Reflections of gender and sexuality in the eastern German magazine Superillu
Reflections of gender and sexuality in the eastern German magazine Superillu

Summary/Abstract: The paper offers a historical analysis of the discourse on eastern German gender and sexuality in the 1990s. As a primary source, it uses Superillu Magazine, which has existed from 1990 until today and explicitly targets an eastern German audience. First, Superillu’s reflections of gender and sexuality can be described as an example of how certain attitudes in this field (e.g. towards liberal sexual behaviour or towards working women) have continued to exist beyond socialism. Second, a comparison of Superillu’s reflections of gender and sexuality in the 1990s with the results of contemporary sociological research in this field shows that these discourses did only partly correspond to each other. Altogether, the (comparative) analysis of Superillu opens up new vistas on discourses on gender and sexuality in the 1990s and thus helps to historicize one aspect of eastern Germany’s very recent past.

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