Homo-Marriage & What Comes After

I feel compelled to resurrect this blog (after a lengthy respite) by the course of current events in both Germany and the USA. This week, as almost everyone by now knows, the US Supreme Court will be hearing arguments on two cases concerning marriage equality for same-sex couples. Depending on how the justices rule, this can result in anything from nothing, to the overturning of the anti-gay Prop 8 in California all the way to the full federal recognition of marriage equality and the simultaneous striking down of all state-level laws and constitutional provisions against it. Big time stuff. If the best-case-scenario indeed came to pass, the USA would have full marriage equality even before Germany.

Germany has something commonly referred to in the press and popular parlance as the "Homo-Ehe", or "Homo-Marriage" (they don't mince words, the Germans..!). Despite the misleading name, it is not actually marriage, but a form of civil union that includes nearly all the legal benefits of marriage except for a peculiar structure of income tax benefit and the right to jointly adopt children, as a couple, from the start of the adoption process. The German Constitutional Court has recently chipped away at rules against gay couple's adopting, such that they can now do so, but "through the back door" (ha ha) and only after one of the partners is already the legal parent of the child(ren).

Court cases aside, opinion polls in both countries, as well as ever stronger commitments from the left/liberal parties in both countries, seem to suggest that full marriage equality for same-sex couples is only a matter of time. My question, and concern, is thus: what happens after that battle is won?

Of course, marriage equality is not the be all and end all of the LGBT movement. Sure, for many bourgeois types who insist we are JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, that may be enough. But for those of us who see "just like everyone else" as merely code for "the current order of sex, gender, and familial norms and structures is just fine and dandy", this remains problematic. Even "everyone else" aren't actually like everyone else - straight, cis-gendered white men also suffer and need liberating from this system. And, even if they were, why would anyone want to fit into a system of power relations and cultural hegemony in which rape culture is justified and normalized, in which signs of gender non-conformity even in young children are all too often greeted with horror and disgust, in which our trans* brothers, sisters, and somewhere-in-betweeners continue to face discrimination and violence, and on and on and on?

I see, on the horizon, a rupture in "the movement" rearing its head. This rupture, between the "we are/want to be just like everyone else", and the more radical forces who seek to question and subvert the current order of sex and gender relations has, of course, always been there. The marriage equality issue has simply made it less apparent, as even those who find marriage to be an institution mired in a history of sexual domination based on the ownership of women by men agree that, in our day and age, it should be an equal opportunity "oppressor". Perhaps the movement as such will more obviously splinter, and probably have less money at its disposal from the bourgeois HRC-type conforming gays. Then again, a leaner, meaner, more culturally aggressive movement, unafraid to offend certain sensibilities, couldn't be all bad.

How my homeland and adopted country compare is, overall, a wash. In some ways, gender and sex relations in Germany are more progressive (from my point of view). Women hardly ever wear heels, childcare burdens seem more evenly shared, the law provides for paternity leave in addition to maternity leave (the US provides for neither..), and so on. More broadly, the general German willingness to engage with ideological commitments and personal convictions as matters of a shared social life, rather than as personal consumption-oriented lifestyle choices, seems to me to enable social transformation of gender and family life more in the long-run than it does in the US. On the other hand, radical voices are also present in great numbers in the US, and often institutionalized in settings like the university in a way they are not here in Germany. For example, Queer/Gender Studies is nearly non-represented in degree and course offerings in the German university landscape.

Of course, I can't cover the entire landscape of the German and American LGBT rights movements and the cultures of gender etc in each country in one blog post. I simply wanted to ask the question, what comes next for the movement after this battle is won? I'm not sure what it will look like, but I am sure that, 10 years post-marriage equality, it will be an entirely different beast.

Those lazy Germans. Or, Germany: worker's paradise.

Those industrious Germans! Deutschland! Shining example of the rewards of hard work and saving. Able to teach those lazy Greeks a thing or two about what it takes! Well, actually, no.

Despite everyone (except the Greeks) in Europe thinking the Germans are the hardest workers, the Greeks have it closer to the truth. Ok, so the Germans are more "productive" per hour worked than the Greeks are, though curiously less productive than the French and Belgians(!). Nevertheless, the myth of the incomparably hard-working German doesn't stand up to the test of reality. Germany's success owes to lots of complicated factors, but hard work alone cannot explain it.

After nearly a year in this country, I can tell you that the Germans shirk work with an efficiency unmatched in the homeland. Try to get something done at a bank on Fridays, you can almost forget about it. Need to file one of the 50 million forms essential for daily life? Most government offices are open about 3-4 hours a day, 3 days a week. Need to go shopping outside of your normal working hours? Sorry, shops close by 7 or 8pm, early on Saturday, and don't open at all on Sunday.

