Was National Socialism Anti-Sex? On Left-Wing Fantasies and Sex as the Dark Matter of Politics

Abstract

Drawing on an extensive amount of work by other researchers, as well as some literary sources from the time, Goran Adamson discusses the widespread view that Nazism was anti-sex. Indeed, during Nazi rule homosexuality and street prostitution were persecuted, and Jews and “degenerates” were prevented from having sex (not merely by law, but by elimination). However, reported circumstances such as cheap access to condoms, a high number of pregnancies during party rallies, and quasi-religious cultivation of “the Germanic sexual instinct” would suggest that matters may have been much less restrictive for the majority of Germans. The idea of an overall Nazi anti-sex attitude may well have been constructed by intellectuals from the Freudian Left/Frankfurt School, especially their theories of an intimate connection between sexual repression and authoritarianism. Such views gained widespread popularity with the 68′ generation, and they were an essential reason why sexuality came to be considered the cure for all social evils. This overestimation of the significance of sexual liberation, and recent conservative reactions to it, constitute an important part of today’s political landscape.