Schlagwort-Archiv: fascism

Dear Romantasy Authors, We Need To Talk

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Reading time: ca. 3 minutes (without the further reading suggestions)

What hyper-masculine male characters and petite female protagonists have to do with viral trends like looksmaxxing, SkinnyTok and their connection to modern day fascism and right wing extremism.

I don’t read a lot of romantasy, but I often see promo content about it and also character portraits. I also see videos by book bloggers who present romantasy. And what I read and see makes me worry. Because the beauty standards which are presented have already been a thing in the 1930ies, in fascism.

What do I mean? Hyper-masculine characters with defined jawlines, „hunter eyes“ and extremely muscular bodies who are also mostly very tall and very strong. The trend „Looksmaxxing“ says hi.

Take a look at historical propaganda images from Nazi Germany. Take a look at propaganda film images of the films of Leni Riefenstahl. And then compare these with the descriptions of male characters in Romantasy novels, or with respective character portraits.

On the other side, there are almost always very small, tiny, petite female characters, which are literally weak on a physical level. Yet somehow, for no realistic reason, they often can fight „like a man“. I see parallels here to the recenty beauty ideal for women which gets promoted by SkinnyTok and such: very thin women. Why this is not romantic at all, but bad? I have written a blog post about this – sorry, only in German. But I have linked a couple of other articles about this topic down below, as further reading suggestions.

Following the right-wing backlash of recent years, apparently a lot of folks long for, in reality or in fiction, old role models to be brought back. To put it bluntly: The strong, competent man who takes care of the (weak, tiny) woman.

So my question to you is, do you really want to represent these old-fashioned and out-of-touch gender roles and beauty standards in your romantasy stories? Hate to break it to you: This isn’t romantic and it’s also not hot. It’s a conversative, right-wing, fascist ideal.

I have another suggestion for you: Body Diversity. How about a hero who is not super trained and brawny, yet still sets out for his adventure bravely? Battles and fights do not always need muscular strength, you can also use flexibility. How about the male love interest with a soft chin instead of a hard jaw line? How about a protagonist without „hunter eyes“, but a different expression to his eyes? How about a female main character who is as tall (or almost as tall) as her love interest, so that both can literally be on a par with each other? How about a heroine who isn’t petite and small. And how about characters who have some kind of physical „flaw“, so they are not perfect? This can be a range of this. A physical disability. Moles or scars. A battle wound which cannot be healed. Alopecia (loss of hair). Or maybe you have another idea?

Because to be honest, perfection is boring. Especially when all the heroes and heroines in all the romantasy novels are described as so perfectly looking, that they become completely interchangeable. Treat your characters with body diversity. This makes them more interesting and unmistakable.

Further Reading Suggestions:

„The Necessity for Diversity: Beauty Standards in Novels“ by E Dunsmuir.
https://www.strikemagazines.com/blog-2-1/the-necessity-for-diversity-beauty-standards-in-novels

„Body Fascism: SkinnyTok, the Far Right, and Why You Think You Want to Be Thin.
How diet culture, wellness aesthetics, and authoritarian politics collide — and what it’s costing women’s health, autonomy, and power“ by Bec Cameron
https://beccameron.substack.com/p/body-fascism-skinnytok-the-far-right

„How the far right is using thinness to radicalise women and teen girls – The far right has normalised much of its ideology within mainstream politics – and ‘body fascism’ is part of that“ by Lois Shearing
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/far-right-radicalise-thin-skinny-fat-shame-women-girls-social-media-tiktok

„Looksmaxxing, Mogging & the Sexual Market Place: the latest far-right manosphere subculture“ by Harper Cleves
https://www.solidarity.ie/2026/03/looksmaxxing-mogging-the-sexual-market-place-the-latest-far-right-manosphere-subculture

5 Strategies Against Fascism

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Reading time: 4 minutes.
This is a summary I have written of part of the (German) podcast episode “What if there is fascism tomorrow?“ by Marina Weisband, Podcast “Wind und Wurzeln“ (“Wind and Roots“). There are several quotes of Marina (in italics). With kind permission from Marina Weisband, I have translated this summary from German into English.