Besides working an average of only 35 hours a week, the German worker is guaranteed at least 28 paid vacation days per year (which they use unashamedly), plus public holidays, plus nearly unlimited sick time. If you're ill, you just need a note from your doctor, and your employer simply has to accept it.

And I don't just mean for the flu or consumption or whatever. No, no. In fact, Germans suffer a variety of maladies unknown in the New World. Most notable among them is the phenomenon of Kreislaufstörung - literally, problems with one's circulation. Now, in America, when you have problems with your circulatory system you usually end up in the hospital and under close observation of a cardiologist. Germans, on the other hand, see such problems as so normal as to be almost unworthy of note (except the doctor's note!). The exact cause is unknown. Some conjecture that it stems from the Germans' notoriously cold hearts, though that remains unproven. In any case, any time you feel a bit tired or unpleasant you just chalk it up to a circulation problem, run to the doctor, and get a nice little note for your employer and perhaps a prescription for herbal-magic-homeopathy rose hip water pills. Problem solved, blood flowing easily once more!

Then there is the problem of burnout. From working so hard, this is something the Germans struggle with endlessly. Of course, when an American feels burnt out, they simply try and get more sleep or take up meditation or an addiction to prescription medicine. For a German, on the other hand, burnout is simply another source of the cherished doctor's note. For particularly bad cases, your doctor can even write you a prescription for a few days trip to a spa resort. Paid for by insurance, not counted against vacation time. For Europe's hardest workers, only the best.

Seeing Far: Die Welt des Fernsehens in Deutschland

After a long day of procrastinating and getting half as much done as intended reading hundreds of pages for my doctoral studies, sometimes you just want to turn the brain off for a while. While we don't have a TV, I have occasionally enjoyed the wonders of German television elsewhere or online. Landing in Germany after leaving an American home with digital cable, hundreds of channels, and access to an almost endless variety of programming can be a bit of a rude awakening.

First, American television shows are shown fairly regularly on German TV (thanks, American cultural hegemony!). But, and this is a big but, they have been dubbed over into German, not subtitled. Granted, this makes sense - why would Germans want to have to read through their evening's TV time? Still, knowing what they originally sound like, it is hard to watch Sheldon and Penny bantering in German on the Big Bang Theory. The voices are just... wrong.

Of course, Germany makes its own TV programming, too. Lots of it. Well, ok, not that much. As in, most people in Germany still only get about 15 channels, unless they are paying extra (which not many do, compared with the US). In Germany, there are a mix of regional and federal TV channels (publicly funded, so no commercials!) with some for-profit stations alongside. The private ones tend more on the bad 80's movies and dubbed-over CSI: Miami marathon side of things. The "best" stuff comes on the public channels..

For example, over on Das Erste (a channel whose name is simply "The First") is the stalwart of German TV: Tatort. Tatort - or "scene of the crime" - is basically a cops seek murderer show. The German twist, bringing German federalism to the screen, is that the show cycles among many cities in different parts of the country. Some teams are serious, some more funny, and the show always seems to address a social theme (last week it was predatory lending and the big banks, a few weeks back it was the evil meat industry, etc). My favorite is Tatort Münster - the two detectives are an unlikely uptight nerd/slovenly slouch pair, there is a midget little person medical examiner, and the district attorney is a chain-smoking woman who sounds like a drag queen. (Watch til the end of the clip!) Great stuff.

Germany also seems to love reality shows almost as much as America does. The main difference from America on German reality television - and on German TV in general - is the presence of... wait for it...  ugly people. Or average looking people, whatever you want to call them. As it has been explained to me, the public would rather see people on TV they can relate to, rather than airbrushed super beauties. I have my doubts.

For example: Bauer Sucht Frau - "Farmer Seeks a Wife"

This one seems to be a bit of a phenomenon, or at least I've heard a lot of people mention it, and have sat through a couple episodes myself.

Farmers seeking wives.

The picture above shows a group of studly farmers, desperately trying to escape loneliness. Gorgeous, aren't they?

Schwuler Bauer sucht Mann.

American exceptionalism.

And should the gays feel left out, the recent season (yes, there have been several) included a gay farmer seeking his Mann. Gays are supposed to all be good looking, right? Well, maybe not. To the left you see homely farmer Philipp, in plaid, with his man Veit.








There was apparently a rather less successful American version of this show produced by the CW called "Farmer Wants a Wife".
For the American approach to casting "reality", please see the picture to the right.



