How do you say misogyny in German? Grünkohlessen
Good morning,
I hope you had a nice weekend and feel recharged enough to jump into a fun little deep dive on sexism, misogyny and kale (yes, the vegetable) with me. You'd rather not? Then feel free to scroll down to the pop culture pleasure bit at the bottom, no hard feelings.
I landed on this heavy topic because within one week I had stumbled upon two infuriating examples of men trying to block women from gaining power and advancing their careers.
🎧 It all started with the Skimm'd from the Couch podcast. The recent episode features an interview with award-winning journalist and war reporter Ann Curry. A woman, who has had a remarkable career in media, a career that started at a time when there were none to few female reporters seen on TV. Curry recounts how in her first job, she was told that "women have no news judgement" and therefore don't belong in the newsroom. Wow. Yeah. This happened in the 80s, but it reminded me of an instance during my own journalism traineeship. I interviewed some finance exec, who afterwards asked me whether I had *really* come up with the questions myself. Ugh.
For the next example I'll have to switch to German, sorry. Tl;dr: Once a year, an organization in Osnabrück, comparable to the Rotary Club, invites 1.000 of the region's most influential people to a kale dinner networking event. And by people I mean men. Women are only allowed to serve the food. Do they plan to change this? Sure. "Once the catholic church installs a female pope." Welcome to the Germany of 2019.
🇩🇪 So, und jetzt der Reihe nach: Es geht um die "Osnabrücker Mahlzeit", ein jährliches Grünkohlessen, ausgerichtet vom Osnabrücker Verkehrsverein. Es ist ein prestigeträchtiges Event, von dem Frauen kategorisch ausgeschlossen sind – und es auch weiterhin bleiben werden, obwohl die Grünen in diesem Jahr hart gegen diese Diskriminierung gekämpft haben.
Die Begründung des Vereins ist ein echtes Totschlagargument: Es gibt diese Veranstaltung seit 1954 und da musste man auch keine Frauen einladen. Ende der Diskussion.
Wie die Verantwortlichen auf den Vorwurf von Sexismus reagieren ist haarsträubend peinlich bis offen frauenfeindlich. "Ob und wann die gesellschaftliche Entwicklung dahin gehen könnte, dass solche Veranstaltungen auch für Frauen geöffnet werden, vermag ich nicht zu sagen.", sagte zum Beispiel der Vereinsvorstand Hans-Jürgen Fip der NOZ – und stellt so in nur einem Satz die Gleichberechtigung der Geschlechter generell in Frage. Fip ist übrigens auch Alt-Oberbürgermeister von Osnabrück. Mega.
Auch der Vorsitzende des Vereins, Felix Osterheider, glänzte mit unreflektierten – oder ganz einfach, dummen – Aussagen. Eine Auswahl: Regt euch nicht auf, frauenfeindliche Witze sind "kein inhaltlicher Kern dieser Veranstaltung" und eine "Altherrenkiste" sei es auch nicht, schließlich seien auch eine Menge junge Männer dabei (noch schlimmer!).
Man könnte über so viel Rückwärtsdenken müde lächeln, aber es sind genau solche antiquierten Männerbünde, die strukturellen Sexismus weitertragen und ein Miteinander auf Augenhöhe blockieren. 🇩🇪
🇬🇧 Wow, sorry about that German rant. Last, hopefully helpful, bit on the matter: I found this excellent Vox-interview with philosophy professor Kate Manne, where she untangles sexism and misogyny. Sexism, she says, is the ideology that supports patriarchal social relations, while "misogyny is the law enforcement branch of patriarchy". So, prohibiting women from taking part in a networking event is the misogynistic act required to keep the structures of the patriarchal old boys' club in place.
🌻 Alright, switching topics. How do you feel about those last weeks of summer? You know, days getting shorter, colleagues returning from their holidays, city kicking back into gear etc.? Depending on the day I either feel very depressed or very excited about this change of season. Helena Fitzgerald calls this time of year "bad summer" and I found her musings on the concept heartbreakingly beautiful.
"That’s the thing about bad summer: You need to do the next thing already, you have been here too long, you are idling in the car outside of a door where someone is late and you are double-parked, you were supposed to have left already."
📺 Finally, #popculturepleasures! I'm currently bingeing – and yes, I'm late to the party – The Marvellous Mrs Maisel. It's a brilliant hybrid of Gilmore Girls (same writer) and Mad Men (New York in the 50s), two shows I absolutely adore. It's the story of a young, privileged housewife from the Upper West Side who starts a stand-up comedy career after her husband leaves her for his secretary. I find it a perfect mix of light entertainment and exposing period piec
Just like Gilmore Girls, the show lives off its artistic, lightning speed dialogues, a defining feature of Amy Sherman-Palladinos writing: "Every character talks a mile a minute, and they do it in a highly patterned, reference-laden, ping-pong dialogue style that’s more aspirational than it is realistic." I LOVE IT.
Thanks for hanging with me, less ranting next time, promise!
Have a lovely week,
Anna