Feminism Today – The Five Most Important Questions

“To have a child or not – that’s the choice we’ve got.” For a long time the sovereignty over a woman’s own body was one of the most important feminist demands. This is still, in fact, the case, but under different circumstances

For too long, comics has been a male-dominated domain, over the past fifteen years, many women have worked hard to end that dominance. 

Ever since her 2014 cult parody Les hommes et la BD (“Men and Comics”), Lisa Mandel and the Collective of Female Comics Creators Against Sexism have been staking out a place for women in the world of comics. An uphill battle – and long overdue.

In Bodentiefe Fenster (Floor-to-Ceiling Window), Anke Stelling memorialized the mothers of Prenzelauer Berg so bitingly that many found her book to be only “malicious”. Under the pretty title Fürsorge (Care), she told of the incestuous love between a dancer and her son, and thereby drew connections to the abysses of quite unspectacularly “normal” motherhood. In our interview she talks about the sinister sides of motherhood and care work – and her visions of successful co-existence.

As the other half of the artistic duo, NAF, the Stuttgart sound engineer, performer and musician, Fender Schrade, has been shaking the very foundations of the way people view gender. This is a conversation about what it is like to be a trans* in the music scene, and about why feminism is the root of everything.

At the beginning of 2019, population registers in Germany were amended to include a third gender category. The option box is headed ‘divers’, which translates as ‘miscellaneous’ or ‘other’, and it was introduced for a dual purpose: to remove the burden from parents faced with deciding an intersex child’s future and to show that being different can also be normal.

​When it comes to femininity, the German-Polish artist, Justyna Koeke, goes against the flow. But why does she send old ladies dressed as fairy-tale princesses down the catwalk and lure sex-starved men via Tinder to take part in her photo sessions?

Menstruation is rarely discussed in India, because women on their periods are considered to be impure. With the aim of eliminating misunderstandings about menstruation, Aditi Gupta, together with her husband Tuhin Paul, has launched the educational comic Menstrupedia, which has been translated into 15 languages.

In 2015 Marie Beauchesne started up a feminist fashion label to contest entrenched standards of feminine beauty. In these very personal remarks, she explains why we need more sisterhood in our society.

Is everyday racism becoming more and more socially acceptable in Germany? This is a presentation of six artists who, in their novels, videos, theatre plays, music and installations, take a clear position on the issues in the most absurd, astute and badass ways.

Greek women gradually attained equality before the law over the course of the 20th century. Traditional gender roles have changed, but old habits die hard and feminists still have to speak out against everyday discrimination and advocate for lasting reforms. 

If you're looking for information about feminist issues, there's plenty of guidance to be found online. Women's rights are a trending topic in social networks, and new narrative formats are being created.

Dashing young men, docile beauties, languorous glances – in Indian films gender roles are usually clearly defined. However, a growing number of Indian women are increasingly unwilling to accept the stereotypes.

When it comes to feminism in Taiwan, novelist Li Ang remembers the old American anti-war song “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” and asks where feminism has gone in present-day society.

Japan is a country where it is difficult for a married person to be feminist. The reasons to marry are very individual, but the foggy field between marriage and the associated inequalities is a strain for many people.

Is the internet accelerating the end of patriarchy? Vanda Černohorská researches how online activists are changing society.