And thus, with this case study, I think we see a stark cultural difference. For a country remarkably full of tall, good-looking people with perfect skin (eugenics?!), Germans readily tolerate imperfection on screen. Perhaps this explains why Americans have 500 channels and Germans have 15.

All in all, German TV is not bad, except when it is so bad it is funny. Either way, good language practice for me and an interesting spotlight shown on to the collective cultural psyche of a country far from Hollywood.

Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise?

Health, or gesundheit, is a universal human concern - few, if any, people or cultures delight in illness and the discomfort it can bring. However, different societies have very different strategies for maintaining health, and some worry about maladies that are unknown elsewhere. The French smoke like fiends and have little idea of vegetarianism, yet take days off work for heavy legs, a solely French affliction. South Koreans fear fan death - untimely demise caused by sleeping in a closed room with an electric fan left running overnight. In short, every culture has it's own health phobias and ideas about what is good for you and what is not.

Germans are no exception. Despite drinking almost more beer per person than any other country (except the Czechs) and downing bread and processed meat products at alarming rates (a more specific food oriented post will be forthcoming), they live on average around two years longer than Americans. What are their strategies? Some initial observations, in no particular order:

• Fresh Air. Germans are seemingly obsessed with "frische Luft", and rarely miss the opportunity to "lüften" a room even on the coldest day. Rarely a seminar has gone by without some of the students opening all the windows, letting all the nice heated air out and exchanging it for cold damp chilly air. If they haven't done it, the professor usually requests the opening of windows, lest we run out of oxygen. In most German homes that I've been in, bathroom windows are often left open. Because, you know, the room where you get naked and stand under running water is most pleasant when kept within a few degrees of freezing. Leaving the house for the day? Turn off the heat and open the windows! Shiver the sickness away! I'm hardly someone who likes the house well-heated in Winter, but this particular German propensity baffles even me.
•  Bio-everything. Bio (pronounced bee-oh) is just the German word for organic. You can basically get bio versions of whatever you want, and bio supermarkets abound. Everything from milk to potatoes, broccoli to bratwurst. It is WAY more prevalent here than in America, the Whole Food US upper-upper-middle-class notwithstanding.
• Sneaky exercise and the great outdoors. As was recently pointed out to me, Americans can be seen jogging around our cities, Germans only jog along lakes and rivers. Where they do most of their exercise, I don't know. There are gyms, sure, but even then, there are simply fewer really fat people here than in the US (not that Germany is exactly a thin land, in fact, women seem to be/feel less pressured here to maintain ultra-slim standards). This may all come down to Germans simply walking or cycling more, given the less suburban (in the American sense) layout of most towns and cities here. They do love their outdoors, witness the Schrebergarten - a bizarre backyard for hire, away from home, usually along a rail road track. 

And there you have some wild generalizations about German strategies for health maintenance.

Es lebe die Bürokratie!

In a fit of international self-promotion, the German federal government branded the country a "land of ideas", though they could just as easily (and rather more aptly) have branded the country as the "land of paperwork". Simply living in Germany, not only as a foreigner but for everyone, requires a continuous effort to satisfy the bureaucratic powers that be. A never ending cascade of forms from diverse public and semi-public bodies must be obtained, properly filled out, signed and stamped by the right people (a task that can sometimes make the little hobbitses' journey to Mordor seem like a spaziergang in the park), and submitted in very specific orders.

Would you like to: live? live in a certain place? own a pet? watch tv? go fishing?

There's a form for that! And an application, and sometimes a fee, probably a license, too.

Indeed, by virtue of living in Germany one must have health insurance, by law. This is sensible (and coming to America, unless the courts get in Barry and Nancy's way).  You can't get much done without proving health insurance - to enroll in university, for example, you need to show you have insurance.

You also need to register with your local Einwohnermeldeamt, or inhabitants' authority, so the state knows where you live. It is required.

As a foreigner, and non-EU citizen at that, I have had to go through many steps to get settled and given permission to remain in the country. Granted, it started off nicely, the immigration official at the airport didn't ask a single question and the visa can be obtained after entering the country (this is in stark contrast to both the US and the UK, where upon entering the country you're often left feeling distinctly less than welcome!). Since then, however, I have been required to obtain in the following order:
1. A bank account (and Verpflichtungserklärung stating my parents would not allow me to fall destitute should i run out of money!)
2. Health insurance - most people are insured through public bodies, but since I didn't qualify it was a long procedure to obtain private insurance (that was all too reminiscent of the US ''system''.
3. Immatrikulationsbescheinigung - the enrollment certificate from the university, which itself required the previous two documents in addition to various letters from the department of the university I am studying in.
4. Meldebestätigung - registering where I live.
5. Aufenthaltserlaubnis - the permit allowing me to live where I live.
6. Student visa and work permit - self-explanatory, need all five previous documents to get this! With this comes an ID, which I will be technically required to carry at all times, just like everyone else in Germany.

