Gender Across Borders

Nadja Benaissa Photograph courtesy of Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Nadja Benaissa, of the popular German all-girl pop group No Angels, has been charged in criminal court with grievous bodily harm and attempted aggravated assault. Her crime? Having unprotected sex with three men without informing them of her HIV-positive status. One of the men has since become HIV-positive as well. (The other two tested negative for the virus.) Although the singer is now 28, she was tried in juvenile court because her crimes allegedly began when she was only 17, the age at which she became infected with the virus. She faced a prison sentence of between six months and 10 years, but was given a two-year suspended sentence and 300 hours of community service working with those who are HIV-positive. Has this case educated the public to take strides against infection or further increased the stigma against HIV-positive people?

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Harald Fassanelli’s defensive biting was not the only controversial incident at last week’s Christopher Street Day in Berlin. Notable gender theorist and philosopher, Judith Butler, also attended — she was to be honored with the event’s Civil Courage Prize. Butler instead rejected the award, citing her opposition to racism in Berlin’s LGBT community:

We all have noticed that gay, bisexual, lesbian, trans and queer people can be instrumentalized by those who want to wage wars, i.e. cultural wars against migrants by means of forced islamophobia and military wars against Iraq and Afghanistan. In these times and by these means, we are recruited for nationalism and militarism. Currently, many European governments claim that our gay, lesbian, queer rights must be protected and we are made to believe that the new hatred of immigrants is necessary to protect us. Therefore we must say no to such a deal. To be able to say no under these circumstances is what I call courage. But who says no? And who experiences this racism? Who are the queers who really fight against such politics?

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Image via Eventpress

June is LGBT Pride Month in the United States and, all around the world, parades and other Pride events are taking place. This past Saturday, Christopher Street Day was held in Berlin. Unfortunately, what should have been a fun and festive occasion for the city’s LGBT population was turned ugly for one HIV-positive man who may face criminal charges due to his status.

Harald Fassanelli, a former cast member on Big Brother Germany, was on one of the floats in the Christopher Street Day parade. During the parade, he was reportedly assaulted by a group of other men. Put into a headlock and unable to breathe, Fassanelli defended himself by biting his attackers, injuring between six and eight people. Fassanelli was arrested and quickly released but, because of his HIV status, he is now being investigated by the police for “assault causing serious bodily injury.”

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This collection of four essays from different female philosophers presents as an introduction to “New Feminism”. The publisher explains that “aspects of the female experience are in the focus of the texts” and by offering a female perspective, the publisher hopes “to encourage women who so far have not thought about writing to hand in their ideas and have them published through [the website].” (The site is published in German and English.)

Excited to read from a female perspective, I was disappointed by all the essays except “The ‘Plath Syndrome’- or Why Intellectual Women Do Not Eat Figs,” by Maria Isabel Pena Aguado. The final essay in the collection explores the frustration of intellectual women. The problem, the author argues, exists because female artists seek to redefine themselves using male rhetoric and constructs, thus trapping themselves and further perpetuating a male world instead of creating their own female experience. Esther, the protagonist of Sylvia Plath’s iconic The Bell Jar, stands paralyzed by choice, comparing each choice (family, travel, work) to a ripe fig ready for her to eat. Unable to choose, she starves to death in the midst of plenty.

“Death occurs because Esther is incapable of finding a language in which to express her own experiences as a woman in a coherent way. [...] The Plath Syndrome refers partly to the fact that women have not yet developed their own imaginary- and therefore symbolic- world.”- Prof. Pena Aguado

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Welcome back from Thanksgiving to all you American readers! If you’re feeling as groggy and full of turkey as I am, a little sex drive talk is just what you need to wake up this Monday morning. The US Food & Drug Administration is considering a female version of Viagra called Flibanserin to treat women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder, or a severe lack of a sex drive. (You may be surprised to learn that Viagra generated sales of $1.8 billion in the US alone last year). Created at the Boehringer Ingelheim in Germany, the drug has already done well in clinical trials in North America and Europe.

As with any new medicine, major concerns persist about side and long-term effects. In 2004 the FDA did not approve a testosterone patch for women, Intrinsa, due to safety concerns. Researchers in the UK and Australia reported in the October edition of the Journal of Sexual Medicine that dissatisfaction in bed can spread to other aspect’s of a woman’s life, so some women may take the risk in search of the ultimate satisfaction. (Was this really unknown before this article was published?) Read about the drug and its history here.

Interestingly, the New York Times published an article in the magazine yesterday about hypoactive sexual desire disorder. Very little is known about this disorder (which some don’t even consider a disorder), so it makes for an interesting read. Are you awake yet? Have a good Monday!

World AIDS Day is still three months away, but commercials designed to draw attention to the day (and HIV and AIDS in general) are already airing on television. And one particular ad is already generating controversy.

The Daily Telegraph reports that Regenbogen e.V., a German AIDS awareness organization, has developed a new campaign with the tagline “AIDS is a mass murderer.” They’ve produced a commercial, which will begin airing on late night German television this week, that uses Adolf Hitler imagery to drive its message. As one might expect, the commercial is already taking a considerable amount of heat.

(Trigger/NSFW Warning: The following description of the video is sexually graphic, and may be uncomfortable or triggering for some readers.)

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