You're Dead to Me LGBTQ Life in Weimar Germany
Jul 19, 2024
Explore LGBTQ life and culture in Weimar Germany with Dr. Bodie Ashton and comedian Jordan Gray. Learn about queer club culture, magazines, and filmmaking during the Weimar Republic. Discover the political and economic circumstances that led to a flourishing LGBTQ scene in the 1920s and early 1930s.
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Culture Explosion And The New Woman
- The 1920s saw cultural and social experimentation with a relatively free press and limited censorship, producing a boom in arts and debates on gender and sexuality.
- The 'New Woman' became visible through fashion and public behavior, provoking conservative moral panic while expanding women's agency.
Magnus Hirschfeld's Scientific Emancipation
- Magnus Hirschfeld founded early queer rights organisations and in 1919 created the Institute for Sexual Science to study sexuality scientifically.
- He distinguished sexual orientation from gender identity and promoted medical approaches to gender-affirming treatments, while also holding problematic eugenic beliefs.
Groundbreaking Medicine Tied To Eugenics
- Hirschfeld's Institute combined pioneering research and early gender-affirming procedures with troubling eugenic ideas common among progressives at the time.
- The Institute offered surgeries, hormone preparations and X-ray hair removal, but Hirschfeld also supported eugenic policies.