There are good reasons for all of these requirements, so I don't mean to complain, even if I do enjoy doing so from time to time. For Germans it is natural that the state pervades many aspects of life - it is unavoidable. I have questioned, given, well, you know... history!.. doesn't this strike anyone as vaguely big-brother or authoritarian?As it has been explained to me: no, because in a democratic society like Germany, everyone is a member of the state (important to my PhD project! The German word for citizenship literally means ''state membership'') and state and society are intertwined. Unlike in America, where the state (aka government) is often viewed with suspicion at best, here the state is seen as a protector, both of rights and of a general standard of life. It seemed a good solution to all the nasty problems that led to fascism, and has generally worked since 1945.

So, I will take on the paperwork gladly, in the spirit of social democracy and anti-fascism. Vorwärts..!


PS: I'm going to broadly generalize and observe that it seems 60% of people here own parkas, and women wear sensible shoes almost without exception. The end.

Historical OCD

A good friend sent me this link to an article in the Guardian, talking about Britain's "Nazi obsession" and the tendency to use Nazism as a go-to by-word for "evil".  Any quick stop on the History Channel, or in the European/German history section of any US bookshop, will tell you that this obsession is not isolated to Britain! It makes my point of "not mentioning the war", or at least not mentioning it unnecessarily, perfectly.

Interesting outtake, my favorite part is in italics:

'What is extraordinary is that the use of the Third Reich as an all-purpose metaphor for evil extends to every area of culture. The sculptors, the Chapman brothers, seem to derive some artistic drive from Nazism. Theatre directors feel obliged to pump up Richard III, Macbeth, even Hamlet's Denmark, by depicting them in 1940s Germany. The parallel has gone beyond cliched to seem obsessive, and shows no sign of relenting. Only football supporters seem at last to have moved on.

I am baffled as to what it must be like to be a German in modern Britain – as if I were living in Paris awash in references to Hundred Years War atrocities. German friends respond with a weary patience, like the Fawlty Towers guests suffering Basil's antics at their expense. Nor is it just a matter of the constant identification of Germany with the Third Reich. There is little attempt to set it in proportion to other more creditable aspects of German history. This is strange given that Anglo-Saxons were nothing if not Germans. As Simon Winder notes in his entertaining book Germania, Britain and Germany are "the mad twins of Europe, Protestant, aggressive… with superiority complexes of a kind that have, for good or ill, reshaped the world".'

Der Papst kam

Despite the Bild Zeitung's claim that "We are the Pope!" (believed mostly by the more gullible), Berlin seemed more ambivalent about just how much Germans or Berliners in particular could identify with that statement. This is, after all, the historically Protestant north of the country, with Berlin further positioned (with the exception of its western districts) in the formerly communist (anti-religious) East. Furthermore, Berlin is and throughout its history has often been a liberal, cosmopolitan, and some would say hedonistic haven. Given all this, any visit by the Pope is sure to stir up a bit of controversy. On top of it all, this Pope in particular has been a vociferous opponent of theological and ecclesiastical progressivism, as well as any innovation in teaching on sex and gender. Despite his flair for footwear, Benny the 16th has been no friend of the gays or ladies!

The reaction? A counter demonstration put together by queer and other groups opposed to the Pope's positions on myriad topics, especially those related to sex and gender. Cycling back from the center of town, we came very near to the protest route, and could hear the less than inspiring music selection therefrom! Personally, my feelings about the Pope and his teaching are firmly in opposition. While I find the Church to be totally and thoroughly ficked up, I cannot discount the role of my Catholic school upbringing in communicating some very fundamental messages about equality, solidarity,  and social justice (even if they came wrapped in SO much hypocrisy and illogical thinking!) There are many good and sincere people there, it is just a shame that the good continue to associate with so many wrongheaded, bad people with incredibly misguided priorities including Ratzinger/the Pope. I didn't attend in the end, even if I did mull it over a while first.

Unlike many religious people, I would not claim to know the mind of god (nor whether a god even exists). However, I did capture the following scene just as the demonstration was kicking off. It might lend us some hint of god/FSM/the universe's opinion on the whole matter:

A giant, all-natural rainbow flag draped over the city, leading to the pot of gold that is Alexander Platz (that spire is the top of the TV tower).