Frame and Preparation
Eros vor Gericht
Conceptual Frames and Background
- Sexuality
- Sexual morality and laws
- History of sexuality/sexual practices
- Censorship
- Prostitution
- Pornography
Introduction
This text from 1924 was published anonymously in the Kölnische Zeitung, one of Weimar Germany’s most widely read and influential national mass dailies. It criticizes what it views as obsolete laws concerning sexuality and eroticism in the German legal system, urging for an innovation of sexual morals and laws to fit the reality of the “modern” or “advanced” present. Acknowledging that the Industrial Revolution and World War I have brought about a “sexual revolution,” the article makes the case for reform in three specific areas of sexual legislation concerning (1) the youth, (2) artists, and (3) pimps and prostitutes. For all three classes, the article shows how old-fashioned laws are incompatible with the current state and needs of these groups, arguing that sexual morality is fluid and historically contingent, not universal, transhistorical, or absolute.
The short length of the text makes it amenable to teaching as the center of a day’s discussion or as a homework assignment, such as a Canvas discussion post interpreting or responding to the piece.
Preparation
You will need a copy of the article. It was published in the Kölnische Zeitung on April 23, 1924 under the title “Eros vor Gericht”
The text is written in minuscule Fraktur, so students must either be comfortable with this font or the instructor will have to transcribe the text.
Text and Discussion
Here are some questions to begin a discussion of this article:
1) What theory of sexual or moral progress does the article put forth?
2) What roles are assigned to different political actors—politicians, activists, teachers, artists—in this developmental process?
3) How does the article define the three domains of sexual morals for children, artists, and sexual criminals?
4) How does the article define “Eros”?
5) What similarities and differences do you see between the viewpoints of this article concerning sexual morality and those current in today’s society?