Stefan Micheler / Heike Schader
Gleichberechtigung als Ideal?
Partnerschaftsmodelle Männer begehrender Männer und Frauen begehrender Frauen in der Weimarer Republik
Equality as the Ideal?
Models of partnership of same-sex desiring men and women in Weimar Germany
English abstract
An ideal concept of same-sex partnerships that was fundamentally tied to a characteristic homosexual identity and in opposition to bourgeois marriage became generally accepted during the 1920s in German speaking countries. No cultural predecessors could be relied upon however many same-sex desiring men and women adopted the love ideal of romantic (heterosexual) marriage for themselves.
Same-sex desiring people considered the equality of partners as an important aspect in the discussion about concepts of relationships. The majority of same-sex desiring men, who voiced their opinions in the homosexual magazines of the twenties, rejected the model of "pedagogic Eros" - the bond between an older man as teacher and a younger one as pupil. For same-sex desiring women the performance of hierarchical relationships was an issue in fiction rather than in everyday life.
One of the issues that influenced same-sex desiring people's thinking about relationships was the theory of "gender-immanent proportions", developed by sex scientist and based on social stereotypes. Whereas same-sex desiring women reacted positively towards the idea of the reversal of "Geschlechtscharakter" in same-sex desiring people and incorporated it in their concepts of desire in virile and feminine homosexual women; most same-sex desiring men rejected the idea of gender polarisation in man-manly relationships. Outside of relationships every homosexual woman was seen as virile.
Same sex-desiring people of the twenties developed a great variety of attitudes towards sexual faith and the disappearance of sexual desire in relationships that are still common in contemporary society. Some of the patterns came exclusive from same-sex desiring people and had never been developed for different-sex desiring people before.