Johanna Elberskirchen
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Johanna Elberskirchen (11 April 1864 in Bonn – 17 May 1943 in Rüdersdorf) was a feminist writer and activist for the rights of women, gays and lesbians as well as blue-collar workers. She published books on women's sexuality and health among other topics.[1] Her last known public appearance was in 1930 in Vienna, where she gave a talk at a conference organised by the World League for Sexual Reform. She was open about her own homosexuality which made her a somewhat exceptional figure in the feminist movement of her time. Her career as an activist was ended in 1933, when the Nazi Party rose to power. There is no public record of a funeral but witnesses report that Elberskirchen's urn was secretly put into the grave of Hildegard Moniac, who had been her life partner.[2]
Quotes
Based on the assumption that women's libido only exists in order to secure the creation of offspring and is therefore fundamentally different from men's libido, Elberskirchen argued that: "If it was the yearning for a child, there would be no abortion, no infanticide, no suicide. In that case the awful punitive articles wouldn't exist. And first and foremost the outrageous, immoral contempt of an unmarried mother and her child wouldn't exist - there would be no 'fallen' women, no 'bastards'.[3]
Publications
- Die Prostitution des Mannes. Auch eine Bergpredigt – Auch eine Frauenlektüre. In: Verlags-Magazin. J. Schabelitz, Zürich 1896.
- Socialdemokratie und sexuelle Anarchie. In: Verlags-Magazin. J. Schabelitz, Zürich 1897. (online)
- Das Weib, die Klerikalen und die Christlichsocialen. Schabelitz, Zürich 1898.
- Feminismus und Wissenschaft. 2. Auflage. Magazin-Verlag, Leipzig/ Rednitz 1903.
- Die Liebe des dritten Geschlechts. Homosexualität, eine bisexuelle Varietät keine Entartung – keine Schuld. Verlag von Max Spohr, Leipzig 1904. (online)
- Die da am Manne leiden … IV. Stück. Παντα ρει. 3. Auflage. Magazin-Verlag, Berlin um 1905.
- Was hat der Mann aus Weib, Kind und sich gemacht? Revolution und Erlösung des Weibes. Eine Abrechnung mit dem Mann – Ein Wegweiser in die Zukunft! 3. Auflage. Magazin-Verlag, um 1904.
- Geschlechtsleben und Geschlechtsenthaltsamkeit des Weibes. Seitz u. Schauer, München 1905. (online)
- Die Mutterschaft in ihrer Bedeutung für die national-soziale Wohlfahrt. Seitz u. Schauer, München 1905.
- Mutter, Seitz & Schauer, München 1905.
- with Max Below: Kinderheil. Zeitschrift für Mütter zur leiblichen und geistigen Gesundung und Gesunderhaltung der Kinder. Seitz & Schauer, München 1905–1907.
- with Anna Eysoldt: Die Mutter als Kinderärztin. Seitz u. Schauer, München 1907.
References
- ^ "Johanna Elberskirchen". Bundesstiftung Magnus Hirschfeld. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
- ^ Leidinger, Christiane (2008). Keine Tochter aus gutem Hause. UVK. p. 10. ISBN 978-3867640640.
- ^ Die Sexualempfindung bei Weib und Mann. 1903, S. 26.
Sources
- Krettmann, Ulrike: Johanna Elberskirchen. In: Lautmann, Rüdiger (Hrsg.): Homosexualität. Handbuch zur Theorie- und Forschungsgeschichte. Frankfurt/M./New York 1993.
- Christiane Leidinger: Keine Tochter aus gutem Hause – Johanna Elberskirchen (1864–1943). UVK, Konstanz 2008.
- Leng, Kirsten (Fall 2013). "Sex, science, and fin-de-siècle feminism: Johanna Elberskirchen interprets The Laws of Life". Journal of Women's History. 25 (3): 38–61. doi:10.1353/jowh.2013.0034. S2CID 143542936.
External links
- Digitalised publications by Johanna Elberskirchen
- Literature by and about Johanna Elberskirchen in the German National Library catalogue
- Dokumentation der Reden zu den Gedenkfeiern 2003 in Rüdersdorf und 2006 in Bonn auf dem Portal lesbengeschichte.de (see „erinnern & gedenken“)
- Frauenmediaturm: Johanna Elberskirchen
- 1864 births
- 1943 deaths
- German women's rights activists
- 20th-century German writers
- Lesbian feminists
- German lesbian writers
- German LGBT rights activists
- Politicians from Bonn
- 19th-century German writers
- 20th-century German women writers
- 19th-century German women writers
- German socialist feminists
- Writers from Bonn