Complexity, Contingency, and Coherence in the History of Sexuality in Modern Germany: Some Theoretical and Interpretive Reflections

Abstract

The politics of sexuality in modern Germany was complicated, contradictory, and multivalent. Reflecting on how to conceptualize that complexity is worthwhile, for doing so allows us to formulate multiple interpretive perspectives. After briefly sketching two of the most common scholarly interpretations, this article explores the usefulness of a third model, one in which the political dynamic of the broad and complex debate about sexuality is neither univalent (i.e., moving toward greater freedom or greater repression) nor binary (moving toward both), but "trivalent." This perspective reveals the usefulness of seeing a political dynamic set up by conflicts and contrasts among three loose groupings that stand out among the many voices debating the nature and meaning of sexuality. At the same time, it uncovers and defines the productivity of multiple contradictions and conflicts, as well as the contingent coherences, they generated. Making use of particular readings of Foucauldian theory and the theory of complex systems, the article suggests the value of thinking about the politics of sexuality in terms of processes of change, as well as structures of power.Die Sexualpolitik im modernen Deutschland war kompliziert, widersprüchlich und multivalent. Es lohnt sich darüber nachzudenken, wie sich diese Komplexität in Begriffe fassen lässt, denn dadurch können wir multiple Interpretationsperspektiven formulieren. Dieser Aufsatz skizziert zunächst zwei der gängigsten wissenschaftlichen Interpretationen und erforscht dann den Nutzen eines dritten Models, bei dem die politische Dynamik der breiten und komplexen Debatte über Sexualität weder univalent (im Sinne davon, dass sie sich auf größere Freiheit oder größere Unterdrückung zubewegt) noch binär (sich auf beides zubewegend), sondern "trivalent" ist. Diese Perspektive zeigt wie nützlich es ist, eine von Konflikten und Kontrasten zwischen drei losen Gruppierungen bestimmte politische Dynamik innerhalb der von zahlreichen unterschiedlichen Meinungen gekennzeichneten Debatte über die Natur und die Bedeutung von Sexualität zu sehen. Gleichzeitig werden die Produktivität von multiplen Widersprüchlichkeiten und Konflikten sowie die durch sie generierten eventuellen Kohärenzen aufgedeckt und definiert. Indem Foucaultsche Theorien und die Theorie komplexer Systeme herangezogen werden, wird der Wert des Nachdenkens über Sexualpolitik bezüglich Veränderungsprozessen sowie Machtstrukturen angedeutet. T HERE has been an extraordinary outpouring of books on the modern history of sexuality in Europe and particularly in Germany in the past two decades. A spate of recent publications surveying the field, or covering particular geographies over I would like to thank my colleagues , each of whom helped me to think through the issues presented in this essay. I would also like to thank the anonymous readers for CEH, and particularly the editor Andrew Port for his diligence and acuity in offering constructive criticisms and suggestions regarding both style and content.

A backlash against liberalism?

“…Rather, as Dickinson puts it, '…the evolution of relationships among component parts [within the system] … can cause complex social systems to yield radically different but still coherent emergent behaviors, to "flip" or "jump" from one potential state to another'. 16 One could, perhaps, apply complex systems theory to the sexual politics of the last five years in the United States, where a middle-of-theroad gay activist movement suddenly won big gains, such as same-sex marriage, only to see the extreme Right win the presidency and control both houses of the legislature. (At the same time, the US maintained an almost total ban on female sex work, a ban that looks extremely repressive in comparison to the Republic's 1927 law as well as to contemporary German law.)…”

The big picture of sexual science

“…Last but not least, the overall picture I have taken from the recent interest in interregional synergy and connectivity is an account of global history that is co-constitutive in nature. 71 In many ways, my critique of mobility, appropriation and circulation also applies to what I just said about innovation. That is, the unidirectional trajectory of all these processes might be undermined by the facts from the past with which we have been confronted: this global history of sexual science is made possible by the mutual production of knowledge.…”

Competitive Pleasure: Sexuality, Media and Belonging in a Reunifying Germany (1989-1995)

“…This is not unlike the phenomenon described by Angus MacLaren in his study of 20th-century sexuality, in which he argues that by simultaneously targeting various "sexual subcommunities," the century's moral panics sometimes elicited a greater sense of solidarity and supported collaborative mobilizations. 264 There was, as extensively demonstrated in Ewing's dissertation "The Color of Desire," such potential in the growing anti-racist consciousness of the pre-Wende West German gay scene; however, the violence of the post-1989 period elicited more explicit calls for mutual protection. 265 One such example provided by Ewing is the Aids-Hilfe's 1992 poster campaign, which "depicted a group of shirtless men of color with the caption, ''Laugh, Love, Fight: Together against Xenophobia and Homophobia.…”