After the successful launch weekend, the FC St. Pauli Museum saw a well-made kick-off of events: a room full of people at the presentation of Fan.Tastic Female Antje Grabenhorst about sexism, homophobia and self-empowerment in football and at the stadium.

Around 80 people listened on Thursday 13 Sept from 19.10hrs onwards at the foyer of the FC Sankt Pauli Museum to a presentation on how and opponent fans, teams or referees are subjected to sexist and homophic slurs. Because although gender equality is no longer an alien concept and women as well as queers have found their place at the stadia, a different picture often shows as well: sexist and homophobic slogans are still on the agenda.

Based on different examples, it was explored and discussed what this has to do with societal gender roles and what kind of ways fans have developed to tackle insults, derogative terms and an unwelcoming atmosphere.

Antje Grabenhorst is also an active member of "Football Fans Against Homophobia" and the network "F_in - Women in Football".

Next Thursday (20 Sept), the programme around the exhibition „Fan.Tastic Females – Football Her.Story“ will see the presentation: "Ultras - where men are made" by Simon Volpers.

...Choreos, pyro, mob photos - ultra groups seem to be particularly attractive for young men. Despite a rise of feminism inside the football world overall, the core of the stands seems more or less immune towards this development. Optimistic figures meanwhile estimate that around 10% of ultras are female, but in many places, this number tends more towards zero. Anti-sexist initiatives, left-wing ultras and individual all-female fan groups are prepared to change the status quo, yet they face a major challenge.  

The presentation will ignore the latter initially but look at the ever-existing, typical mindsets and practices of ultra groups. The focus will be on their gender-specific symbolism: what is it that makes this culture so attractive for young males? Why is this the case? What sort of opportunities and problems arise from this?   

The presentation will give an introduction to the development of male gender identities and illustrate this based on the ultra culture. Opportunities and issues of men - and women - should be explored from a gender-based, sociological perspective and ideally be discussed jointly with the audience afterwards.

COME ALONG!