Kay, a student at a University in Munich, sent along an invitation for a Corps Isaria fraternity, or or “Burschenschafts,” party. The cover for the invitation reads “Isarias Gute Kinderstube” which, she explains, “translates literally to good nursery and means something like being well raised, knowing how to behave.”
When you open the invitation you see a naked woman, covered only by a teddy bear, alongside baby-related items (a Snuffalufagus, a rocking Zebra, and a crib) and party-related items (a disco ball, a stag’s head, and high heeled shoes):
Kay explains that the copy, “Das Corps Isaria gibt sich die Ehre und laedt zur eskaloesesten Pyjamaparty der Stadt” translates into something like “The Corps Isaria is honored to host the most risque sleepover in town.”
The invitation is another example of the infantilization of women. Or, as Kay put it, a “mixture of the male gaze and child porn fetishism.”
For more infantilization of women, see here, here, here, here, and here, and here.
—————————
Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
Comments 11
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist ! — November 8, 2009
I just threw up in my mouth. WTF is this?!
Chris — November 8, 2009
Another proof that Burschenschaften can be even worse than US frats. Though even for Burschenschaften this is pretty bad.
Kantorka — November 8, 2009
What Chris said. They often make half hearted attempts of their stereotypical images of being -in tendency- nationalist, chauvinist -even those few for women- and attracting students from upperclass families not having much brainpower. Stereotypical, as said, but all too often not entirely unfounded, one could think when looking at things like these.
Tim — November 8, 2009
> When you open the invitation you see a woman,
> The invitation could be seen as an example of the infantilization of women and/or idealization of/affinity for reminders of childhood.
FTFY
bitterlibrarian — November 8, 2009
Another thing is the way that the Teddy Bear is FACING...as though it and the girl are having sex...meh.
Tamar — November 9, 2009
And another vote for "What Chris/Kantorka said". Burschenschaften cannot be "translated" into fraternities. Many of these are affiliated with extreme "old" Conservative-nationalism, as well as with New Right movements.
tamar — November 9, 2009
And a little more from German culture. Burger King adresses mostly teenagers, and this is what they teach them about masculinity and how to regain it
http://www.horizont.net/kreation/tv/pages/protected/show.php?id=1359
The "sissy" (effeminated) man is
- a salad eater (Real Men grill)
- extremely White and pale (and in contrast, for that race angle, the trainer in the course teaching to be a Real Man, obviously a Real Man himself, is Black)
- weak
- (not a hetero bra opener, thus probably gay)
In the meanwhile, I have noticed the comments on the video site I have linked to - they claim the concept is stolen from a US beer advert (which again teaches older teenagers to be "Real Men"). Well, allet wat jutes ist, kommt von den Amis.
technicolorsheep — November 11, 2009
Judging on my (on account of being female-bodied somewhat limited) experiences with German Burschenschaften, this is definitely not among the worst you should come to expect.
Indeed, for the standards I've been presented when attending to one of their regularly-held 'discussion panels' on European history (i.e. revisionism), this is exceedingly well-designed and comparatively harmless.
It's really worth meeting these guys in person – especially when considering that they will become part of the old-boys-network sometime in the future. Ah, don't we all love such quaint and innocent traditions?
horst — June 17, 2010
Well I actually know these guys, it is not a "Burschenschaft", but a "Corps". There is a big difference, as every member of a Corps is encouraged to have his own political opinion unlike in the Burschenschaft where the whole fraternity is more right-wing orientated. So a little more research would have been nice before bashing on them...