‘As long as they keep away from me’: The paradox of antigay violence in a gay-friendly country

Sexualities ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 632-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurens Buijs ◽  
Gert Hekma ◽  
Jan Willem Duyvendak

Considering the tolerant and gay-friendly image of the Netherlands, antigay violence is a remarkably grave problem. By combining a broad survey of Amsterdam youth with in-depth interviews with smaller groups and individual attackers and reviewing recent cases, we conclude that traditional norms of gender and sexuality present in broader society form the breeding ground of the violence. The gay-friendly narrative that dominates discussions on citizenship in the Netherlands – opposing the liberal ‘Dutch’ to the Muslim ‘Other’ – coexists next to traditional norms of gender and sexuality, thereby not challenging the roots of homonegativity. Even perpetrators duplicate the prevailing gay-tolerant rhetoric of Dutch society, but do not refrain from all sorts of violence as soon as they are confronted with aspects of it that collide with traditional norms of gender and sexuality. Peer pressure and the fear of seduction often function as triggers of the violence. However, these situational factors can only be understood in a larger macro-sociological framework, showing the necessity of a multilevel approach in coming towards a comprehensive understanding of antigay violence.

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-101
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Patterson ◽  
Koen Leurs

Upon arrival to Europe, young migrants are found grappling with new language demands, cultural expectations, values, and beliefs that may differ from global youth culture and their country of origin. This process of coming-of-age while on-the-move is increasingly digitally mediated. Young migrants are “connected migrants”, using smart phones and social media to maintain bonding ties with their home country while establishing new bridging relationships with peers in their country of arrival (Diminescu, 2008). Drawing on the feminist perspective of intersectionality which alerts us socio-cultural categories like age, race, nationality, migration status, gender and sexuality impact upon identification and subordination, we contend it is problematic to homogenize these experiences to all gay young adult migrants. The realities of settlement and integration starkly differ between desired migrants – such as elite expatriates and heterosexuals – and those living on the margins of Europe – forced migrants and lesbian, gay, trans, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) migrants. Drawing on 11 in-depth interviews conducted in Amsterdam, the Netherlands with gay young adult forced and voluntary migrants, this paper aims to understand how sexual identification in tandem with bonding and bridging social capital diverge and converge between the two groups all while considering the interplay between their online and offline entanglements of their worlds.


2016 ◽  
pp. 425-434
Author(s):  
Dan Michman

The percentage of victimization of Dutch Jewry during the Shoah is the highest of Western, Central and Southern Europe (except, perhaps of Greece), and close to the Polish one: 75%, more than 104.000 souls. The question of disproportion between the apparent favorable status of the Jews in society – they had acquired emancipation in 1796 - and the disastrous outcome of the Nazi occupation as compared to other countries in general and Western European in particular has haunted Dutch historiography of the Shoah. Who should be blamed for that outcome: the perpetrators, i.e. the Germans, the bystanders, i.e. the Dutch or the victims, i.e. the Dutch Jews? The article first surveys the answers given to this question since the beginnings of Dutch Holocaust historiography in the immediate post-war period until the debates of today and the factors that influenced the shaping of some basic perceptions on “Dutch society and the Jews”. It then proceeds to detailing several facts from the Holocaust period that are essential for an evaluation of gentile attitudes. The article concludes with the observation that – in spite of ongoing debates – the overall picture which has accumulated after decades of research will not essentially being altered. Although the Holocaust was initiated, planned and carried out from Berlin, and although a considerable number of Dutchmen helped and hid Jews and the majority definitely despised the Germans, considerable parts of Dutch society contributed to the disastrous outcome of the Jewish lot in the Netherlands – through a high amount of servility towards the German authorities, through indifference when Jewish fellow-citizens were persecuted, through economically benefiting from the persecution and from the disappearance of Jewish neighbors, and through actual collaboration (stemming from a variety of reasons). Consequently, the picture of the Holocaust in the Netherlands is multi-dimensional, but altogether puzzling and not favorable.


