Not afraid of hater posts
Internet heroes: three young German bloggers and YouTubers address gender crises, young feminists and Jewish life in Germany – with much wit and humour, and firmly opposed to haters.
The gender expert – Tarik Tesfu
Germany. What is the difference between sexism and sexy? How does a same-sex partnership differ from a marriage between a man and a woman? When is a man a man? These are the sort of questions that the blogger and video columnist Tarik Tesfu addresses in “Tariks Gender-Krise” (i.e. Tarik’s Gender Crisis). An educator by training, his primary goal is to dispense with the clichés about gender roles. Tarik knows from his work with children just how early people start pigeonholing genders, so he opted for a career change and took a degree in gender studies. Today he conveys his knowledge via his YouTube channel – and does so with a great deal of wit and humour, experience and sympathy. “I am black and I am gay”, he says about himself. In other words, he knows what it is like to battle against prejudice. And against haters. He is sometimes confronted by a shocking degree of hatred online. The YouTuber does not even look at the reactions: “To do so would mean engaging with it”, he says, “and I have no desire to engage with it.”
The feminist – Lydia Meyer
Lydia Meyer has created a feminist video format for young women, which is why she meets up with her interview partners in the one place to which men have no access: women’s toilets. In “Auf Klo” (i.e. In the loo) she talks to her guests about things like the pill, body hair, friendship, obesity or their first kiss. She also addresses social injustice and stereotypes, which makes her refreshingly upfront – and provocative. For her very first show she invited a heavyset, Muslim person of non-German origin and non-binary gender – which sparked a large number of degrading comments online. Ever since, Lydia Meyer has spent a considerable part of her work time discussing with haters.
The liberal Jew – Juna Grossmann
What is life like for a liberal Jew in Berlin? What problems are there within and outside the Jewish community? Answers can be found in Juna Grossmann’s blog “Irgendwie jüdisch” (i.e. Jewish in some way). However, Juna also writes about museums, exhibitions and her negative experiences in East Germany, where she grew up. Increasingly, she finds herself having to engage with hate-filled comments. Her philosophy is that everyone should have the chance to see what she experiences as a Jew – so she no longer deletes any of the hater posts. If she is sent anti-Semitic comments, Juna Grossmann files charges with the police. As she sees it, her commentators are very careful, and know exactly what they can just about get away with. As yet, her attempts to file charges – and those of other Jewish bloggers she knows – have not led to a single case of a commentator being punished.
