Swearing, such as “I will jump on you”. to death “often gets Claudia Roth in the form of mail. Insults, such as “dog faces”, are the mildest message of hatred that he has been receiving on social media for years. “What I encounter most are sexually violent fantasies,” he says. “Men do everything they can to hurt, degrade and kill a woman’s soul with threats of sexual violence.” Roth, 66, recently became Undersecretary of Culture in the new Soltz government. And he knows what he is saying. He has been in the male-dominated German parliament for years, where he was also for a time vice-president until 2021.
Obscene expressions
When asked about sexist attacks in parliament, the Green politician cited examples. For barbaric reactions, when a woman speaks, for male MPs who do not even want to listen, when there is a woman on the podium. “Women tell me they feel like they’re going through a scan, when they walk to the stage, then they hear whistles.” Talking to Roth it becomes clear that even if the most obscene things are done on the internet, the parliament space is anything but free of sexism. This also results from a study by the Allensbach Institute, published at the end of 2021. 4 out of 10 women politicians are said to have had experiences with sexist behaviors in their daily lives. Family Minister Anne Spiegel, a new member of the central parliament and former minister in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, says she “did not have to ask much in parliament to find out that other women have experienced sexism. And in fact from all parties “.
They receive “shameful attacks just because they are women”. A phenomenon that, according to Spiegel, is also addressed to members of the LGBTIQ community. Asked where the sexist attacks came from, he said they came mainly from the far-right AfD party. “I was told about some incidents that happened in the parliament during the last legislative period, I found it horrible.” She has had a similar experience during her term in the local parliament of Rhineland Palatinate. He experienced voices with insults “under the belt”. FDP MP Ania Schultz, a first-time member of the federal parliament, says women are sometimes treated differently, simply because they are women.
The president is determined to take action
Her worst experience so far in plenary was a remark to an MP from the seats of her colleagues from AfD: “Where did she forget her tits?”. Social Democrat Senke Ricks’s family affairs spokesman Senke Ricks, referring to the AfD, blames women for their role as mothers, whose MPs say their job is to have children and raise them on their own. The party thus pursues the goal of giving birth to many German women so that Germany does not die. AfD itself points in the other direction. The representative for family affairs of K.O. Martin Reichardt’s party rejects the accusations and attributes them to “Green feminists who are known for their sexism against men”.
He even claims that the issue of sexism plays a “secondary role”. But on the other hand, he refers to insults received by women from his faction, such as “Nazi…”. Parliament Speaker Berbel Bass stressed that whoever is in her seat to lead the parliamentary debates will face sexist insults with “clear words”, and if necessary with measures provided for in the rules of procedure of the parliament. “Sexism or sexist insults are unacceptable, it is a huge humiliation for the victims and it offends the dignity of the place.” Bass is determined to take action, denouncing the incidents if necessary.
DW / Fatima Abbas / dpa / Editor: Irini Anastassopoulou
Follow Skai.gr on Google News
and be the first to know all the news
