Hanover: Writer Susanne Kaiser researches “Political Masculinity”
For your book “Political Masculinity” you dealt with frustrated and offended men, with misogynists, misogynists and woman murderers. The book was published two years ago. Were you glad that dealing with this topic came to an end?
She had no end. I continued to work on the topic. There were an insane number of requests for discussions about the book, although I continued to research the subject afterwards. The topic also grabbed me, I have the feeling that I’m far from finished. That’s why I’m now working on my next book, in which I’ll deal with the subject in a different way.
On which?
It’s about violence against women, about misogyny. In a way, it is also a look into the bedrooms. “The Feminist Paradox. How equal rights breed violence against women” is the hot topic. Unfortunately, we see quite clearly how equality through threatened masculinity turns into hatred when we look, for example, at online hatred against successful women in former “male domains”. Similar dynamics can also be seen in partnerships, just behind closed doors and much more secretly.
“Political Masculinity” is also about men who feel new as a result of the rise in gender theory and feminism. They have dealt with involuntarily celibate men who blame women for their situation, or with right-wing extremists like Björn Höcke, who had publicly demanded that men should rediscover their masculinity. Why is this more than just a side issue?
Because the decline of dominant masculinity is perceived as a loss in broad circles of society. Because the idea that men have to be strong and superior and always in control is still so common. In addition, of course, there are also privileges, privileges, dominant roles and the importance of men. We see how an authoritarian populist movement has formed, made up of very different factions – right-wingers, fundamentalists, masculinists – that want to restore patriarchy and have made masculinity a political program. The authoritarian backlash is male, we’ve overlooked that for far too long.
To person
Susanne Kaiser, born in 1980, is a journalist and political advisor. She writes for Die Zeit, Neue Zürcher Zeitung and Spiegel, among others. On Monday, April 4th, she will present her book “Political Masculinity. “How incels, fundamentalists and authoritarians mobilize for the patriarchy” (Suhrkamp Verlag, 268 pages, 18 euros) at 8 p.m. in Hanover in the Literary Salon.
What options are there to break this up?
It is indeed very difficult. So much comes together here. A change also means the insult of a male attitude of entitlement. It’s about the claim to be the norm according to which everything else has to be based, or – if we think of language – to be the universal from which everything else is only a derivative. All of this is being questioned. It’s about an identity that is lost. And that’s not easy. Actually, we need alternative concepts of masculinity – but what should they look like? What is masculinity if it doesn’t rule, is dominant, superior and associated with control? Something like “paternal masculinity” is perhaps more simply humanity. Also, taking care of children is traditionally associated with femininity.
What would be the place to encourage such a change? The school?
Schools and day-care centers are certainly good places to break down role ideals and gender stereotypes. And “gender” as a school subject or, in principle, rights and protection of political minorities in democracies would certainly also be a good idea. It’s about even more: discrimination, misanthropic attitudes and how to shape an inclusive society.
In April you will present your book “Political Masculinity” at the Literary Salon in Hanover. Will you do updates for this?
The book WILL be out in English in May, so I had to update it a bit for that alone. Just because Trump is no longer president doesn’t mean that the big right-wing lobby in the US has disappeared. And we can see from the war in Ukraine that the topic has to be updated more and more.
But the war cannot be explained by the issue of political masculinity alone.
Of course not. But the perception and discussion of Putin’s attack WILL BE linked to the issue of soldierly masculinity in some circles in the West. It is striking how the conservative right-wing in parts of Europe and also in the USA celebrates Putin as a real strongman who resists wokeness, feminism and the softening of society. He’s the man who takes what he wants, and that’s admired by some. Or our ability to defend is questioned, which is no longer guaranteed by a feminist domestic and foreign policy.
Today (Tuesday) is International Women’s Day. What does this date mean to you?
As a Berliner, this date means a lot to me, after all it’s a public holiday. I’m happy about that. It is important that around the date the situation of women, feminism and equal rights are discussed in particular. But it is also significant that so we need a special day of the year, a single day out of 365.
Do we need him too?
Yes, in any case. The ideal of equality applies, but actually we are still a long way from it, which is why International Women’s Day is an important day. And I would wish that men would also take this day seriously and perhaps think about how they can deal with this new strengthening of political masculinity. And what advantages they have from an equal society.
By Ronald Meyer-Arlt