German Women in the Wild West: Contradiction in Post-WWII Gender Roles

Authors

Romy Franks, Brigham Young University

Keywords

women's studies, history, Germany

Abstract

While postwar German women were portrayed as gritty and strong from their lived experiences, West German newspapers articles reiterated the contradictory roles proffered to women in German society. Rather than speaking up against the genre’s masculine dominance, popular western novels, films, and the press continued to reinforce widely held opinions and norms by encouraging women to be content with the ideal female character offered them.

Biography

Romy Franks is a senior at BYU with a double major in European Studies and German. She is a self-proclaimed “multi-disciplinarian” (a nerdy word for someone who enjoys studying, analyzing and comparing anything and everything). Currently, she is serving an LDS mission in Tokyo, Japan. After completing her undergraduate studies in the spring of 2017, Franks plans on pursuing a graduate degree.

Recommended Citation

Franks, Romy (2016) "German Women in the Wild West: Contradiction in Post-WWII Gender Roles," AWE (A Woman’s Experience): Vol. 3, Article 5.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/awe/vol3/iss1/5