The fact that women¹ are devalued, oppressed, exploited and hated in our society has a long and complex history. The manifestations of misogyny are always dynamic: misogyny adapts to the given social and economic circumstances. Its function remains the same: it is an ideology that makes claims about the nature of women in order to justify exploitation and violence. As such an ideology, misogyny is very old and can already be found in ancient mythology. It is no coincidence, for example, that Pandora, who is sent by the gods in Greek mythology and brings all the evil in the world to mankind, is a woman. It is comparable to the fact that in the Christian creation myth, the first woman, Eve, is seduced by the devil and is therefore responsible for the expulsion from paradise.
Misogynie hat also viele Geschichten. Heutige Formen der Misogynie sind allerdings wesentlich geprägt von der Entstehung und dem Fortbestehen des Kapitalismus. Um dies nachzuvollziehen, werden wir in den nächsten Texten auf verschiedene geschichtliche Entwicklungen der Frühen Neuzeit und der beginnenden Moderne, also der Zeitperiode zwischen dem 15ten und 18ten Jahrhundert in Europa, und die spezifische Misogynie, die sie hervorgebracht haben, eingehen. Die in dieser Zeit geprägten Bilder von Weiblichkeit sowie der gesellschaftlichen und ökonomischen Stellung der Frau haben in großen Teilen bis heute Bestand. Der Blick in die Geschichte macht deutlich, wie der entstehende Kapitalismus von Anfang an auf der Entmachtung und Ausbeutung von Frauen beruhte.
For the three stories of misogyny that we will be telling in the following texts, we will be drawing heavily on Silvia Federici's book "Caliban and the Witch" (highly recommended here, but quite complicated in large parts!).
The first story is about reproductive justice², sexual oppression and rape. It begins in the 14th century: In the late Middle Ages, almost half of the working population in Europe died of the plague between 1347 and 1351. Poor people in particular died in such large numbers that there were hardly any labourers left in the fields. While the wealth of the rich declined, peasants in particular could now choose who they worked for, as they were desperately sought after. This allowed them to demand lower taxes and better working conditions. The struggles against the prevailing feudal system of rule³ erupted into major rebellions. The political, social and military power of the nobility was challenged and defeated in various places.
To counteract these developments, the landowners of Europe (the largest of which was the church) developed different strategies everywhere in the early modern age, i.e. from the 15th century onwards. One of the most important goals was to ensure high birth rates in order to increase the numbers of the working population again. To this end, the church's sexual morality was used, which declared all forms of sexuality that did not serve procreation, i.e. homosexuality, anal intercourse, contraception, masturbation and even sexual abstinence to be sins and set the only permitted sexual position. This had already been written in the 12th century to break the power that sexuality gave women over men. To this day, we find its ideas reflected in the devaluation of all forms of sexuality that are not heterosexual, vaginal-penetrative sex. It is no coincidence that this is also the form of sexuality that brings cis men to orgasm the fastest to this day. The reason for this is, on the one hand, that in cisgender heterosexuality, unlike female orgasm, orgasm is a condition for reproduction and, on the other hand, that men have simply made up these rules. Good sex is defined as sex that pleases men. What women like doesn't matter. How deeply this is inscribed in our learned understanding of sex cannot be emphasised enough.
And while violations of these rules were punished in cruel ways, it is important to understand how closely these ideas were linked to sexual violence. In France, for example, rape of poor women was completely legalised and legitimised by the church in many places at this time with great success. This led to groups of young men roaming the streets of their village or town at night, dragging women out of their homes and raping them together without making any effort to conceal their identity.
Diese Vergewaltigungskultur war nicht nur eine Begleiterscheinung der Kontrolle der Reproduktion. Bewegungen, die gegen die generelle Ungleichheit aufbegehrten, wurden durch diese Vergewaltigungen gespalten. Die frisch gewachsene Klassensolidarität, die eine Errungenschaft des antifeudalen Kampfes war, wurde zersetzt und zerstört durch die Gewalt gegenüber Frauen der unteren Klassen – in der Regel gefolgt vom sozialen Ausschluss der Betroffenen. Diese Strategie war besonders effektiv, da Frauen zentrale Rollen im Widerstand einnahmen.
Etwa hundert Jahre später war die europäische Wirtschaft durch den sich ausbreitenden Kolonialismus bereits massiv abhängig von der Arbeitskraft der kolonialisierten und versklavten Bevölkerungen in den Amerikas. Der Völkermord an der indigenen Bevölkerung im Zuge der Conquista⁴, zusammen mit einem Bevölkerungsrückgang in Europa, löste erneut eine Krise des Wirtschaftssystem aus. Reproduktion wurde nun endgültig zur staatlichen Angelegenheit. Alle europäischen Regierungen erließen in dieser Zeit Gesetze, die Verhütung, Abtreibung und Kindstötungen aufs Schärfste betraften, um künftige Arbeitskraft sicherzustellen. Nicht selten passierte dies auch auf Kosten des Lebens der Mutter. Die Idee, dass es die Aufgabe von (armen) Frauen sei, schwanger zu sein und zu gebären, und dass diese Aufgabe nicht nur über dem persönlichen Glück sondern, auch über dem Leben der Frauen stehe, ist eine Idee, die sich unverändert in immer wiederkehrenden Diskussionen um reproduktive Gerechtigkeit findet. Nach dem Verbot und der Vernichtung des Wissens über weiblich kontrollierte Verhütung und Abtreibung taucht später Verhütung im bürgerlichen Umfeld wieder auf, doch nun sind es ausschließlich Mittel und Techniken, die die Empfängnis-Kontrolle in männliche Hände legt.
The developments of this period illustrate how closely misogyny, the emergence of capitalism and state control of reproduction are intertwined. And they show us how ideas of femininity are created from certain historical developments in order to justify exploitation and violence.
ℹ️Explanation of terms:
¹We will be writing about 'women' in the next four texts. We would like to point out that many of the meanings that this gender category carries were first coined at the time we are writing about here. The meaning has also shifted since then. We should not try to project contemporary ideas of gender into history. And so while we want to name a historical category and axis of power, we recognise that there have always been bodies, identities and practices that have been resistant to gender classifications and binaries at a fundamental level.
²Reproductive justice The demand that decisions relating to conception or birth (i.e. biological reproduction) are made by those who are affected by them. Nowadays, this issue often centres on the right to abortion.
³ Feudal rule was the predominant economic system of the European Middle Ages. Land was granted by nobles and clergy to peasants and so-called feudal lords, who then lent it to peasants. In return, they paid taxes and provided military and other services.
⁴The Conquista (Spanish for "conquest") of the Americas by European states from the end of the 15th century was the colonialist process of a series of wars and military conflicts with the aim of incorporating these territories and the indigenous peoples into their rule.