‘Wir hätten keine Zukunft mehr?’ Hedwig Dohm’s Future-Orientated Ideas of Aging in Feminist Writings from the 1900s and her Short Story Werde, die du bist

Abstract

Around 1900, the feminist Hedwig Dohm (1831–1919) drew attention to acts of silencing with respect to women in later years. Her essays, such as ‘Die alte Frau’ (1903) and ‘Mutter und Großmutter’ (1912), and her short story Werde, die du bist (1894) highlight how addressing the question of old age requires a transformation of attitudes towards the human. This essay draws on Simone de Beauvoir’s philosophy in The Coming of Age (La vieillesse, 1970) to explore the notion of age as a ‘cultural fact’ in relation to Hedwig Dohm’s critical engagement with the marginalization of women. Dohm’s writings — from her own later years — intervene to cast light on cultural double standards concerning a gendered life course; they also engage with the otherness of the body and reflect on ways of keeping the future open to alternative possibilities.