The rooster constantly explains to the hen how to lay eggs

Feminist issues are important and serious but, as this congenially and colorfully illustrated book proves, they can also be very, very funny! Because where else is there so much potential for conflict, contradictions and misunderstandings? And what text form can get to the heart of this more succinctly than the short rhyming poem, especially the traditional "animal poem"? A genre that has so far been written almost exclusively by men in the German language. Sobering, but good for this book, because countless subject areas are still completely untouched, almost virgin: From rigid beauty standards and various forms of care work, to mansplaining and the gender pay gap.

Feminist issues are important and serious but, as this colorfully illustrated book proves, they can also be very, very funny! After all, where else is there so much potential for conflict, contradictions and misunderstandings? And what text form can get to the heart of this more succinctly than the short rhyming poem, especially the traditional "animal poem"? Which, in German, has so far been used almost exclusively by men. Sobering, but good for this book, because countless subject areas are still completely unused, indeed almost virgin: From rigid beauty standards and various forms of care work, to mansplaining and the gender pay gap. In this first and unique volume of poetry, the animal poem is snatched from the "male gaze" once and for all and a female perspective is smuggled into comic German poetry. Painful, socio-political issues are addressed here, but the joy of collective empowerment is also sung about: in these poems there is partying, drinking, dancing, fucking and, above all, lots and lots of chilling - female self-empowerment is not just a social utopia here, but a wild, lived, liberating practice.

"Feminist cheerfulness" ARD

Author's text
ELLA CARINA WERNER is co-editor of Titanic and is one of Germany's best-known satirists. Her acclaimed story collections Der Untergang des Abendkleides and Man kann auch ohne Kinder keine Karriere machen were published in 2020 and 2023. She lives in Hamburg.

Blurb

Feminist issues are important and serious - but, as this congenially and colorfully illustrated book proves, they can also be very, very funny! After all, where else is there so much potential for conflict, contradictions and misunderstandings? And what text form can get to the heart of this more succinctly than the short rhyming poem, especially the traditional 'animal poem'? A genre that has so far been written almost exclusively by men in the German language. Sobering - but good for this book, because it means that countless subject areas are still completely unused, indeed almost virgin: From rigid beauty standards and various forms of care work, to mansplaining and the gender pay gap.