The Masculine Woman in Weimar Germany (Monographs in German History Series)

摘要

After the First World War, social, economic and cultural changes in Weimar Germany led to the emergence of the 'New Woman', a figure that embodied a growing political involvement and a changing female ideal. One of the most noticeable characteristics of this new 'type' was the adoption of behaviour and fashion symbols more commonly considered to be masculine. In spite of the omnipresence of the 'masculine woman' in the cultural discourse of 1920s Germany, in a variety of different forms, where it functioned as an ideological template both of fascination and of rejection, the topic tackled by Katie Sutton has previously been neglected in Weimar scholarship. According to the author, this apparent oversight may be explained by an entrenched conflation of female masculinity and lesbianism, leading to the assumption that the 'masculine woman' is solely a subcultural phenomenon. Drawing on the printed media, on literature and on film, Sutton seeks to explore the issue by asking 'how discourses surrounding the "masculinization" of women were employed by Weimar commentators as both metaphor for and mirror of social change' (6-7).