Play Gender

Activism and Pop Culture Have a Gender

What happens when theory meets everyday pop culture? When left-wing activists engage with feminism and Queer Theory? How can feminist concepts be put into practice – when organizing concerts, making films that promote emancipation, throwing parties or navigating everyday life? Play Gender presents activist, (queer-)feminist approaches and interventions in both pop-cultural and political contexts, deliberately including perspectives from men. The book brings together contributions on growing older in pop culture, Critical Whiteness, sexism within the radical left and gender in club culture. Activists also report on places such as Conne Island in Leipzig, campaigns such as Slutwalk, their projects and experiences, while cultural practitioners offer practical advice on their own work. Roundtable discussions explore what feminist media work can achieve and how political theatre can be.

The focus is not only on what connects different generations, but also on whether and how interventions in the fields of feminism and gender have brought about change in German-speaking countries in recent years. Artists, cultural practitioners and left-wing activists reflect on these questions, as well as on how engaging with gender in everyday life concretely affects their work and what utopias they pursue.

FEMINISM

Mithu M. Sanyal: Something New in the West. Why We Are Debating Sexism Again

Enjoying Fluidity. Interview with Hinter den Brüsten

Ina Klären / Anne-Carina Lischewski: Slutwalk? No Fear, No Guilt, No Shame. New Forms of Activism and Old Blind Spots

[i:waibz]: 2011, the Year of the Slutwalks

One-Woman Show. Interview with Katja Röckel

Vojin Saša Vukadinovic / Melanie Groß: Musealization and Dilution. A Conversation About (Queer-)Feminism and University Culture

Andreas Kemper: History of the Pro-Feminist Men's Movement

Men's Movements & Feminism. Factions, Alliances and Protest. Interview with Sebastian Scheele

Macker Massaker: Machos with a Reflective Background

No First Names, No Photos. Interview with Stefanie Hochmuth

Anna Seidel: Network Feminism. Blogs, Hashtags and Strategies Against Hate Mail

Fiona Sara Schmidt: A Powerful Niche. A Roundtable on Feminist Media and Music Journalism

CULTURAL WORK

Sarah Diehl: ... I Came to It Like the Virgin Birth. Pro-Choice Activism and Documentary Films – An Evolutionary History

Hormones in High Demand. Interview with Françoise Cactus

Jonas Engelmann: Girl Commando. A Feminist Comic Book History

Gender Tools. Interview with Laura Landergott

Yori: Trouble X. Gender Is Performance

Hippo in the Head. Interview with Julie Miess

Tine Plesch: The Image of Women in West German Pop Music: Hip-Hop as an Example

Sookee: It's Not "Fuck Your Mother" but "Say Hello to Your Mother." Recognizing and Subverting Heterosexist Bullshit in Rap

Praise as a Practice. Interview with Sandra and Kerstin Grether

Martin Büsser: Beyond Gender Boundaries. Gender Relations in the Punk and Hardcore Scene

Making Trouble and Creating Spaces. Interview with Unrecords

Vina Yun: Crying at the Discotheque. Alternatives to the Status Quo of Club Culture

Hi, Freaks! Interview with Christina Mohr

Collective _tastique: _tastique! After the Ladyfest

Freedom to Innovate. Interview with Thomas Frank

Fiona Sara Schmidt: The Body Is a Monster. A Conversation with Julia Lämmle, Muda Mathis, Ilia Papatheodorou and Doris Uhlich

The Theoretical Accessory. Interview with Andrea B. Braidt

LEFT-WING PRACTICE

Members of the editorial collective of "Fantifa": Feminism in the Radical Left – Fantifa

The Red Zora: Militant Feminism

Clarity in the Little Things. Interview with YASMO

Claire DeCoeur: Gender Construction Site Conne Island

Martina Minette Dreier: "We Are What Is Next!"

Torsten Nagel: Fire and Flames Against the Patriarchy. Roundtable on (Queer-)Feminism in the Radical Left

Queer_Feminism Working Group of the Interventionist Left Berlin: Preventive Sick Leave

The Personal Is Political. Interview with Alva Dittrich

Mart Busche: Fear the Pale Face? The Unease of Being Unmarked

ug defma: The DEFMA Support Group Introduces Itself!! DEFMA Stands for: DIY – Emancipatory – Feminist – Militant – Autonomous