-advancement-of-women/ [8 March 2025].

OECD Stats (2023) Time spent in paid and unpaid work, by sex. stats.oecd.org [18 December 2023].

Statista (2024) Number of domestic conflicts and violence in Iceland from 2015 to 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1463279/number-of-domestic-violence-cases-in-iceland/ [22 December 2024].

The Hindu (2025) ‘International Women’s Day: when women marched for Bread and Roses.’ https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/international-womens-day-2025-history-of-womens-day-when-women-marched-for-bread-and-roses/article69302167.ece [8 March 2025].

POPULAR TOPICS #subculture Gurlesque: Poetics of the Bizarre, Ugly, and Feminine #films Mrs. Robinson, Countercultures, and Politics #history The Dutch Golden Age, Golden for Whom? I also write articles here: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/

He hit me and it felt like a kiss He hit me and I knew he loved me If he didn't care for me I could have never made him mad But he hit me and I was glad

A verse from a sickening love song? Confusing love with violence? Misogynist? Antifeminist? This song, “He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)” was written by Carole King and (then husband) Gerry Goffin, and released in 1962. It was sung by the chart topper female singers of the era, the Crystals, and produced by Phil Spector—considered by some as one of the geniuses of the music industry. Was the song’s theme a reflection of its times, when there was less understanding about domestic violence? Not really. In fact, after the song was released and had gotten airplay, protests soon emerged causing the song to lose radio promotion. King herself later even declared her regret over her involvement in the song.

The idea of the song came from a conversation with the couple's babysitter, Little Eva, who became a singer and had a big, albeit brief, success with the song “The Loco-Motion” (which King and Goffin wrote for her the same year). King and Goffin realized that Little Eva (her real name, Eva Boyd) was being beaten by her boyfriend regularly. However, Eva believed that his violent actions toward her were an expression, and even proof, of his love for her, using the controversial phrase as she explained to King and Goffin; hence, the title and lyrics of the song.

As controversial as the phrase in the song is, other artists have covered the song. Notably, Hole has covered the song and performed it on MTV Unplugged in 1995, where lead singer, Courtney Love introduced the song as “a really sick song” (but Hole chose to cover it, I assume they have a deeper perspective about the song). At the end of the song, she sarcastically commented, “Nice feminist anthem.”

Still, I beg the question, is “He Hit Me” really a sick song?

Lana Del Rey used the line “He hit me and it felt like a kiss” in her 2014 song “Ultraviolence” (as a reference to the song, as she typically references lines from other songs). This has brought some vicious criticism, accusing her of glamorizing domestic violence and setting women back hundreds of years. In response, Del Rey stated, “I’ve been honest about the challenging relationships I’ve had. That’s just how it is for many women.” She also argued, “There has to be a place in feminism for women who look and act like me … the kind of women who get their own stories and voices taken away from them by stronger women or by men who hate women.”

However, Del Rey had said in an interview that she now omits the line during performances of ‘Ultraviolence’ for the reason that it could be triggering for survivors of abuse in the audience.

Still, I beg the question, is “He Hit Me” really a sick song? Was King and Goffin so distasteful in writing such a song? Is it Antifeminist? Was Del Rey using the controversial phrase to create a distorted image of violence against women?

Well, if we think about it, King and Goffin, just as Del Rey, were telling a story through their song by reflecting on a situation or experience, and revealed a snapshot of reality through their lyrics. Certainly, that’s what artists and writers do through their work. It does not always mean it is an endorsement, on the contrary, it can be a critique of society, as we know many artists and writers do this.

There should be a space for survivors to voice themselves, not a platform for others to dictate the narrative.

In reality, many women and survivors of gender-based violence have confusing emotions about what they are experiencing or have experienced because of the society that we are raised in, where women are treated like property; where ownership of the female in heterosexual relationships is romanticized as love.

I think the last verse of the song illustrates my point.

Yes, he hit me and it felt like a kiss He hit me and I knew I loved him And then he took me in his arms With all the tenderness there is And when he kissed me, he made me his

There should be a space for survivors to voice themselves, not a platform for others to dictate the narrative. We praise Gisèle Pelicot for owning the narrative and deconstructing the shame of rape. Nevertheless, empowerment is a complicated process. We cannot turn a blind eye on or shame and blame survivors for how they feel.

(Looks like this is my last post for 2024 on this blog, Happy New Year!)

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2024)

#music #gender

You might be interested to read: FEMICIDE: Crimes of Passion, Honor, and War

Image: Lana Del Rey by Nicole Nodland (theguardian.com, 2012)

(updated 2 January 2025)

Sources:

Taysom, Joe (2022) 'The controversial lyric Lana Del Rey now refuses to sing.' Far Out Magazine. https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/controversial-lyric-lana-del-rey-refuses-to-sing/ [Accessed 2 June 2024].

Wikipedia (2024) He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss) https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=He_Hit_Me_(And_It_Felt_Like_a_Kiss) [Accessed 31 December 2024].

Wikipedia (2024) Little Eva. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Eva [Accessed 31 December 2024].

POPULAR TOPICS #subculture Gurlesque: Poetics of the Bizarre, Ugly, and Feminine #films Mrs. Robinson, Countercultures, and Politics #history The Dutch Golden Age, Golden for Whom? I also write articles here: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/

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 lives (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 #gender #women #counterculture

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.

POPULAR TOPICS #subculture Gurlesque: Poetics of the Bizarre, Ugly, and Feminine #films Mrs. Robinson, Countercultures, and Politics #history The Dutch Golden Age, Golden for Whom? I also write articles here: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/

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)

#gender #labor #work #sociology #class #men #mentalhealth #US #Europe

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

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].

POPULAR TOPICS #subculture Gurlesque: Poetics of the Bizarre, Ugly, and Feminine #films Mrs. Robinson, Countercultures, and Politics #history The Dutch Golden Age, Golden for Whom? I also write articles here: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/