Feminist Europe, Book Review: Who Has

"Die Antwort" contains little new analysis: Schwarzer reiterates and expands on points she has made before to answer the question "Where are we now?" (p. 25). She readily admits, when challenged, that the title sounds a bit arrogant ("The" answer!), and responded good-naturedly to a suggestion that the book reads like a "best of Alice Schwarzer" ("The best of is not bad," Althaus and Arnet). Die Antwort consists of an introduction and eleven chapters, some as long as 20 pages, some as short as six. Chapter titles highlight contentious issues within feminism (Ch. 2, "Women are different by nature"), one-note Opposition (Ch. 4, "Abortion is murder"), truisms that obscure real, and unsolved, problems (Ch. 5, "A child needs its mother"; Ch. 6, "A profession alone won't make you happy"), complicity by women, including the author, in unrealistic Images of beauty (Ch. 7, "I'm too fat"), shallow "liberalism" (Ch. 8, "Pornography is sexy") and excuses for lack of meaningful progress (Ch. 9, "There will always be Prostitution"). The chapter on Islam (Ch. 3, "In the name of the prophet") provides an overview of experiences and events that shaped the author's views on this subject. Later chapter titles reference myths about families (Ch. 10, "We used to be hap-pier") and about men (Ch. 11, "Men will never change")—but they can, says Schwarzer, if women will only take them seriously as human beings and insist on negotiating equality in the family. Her Statement in this chapter that there are some men—though not many—with whom she gets along better than with certain women (p. 160) is picked up gleefully by several commentators. The final chapter (Ch. 12, "Women shouldn't go too far") echoes American feminist Robin Morgan's famous Going Too Far (1968). Schwarzer: "Quite the contrary. We women can't go far enough, in my opinion, for after all, we're coming from a long way off (p. 167). The book concludes with an index of names and suggested readings.

A theme taken up by nearly all the reviewers and interviewers is whether Die Antwort espouses a new, "conservative" feminism in, for example, Schwarzer's approving comments in the book's introduction about Germany's conservative prime minister Angela Merkel and equally conservative minister for family policy Ursula von der Leyen. Her invariable response is to restate her position that "autonomous feminism" is not inherently more rooted in the left than the right but crosses party lines. Some interviewers seem unwilling to engage this issue, instead trying (without success) to bait the author or provoke her to anger (e.g., Gorris, Voigt, and Stiekel in Der Spiegel; Althaus and Arnet for FACTS). Some readers who expected to find their [negative] stereotypes of feminism and of Schwarzer herseif confirrned in Die Antwort point out the absence of man-hating diatribes (Busse) or waggishly describe the author as so "tamed" that men need no longer fear her (Peter). Several find her more conciliatory than in the past (Gaschke & Niejahr; Newmark; Krings). One reader even sees "Die Antwort" as an unwelcome departure from Schwarzer's earlier writings that exhorted women to risk becoming unpopulär for the sake of feminist causes (Zuleger).

An opposite response is that of Julia Voss, writing in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as its serialization of "Die Antwort" begins. Voss, noting that people from "very different political camps" have feit provoked by Alice Schwarzer, interprets the latter's refusal to align with one side or the other as a tactic to avoid both false friends and false enemies (a claim that Schwarzer herseif has made). She cites Germanist Ruth Klüger's essay "Women read differently," which asks why, when analyzing works of art such as "The Rape of the Sabine Women," no one says anything about the content. Voss: "And that is what Alice Schwarzer always did— say something about the content."

At least one reviewer applauds Schwarzer's "calling it as she sees it" on the subject of Islamic fundamentalism (Laurien, also in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). However, other reviewers express concern, e.g., Gaschke and Niejahr to Schwarzer: "You even see tendencies of an Islamic Infiltration of the constitutional state. Doesn't that sound like conspiracy theory?" Schwarzer responds by citing abuse of women that is "tolerated" out of misplaced respect for Islamic tradition: "Politicized Islam is more than hostile to women; it is hostile to human beings and to democracy" (DIE ZEIT, 31 May 2007). Turning to the chapter on Islam in Die Antwort, we find a brief account of Schwarzer's relationship to her Algerian "extended family," ongoing since 1994 when she interceded on behalf of journalist Djamila Seddiki, who was seeking asylum in Germany. She claims to have found a "measuring stick" in Djamila's cousin Ganoud, a devout young Muslim whose faith is "not so strict but yet strict enough to start every third sentence with 'Alice, the prophet said . . . 'Whenever I attack politicized Islam, I ask myself 'What would Ganoud say?'" (p. 65).—One looks in vain for any details of Schwarzer's conversations with this young man that might provide insight into her position. Perhaps that will be another book.

The title of social historian Hans-Ulrich Wehler's review encapsulates both his support of Schwarzer and his analysis of her leadership: "A Lance for Alice Schwarzer" [Eine Lanze fur Alice Schwarzer]. He goes so far as to state that the world would be worse off without her and offers this assessment of the campaign for equal rights legislation in Germany: "Without the dynamism, critical analysis, and continuing engagement of a spokeswoman like Alice Schwarzer, that success would probably not have come about in this form. One need only imagine [Alice Schwarzer] absent . . . in order to recognize the extent to which this journalist and de-facto-politician, often on her own, has convincingly championed the cause of women." (Weltwoche.ch, Issue 21, 2007). Whether one agrees with his analysis or not, one cannot deny Schwarzer's importance as a public voice for women's issues in Germany.

Allgemeine Frankfurter Zeitung reviewer Hanna-Renate Laurien responds enthusiastically and personally to Die Antwort: "How gratified I was to see [Schwarzer], in complete control, refuting publicists' attacks on gender-mainstreaming and returning to the question of power. ..." Laurien praises the author's courage in expressing controversial opinions while also criticizing points that she disagrees with (e.g., Schwarzer's support for abortion rights). She concludes her review with these words: "We are responsible for the quality of our society. This is a book for men and women who think of themselves as citizens." Of all the reviews, Laurien's is perhaps the one Schwarzer would have wished for: praise and criticism based on passion and conviction, hi the end, readers must find the answers.

By Jeanette Clausen, Feminist Europe 2008. - A Review Essay on Media Reception of Alice Schwarzer: "Die Antwort" [The Answer] Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2007.