In Hitlerdom, Feminine Wile is Not in Style

In terms of tropes associated with the female gender, none is more common than the power of a sexually attractive woman. Cleopatra VII, for example, was one of the most intelligent minds of her day, reputedly speaking seven or eight languages and frequently out-smarting her male contemporaries, yet she is renown, first and foremost, for her great physical beauty. Popular culture ascribes the labels “seductress” and “temptress” to her with little regard to her other formidable traits because female sexuality tends to be viewed as the most effective and potentially dangerous form of exerting power of males. This power dynamic is eliminated completely in Katherine Burdekin’s dystopian novel Swastika Night, where females are subjugated into cattle for the sole purpose of reproduction. This is achieved by the removal of all things sexually desirable in women, both physical and societal.

In the post-Hilterian times of the novel, the Nazi regime has morphed women into such repugnant, unattractive beings that men recognize nothing desirable about them. Women are seen as unclean, not even allowed to be seated during the Worship service as “Women’s rumps were even more defiling to holy places than their little feet” (8). Hermann recalls his time sneaking in to watch a Women’s Worship and seeing the mass of females’ “ugly soft bulgy bodies dressed in feminine tight trousers and jackets” with horror, probably a common reaction to the female form (9). It is telling that Hermann is so repulsed by the typically feminine trait of having curves or a “soft” bodily appearance because much emphasis is placed on a female’s physique as a tool for manipulation of men.

The men also put particular importance on physical size. Frequently when the women are described words like “little” and “small” are used. Females are usually of smaller stature than males and daintiness is seen as a very feminine, often desirable, trait. To subvert this, the men worship the ideal individual as physically sizeable beings “of pride, courage, violence, brutality, [and] ruthlessness,” (28) qualities not normally associated with women. Unable to find such ideal standards in women, men are forced to search for this desirable trait within their own gender, which further removes women from the power scheme.

The Nazis also shave the women’s heads, described by Hermann as “small shaven ugly heads” (9). This removal of hair is significant because having beautiful hair is largely seen as a feminine trait, and yet can be found within the society, albeit in other men. Specifically, Hermann’s reaction to the young choirboy’s “long fair silky hair” (1) is one that would normally be directed toward a girl. Interestingly, later in the novel he comes upon the chorister attempting to rape a young Christian girl and expresses how he “loathed the boy for being even interested in girls—with his lovely face, his unmasculine immaturity—Hermann was physically jealous” (33). Hermann’s attitude that he finds “unmasculine” features appealing as well as the chorister’s interest in raping a girl seem to indicate that despite the men’s apparent homosexual tendencies, they still subconsciously value feminine traits and desire women on a basic, physical level. Indeed, they do use women sexually, but under the guise that it is purely for sexual satisfaction and reproduction. Naturally, the women are not allowed to refuse these advances past a certain age, which takes away the female’s ability to use their sexuality as leverage over males. The Nazis solved this inequality in power by conditioning the men to find the female form distasteful and undesirable, causing them to prefer males.

On a more holistic level, through their oppressive practices and societal exclusion, the men have managed to strip away the women’s humanity. They are treated as animals, being referred to as “poor cattle” (11) by the Knight. Hermann describes their weeping in the Women’s Worship as wailing “like puppies, like kittens, with thin shrill cries and sobs. Nothing human” (9). The Nazis have dehumanized the women to the point that Hermann truly believes that “women have no souls and therefore are not humans,” (9). They are not taught to read or get an education and are taught that their sole purpose in life is to bear "men-children". Playing up their animalistic qualities as soulless livestock stop the men from viewing the women as people, which is the ultimate form of degradation. They are revolted by the women and find nothing sexually appealing about a group they deem subhuman and so the female's power is eradicated.

The apparatuses of oppression present in this novel are interesting because they speak volumes about the aspects of male and female sexuality that weigh in on gender power dynamics. In terms of stereotypes, men are strong and masculine, often relying on their physical strength to clinch the upper hand. Women, on the other hand, use their desirability, their “feminine wiles”, to gain power. By stripping the women of their classically desirable traits and considering them disgusting or transferring them to other men the Nazis were able to significantly sway the balance in power between the genders. Burdekin uses this as an allegorical example of the constant challenges and power struggles women face today in striving for gender equality, particularly in the realm of female sexuality.