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Loading... Death in the Shape of a Young Girl: Women's Political Violence in the Red Army Faction (Gender and Political Violence) (original 2015; edition 2015)by Patricia Melzer (Author)
Work InformationDeath in the Shape of a Young Girl: Women's Political Violence in the Red Army Faction (Gender and Political Violence) by Patricia Melzer (2015)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. In the early 1970s, a number of West German left wing activists, angry at their country's legacy of fascism and colonialism, took up arms, believing that violent revolution would lead to social change. In the years to come, the bombings, shootings, kidnappings, and bank robberies of the Red Army Faction and what become known as the "Movement 2nd June" dominated newspaper headlines and polarized legislative debates- while many West German citizens and government officials condemned these activists' brutal tactics, the core ideas of anti-imperialism that motivated them found at times considerable public support. Half of the terrorists declaring war on the West German state were women who understood their violent political actions to be part of their liberation from restrictive gender norms, Patricia Melzer persuasively argues. As women participating in a brand of systematic violence usually associated with masculinity, they presented a cultural paradox, and their political decisions were viewed as gender transgressions by the state, the public, and parts of the burgeoning women's movement, which considered violence patriarchal and unfeminist. Death in the shape of a young girl questions this separation of political violence from feminist politics and offers a new understanding of left-wing female terrorists' actions as feminist practices that challenged existing gender ideologies. Melzer draws on archival sources, unpublished letters, and interviews with former activists to paint a fresh and interdisciplinary picture of West Germany's most notorious political group, from feminist responses to sexist media coverage of female terrorists to the gendered nature of their infamous hunger strikes while in prison. Placing the controversial actions of the Red Army Faction into the context of feminist politics, Death in the shape of a young girl offers an innovative and engaging cultural history that foregrounds how gender shapes our perception of women's political choices and of any kind of political violence. no reviews | add a review
In the early 1970s, a number of West German left-wing activists took up arms, believing that revolution would lead to social change. In the years to come, the bombings, shootings, kidnappings and bank robberies of the Red Army Faction (RAF) and Movement 2nd June dominated newspaper headlines and polarized legislative debates. Half of the terrorists declaring war on the West German state were women who understood their violent political actions to be part of their liberation from restrictive gender norms. As women participating in a brand of systematic violence usually associated with masculinity, they presented a cultural paradox, and their political decisions were viewed as gender transgressions by the state, the public, and even the burgeoning women’s movement, which considered violence as patriarchal and unfeminist. Death in the Shape of a Young Girl questions this separation of political violence from feminist politics and offers a new understanding of left-wing female terrorists’ actions as feminist practices that challenged existing gender ideologies. Patricia Melzer draws on archival sources, unpublished letters, and interviews with former activists to paint a fresh and interdisciplinary picture of West Germany’s most notorious political group, from feminist responses to sexist media coverage of female terrorists to the gendered nature of their infamous hunger strikes while in prison. Placing the controversial actions of the Red Army Faction into the context of feminist politics, Death in the Shape of a Young Girl offers an innovative and engaging cultural history that foregrounds how gender shapes our perception of women’s political choices and of any kind of political violence. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)363.325082Social sciences Social problems and services; associations Other social problems and services Other Public Safety Concerns Terrorism and security TerrorismLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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