2014 ◽  
pp. 384-406
Author(s):  
Bob Moore

During the German occupation of the Netherlands between 1940 and 1945, around 75% of the country’s Jewish population were deported and killed, primarily in the extermination camps of Auschwitz and Sobibor. Much attention has been paid to the factors which explain this, but this article questions how any Jews managed to survive in an increasingly hostile environment where there were no ‘favorable factors’ to aid them. The analysis centers on the attitudes of the Jews towards acting illegally, their relationships with the rest of Dutch society, and the possible opportunities for escape and hiding. It also looks at the myriad problems associated with the day-to-day experiences of surviving underground


2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-253
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Stefanowicz

This article undertakes to show the way that has led to the statutory decriminalization of euthanasia-related murder and assisted suicide in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It presents the evolution of the views held by Dutch society on the euthanasia related practice, in the consequence of which death on demand has become legal after less than thirty years. Due attention is paid to the role of organs of public authority in these changes, with a particular emphasis put on the role of the Dutch Parliament – the States General. Because of scarcity of space and limited length of the article, the change in the attitudes toward euthanasia, which has taken place in the Netherlands, is presented in a synthetic way – from the first discussions on admissibility of a euthanasia-related murder carried out in the 1970s, through the practice of killing patients at their request, which was against the law at that time, but with years began more and more acceptable, up to the statutory decriminalization of euthanasia by the Dutch Parliament, made with the support of the majority of society.


2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 45-47
Author(s):  
◽  
J M Mommers ◽  
W I Van Der Meijden

The financing of STD outpatient clinics in The Netherlands is currently undergoing structural changes. Because these changes also have implications for the infrastructure of STD care as a whole, the STD committee of the Dutch Society for Dermatology and Venereology (STD committee NVDV) and the National Society of Municipal Health Services (GGD-Nederland) are currently exploring the possibilities and feasibility of intensified regional collaboration between Municipal Health Services (MHSs) and dermatologists. However, for fruitful collaboration it is essential that a substantial number of dermatologists has an interest in STD care. Therefore, the STD committee NVDV has conducted a structured survey in order to study the support of Dutch dermatologists for such a regional collaboration. In this paper, the results of the survey are presented. It appears that the majority of Dutch dermatologists is (still) interested in STD, and although a minority currently collaborates with local MHSs on a regular basis, a large group is willing to do so in the future. We conclude that the majority of dermatologists in the Netherlands (still) cares for venereology and that there is a sound basis for a fruitful cooperation with MHSs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-48
Author(s):  
Shireen J. Jejeebhoy ◽  
A. K. Shiva Kumar

Female labour force participation among young women in India is disturbingly low, and yet little evidence is available regarding the factors likely to affect the school-to-work transition among the young. Data from 325 girls aged 15–19 years and in-depth interviews with 10 of these girls and 9 of their mothers in one block of Jodhpur district, obtained from a mixed-methods study in Rajasthan, explore girls’ aspirations for professional, administrative or technical careers and factors likely constraining or facilitating their articulation of such aspirations. Findings show that girls who aspired for a professional, administrative or technical career were more likely than others to display better learning outcomes (odds ratio = 1.31), greater work-related agency and a readiness to overcome community obstacles (odds ratio, 1.28) than those who did not aspire for a professional, administrative or technical career. They were also more likely to be unmarried or married but residing in the natal home (odds ratio = 2.97) and have supportive parents (odds ratio = 1.37). In-depth interviews corroborate these obstacles. Findings underscore the need to empower girls and break down traditional norms held by girls, parents and communities. On the programme front, it is important to ensure empowerment programmes for girls and address the quality and girl-friendliness of education and vocational training opportunities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Martijn Abrahamse

Summary This article deals with the reception of Billy Graham and modern evangelicalism in the fragmented society of the Netherlands in 1954. It takes its departure from the stream of newspaper articles published between February and June in response to the Greater London Crusade and Graham’s first large scale rally in Amsterdam’s Olympic Stadium. The analysis of the reports in different newspapers, which represent the different social groups (catholic, protestant, socialist and liberal) in Dutch society, reveals a significant shift in the way Billy Graham was perceived: from initial scepticism to mild appreciation. This change in press coverage, it is concluded, is mainly due to the different way in which Billy Graham presented himself compared with the large-scale publicity which surrounded his campaign.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Viktorija Bilic

Mathilde Franziska Anneke (1817-1884) was one of few women who have shaped German immigrant life in America during the second half of the 19th century. The Forty-Eighter, writer, and educator founded the first German-language Frauenzeitung in the U.S., and her network of correspondents included Susan B. Anthony.   The article sheds light on Mathilde Anneke as a “new woman” who broke with traditional norms of gender and sexuality. She divorced her first and abusive husband at the age of 20, raising her daughter alone before marrying Fritz Anneke with whom she had more children. This paper focuses on Mathilde's feminist essay Das Weib im Conflict mit den socialen Verhältnissen (1847). This text is a testament to her ideals and values, most of all her life-long fight for women’s rights. In this manifest, Mathilde envisions the “new woman” who would break out of the cage of male supremacy and demand equal rights. While Mathilde Anneke did not live to see the suffragist movement succeed, she made significant contributions to the early feminist movement, and she did so through her writing.


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