The Idea Of The “New Woman” In Weimar Republic
The defeat of Germany in WWI politically brought about not only the Weimar Republic but also the emersion of what historians will call the “new woman”. Many historians argue three explanations for why and how this political and intellectual prominent figure of the “new woman” came to be in the Weimar Republic. These three explanations include a “crisis of masculinity”, demographics, and the embodiment of modern ways of life. The “crisis of masculinity” stems from WWI itself. During and after WWI gender roles transitioned leaving many men feeling emasculated and inferior to women.
The demographic explanation convenes around the idea that the “new woman” who a majority demographically were unmarried and conscious of sexual desires, would bring about peril to the “racial” future of the Weimar Republic. Lastly the modernity aspect of the “new woman” is highly unlikely because many groups were for the modernization of Germany. In order to properly explain how the “new woman” appeared as beings of the future Rṻdiger Graf states that one must understand the temporal structures of discourse, sketch the relationship between gender and visions for the future of Germany, analyze the way in which the woman was perceived and attacked, and show how this ultimately changed the understanding of the “new woman” and the Republic itself.
In this article Graf establishes the argument that “the concept of the 'new woman' and its specific temporal structure can be seen further as a paradigm case for Weimar political and intellectual debates in general, because of this 'New women' were conceptualized as anticipations of the future and thus need to be situated and understood in front of the broader horizon of expectation….”. He establishes this argument by explaining the sequence of how this “new woman” emerged and its effect on the Weimar republic. He establishes this argument in carefully laid out sections covering the pressing need for future knowledge, the transformation of gender roles, and the backlash/support women seemed to have throughout the entirety of this period. Through these passages one can see the author’s thesis come to life. This review will describe the article in its entirety as support to back the author’s thesis and to further explain the importance of the “new woman” in this time.
Most visions or expectations of the future of Germany historically are impossible to find due to the fact that many were kept private. Journals, Politicians, and scholars historically are the best insight into the Weimar Republic’s expectations for the future of the communal whole. Many questions concerning the well-being of the future and changes that may occur had to be addressed in this time period. Many of these questions never had a pessimistic undertone or passivity. Overwhelmingly the attitudes of pessimism only came to play only against the idea of hope in a malleable future and the distinct opportunity for a better life. Most people believed in this time that originality and the opportunity to change the future themselves were the only ways to view the future. The Weimar Republic, according to Graf, was the definitive realization of the lack of optimism for the future. Extremists on both sides of the political spectrum viewed the Republic as an obstacle they had to overcome.
According to Graf, secure knowledge of the future can never truly be obtained but the idea of National Socialism seemed to be close enough. Thus the revolutionary idea that National Socialism would carry the future of the German Nation through its youth or younger people was born. The 'new woman' engaged a similar abstract space within the horizon of expectations of the future in Weimar Germany. Before WWI women were connected to visions of the future through gender relations being prominent in utopian texts, the Marxist idea of the emancipation of women to be an indicator for historical development, and the women’s movement of the nineteenth century’s portrayal of women positioning vision for the future.
Regulation of marriage and education of all women played key roles in many of the utopian texts of this time and the times before it. The utopian argument of freeing women and allowing them to choose partners to create superior children set forth various interactions as did Marxist social philosophies. According to Marx the emancipation of women could again signal the historical development needed to lead to deliverance in a communist nation. This in return would ultimately lead to the idea of socially and economically independent women who were equal to men. Even further the women’s movement of this era also pushed towards this emancipation of women, not because women are similar to men but because they are different. This emerging belief would fuel the personality of the “new woman” in the Weimar Republic, thus further supporting Graf’s thesis.
The end of WWI signaled for both genders a plethora of new opportunities to shape the malleable future of Germany. Women received civic rights in a transformation that showed the world that the “new woman” had to partake in responsibilities and help shape the near future. Women were taking front row seats into the reformation of Germany, which had not been seen before. Women were jumping at these new opportunities to express themselves and creatively shape the future of their country. During the upheaval of the war and the catastrophic loss of male lives during WWI the reality of women taking on a larger role in society was already in place and had been throughout the war. Women were partaking in all parts of society working towards the common goal of creating a better future for Germany. Thus reiterating this idea of the creation of a “new woman” during this time. People viewed this creation according to Graf as either “promising or terrifying”. Media also helped in promoting this image of the “new woman” in advertisements and all forms of media. They modeled quite often after the United States and the French since these countries were viewed as futuristic countries are countries of the future. These advertisements also conveyed the sexual freedom mentioned earlier that emancipated women.
Great Emphasis then landed on sexual liberation and the development not only of the “new woman” but new relationships between men and women. A lot of people were supportive in the role women were starting to play but others simply would not have it. The only way these people could see women as being anticipators of the future was by the means that simply they had the children of the future generations that were the future itself. It did not matter which stance one took on the emergence of the “new woman” Graf argues that it was the product of the natural sequence of things and was bound to happen. The Republic and the rise of Hitler would prove differently. In the National Socialist ideology, there was no space for an autonomous 'new woman' in retrospect to the future because this role had already been taken by the Führer, the S.A., and the National Socialist movement. This ideology argued the fact that freedom should be for all who anticipate the future of Germany not just women. This supports the claim of Graf that in order to view women as anticipators for the future in the present one must analyze the way in which the woman was perceived and attacked and must understand the ties of the relationship between gender and visions for the future of Germany which set the path for a new culture and society to emerge.
The idea and emergence of the “new woman” was not by any means easy. Despite the differing perspectives the “new woman” was, according to Graf, woman 'always appeared as an anticipation of the future in the present. Because of this specific temporal structure of the concept, the 'new woman' was highly contested”. The end of WWI brought about an enormous space for political and social reformations but the intense need for knowledge of the future of Germany after the war lingered. The “new woman” was a way to try to tie to present to the future. The “new woman” symbolized the idea of “modern” relations in the sense that they tried to anticipate and secure a better future for Germany. This sequential assembly connected the 'new woman' to other beings of the future and made her an example for Weimar political and social cultural and transformation.
