Not Straight from Germany: Sexual Politics and Sexual Citizenship since Magnus Hirschfeld
2018; Oxford University Press; Volume: 36; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/gerhis/ghy044
ISSN1477-089X
Autores Tópico(s)Communism, Protests, Social Movements
ResumoThe success of the German crime drama Babylon Berlin attests to the enduring appeal of early twentieth-century Germany, especially when it comes to the topics of sexuality and gender. In academia, there has been a flurry of new publications recently focusing on these topics, for example Robert Beachy’s Gay Berlin (Knopf, 2014), Laurie Marhoefer’s Sex and the Weimar Republic (Toronto, 2015), and Scott Spector’s Violent Sensations (Chicago, 2016). The edited collection Not Straight from Germany is in good company and distinguishes itself by fusing together academic essays with a discussion and reproduction of some of the art shown at the PopSex! exhibition put on in Calgary in January 2011. The title of the book may lead potential readers to assume that it concentrates on homosexuality, which was of course a chief concern of Magnus Hirschfeld’s medical and political work. However, the true focus of this book is Hirschfeld’s Institute for Sexual Science, which played many roles during its short time in existence. It housed a research facility, a medical clinic, a counselling centre, a museum, a library and archive and offices for the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee, WhK). Both the essays and the artworks represented in the collection, consequently, throw light on a variety of different dimensions of sexuality in early twentieth-century Germany.
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