By Charles Hawley in Berlin
Berlin is recognized the world over as a beacon of tolerance and sexual promiscuity. So, why all the rancor over mayor Klaus Wowereit’s embrace of a sadomasochism festival in the German capital? Instead of being panned, Wowereit should be hailed.
The word is virtually impossible to translate directly into English: spiessig. The dictionary makes a noble effort, offering up words such as “conventional” and “pedantic.” But such a definition does little to call up the fear bordering on paranoia that most young Germans (and a good many older Germans) have of being labeled a Spiesser. It’s not all that far from calling someone a boring, scrupulous, capitalist pig — and in a country where hipness and leftiness have achieved almost iconic status, calling someone a Spiesser is harsh indeed.
In Berlin, it doesn’t take much to be to be stained with the dreaded label. Indeed, in some parts of the city — Friedrichshain, Prenzlauer Berg, Kreuzberg — just walking down the street in a clean collared shirt with no tattoos showing is enough to stand out from the ultra-nonchalant, hyper-cool masses. From the Berlin perspective, entire cities — Munich, Hamburg — are spiessig whereas Berlin itself is seen as the center of German chic where anything goes and the nightlife is unbeatable.
Enter Berlin’s mayor Klaus Wowereit. Recently crowned “The Glamour Guy” by Time Magazine, the 51-year-old gay man is better known as a partying socialite than as a hard-nosed manager — all part of his strategy to make Berlin Europe’s creative center by attracting the young and hip rather than the old and stodgy.
This time, though, the mayor may have gone too far. Controversy is raging this week over the “Folsom Europe Fest,” a European attempt to copy San Francisco’s (in)famous sadomasochism fair on Folsom Street. Events begin on Friday, prompting some to fear that a hurricane of leather, handcuffs and undesirables will sweep through the German capital. Not that Berlin is lacking in any of these anyway. Still, Wowereit’s gusto and willingness to write the festival’s opening greeting has rankled conservative nose-wrinklers. “The first weekend in September will be marked by pure joie de vivre,” Wowereit wrote. “The international leather and fetish scene is meeting for the second time in Berlin. … Welcome to Berlin!” (more..)
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