Stay Human.
Always think about the human rights; they apply to all humans.
“Keep your love deep inside your heart, for your family, for the world, for the animals, for nature, for whatever ignites love and joy inside of you.“

Check whether what you are being told (including in the news, on social media, etc.) is consistent with your values or whether it violates human dignity. Reflect on yourselves; view the world with a critical eye.

Create Beautiful Things.
Create poems, art, literature, music, or stories. Go pick some flowers. Invite your friends to a meal. Think of the children’s book “Frederick“ by Leo Lionni.
“It is the beautiful things that help us through dark times, often small things (…) Dance. Laugh.“

Organize.
“If there is one antidote against fascism, it is solidarity.“
Show solidarity to other people, also and especially to marginalized folks.
“Solidarity is not only one of the best antidotes against fascism, but also against neoliberal ideologies, which like to have us as individualistic lone fighters. Everywhere where people support each other in solidarity, they show already now that there is a better future for everyone. Every form of solidarity, be it small or big, improves life immediately.“

Community spirit and trust in each other play a big part in this, whereas fascism thrives when everyone mistrusts everyone else.

Form “non-movements“, who act in unsuspicious places, exchanging goods and ideas – in associations, congregations, synagogues, mosques, while playing music together or other activities. Using small codes, other anti-fascists might recognize each other, for instance a rainbow-colored bracelet, a hairstyle, or something else.

“You do in private what you can’t do publicly anymore, sharing banned books, music, art, and, essential, also humor.“ For this, you need “places that the fascist regime cannot control or enter. Where it cannot monitor what the people are doing there.“ This is why protest against mass surveillance (like of Palantir) is so important.

Create alternative channels of information.
“The internet as we know it today won’t be like that in fascism. It will be censored. Whole platforms will be shut down. Just look at China, if you want to get an idea.“

An obvious method is word-of-mouth information sharing, or stickers and flyers with hidden messages. There are various technical possibilities for alternative channels of information.

That is why Marina Weisband suggests that you contact your local hacker spaces (“Embrace the hackers whom you trust.“) Another method is “decentralized ad-hoc networks where information is transported from one mobile end device to the next and so on.“

Sabotage.
“You could call it hacking fascism.“
The hacker collective Anonymous launched a cyberwar against the Kremlin following the invasion of Ukraine. But also in your everyday life, you can do small things without much time and effort and without putting yourself at risk.

You could, for instance take your time looking for your ticket when the conductors on public transportation try to find fare dodgers. You could feign comprehension difficulties or clumsiness at authorities or stay longer at the restroom than necessary. Small things that disturb agencies, bureaucratic processes, police officers, or other representatives of the regime in their work. Also take a look at the appendix, at “The Simple Sabotage Field Manual“.

A conclusion by Marina that gives me hope: “Fascism always destroys itself, it is not a stable political system.“

About Marina Weisband
(translated from her website)
Marina Weisband is a certified psychologist and participatory educator. She runs the [German] “Aula Project“ on student participation and speaks at events and in public media about her work and topics such as political participation, digital society, media, and crises.

Appendix
The podcast episode in German, “Was, wenn morgen Faschismus ist?“
https://wind-und-wurzeln.podigee.io/2-new-episode

Marina Weisband’s Website (also in German): https://marinaweisband.de/

“The Simple Sabotage Field Manual“
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_Sabotage_Field_Manual
A quote from the wikipedia page: „The “Simple Sabotage Field Manual“ is a document written by the Office of Strategic Services in 1944. The manual was declassified by the Central Intelligence Agency in 2008. The manual was distributed to OSS officers in foreign countries in order to help them train “citizen-saboteurs” in German-occupied Europe.“

At the time I am writing this in late October 2025, you can read and download the manual here:
https://www.cia.gov/static/5c875f3ec660e092cf893f60b4a288df/SimpleSabotage.pdf