''Garçonne'' was a

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

-era German magazine for

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

s. It was published from 1926 to 1930 under the title ''Frauenliebe'' (''Woman Love'') and from 1930 to 1932 as ''Garçonne''.

Title

The magazine was named after Victor Margueritte's 1922 novel '' La Garçonne''—whose title was translated for English readers as ''The Bachelor Girl''—which was a critique of

tomboy A tomboy is a girl or young woman who generally expresses masculine traits. Such traits may include wearing androgynous or unfeminine clothing and engaging in activities and behaviors traditionally associated with boys or men. Origins The w ...

s and

flapper Flappers were a subculture of young Western women prominent after the First World War and through the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee length was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their ...

s. The word ''garçonne'' is derived from the French word for "boy" (''garçon'') with the addition of a feminine

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

; its closest English translation is "tomboy". After the publication of Margueritte's novel, the term came into popular use as a descriptor for flappers, women who wore masculine clothing, and lesbians. According to Marsha Meskimmon, the relaunch of ''Frauenliebe'' as ''Garçonne'', "the more modish title", provided the magazine with a more marketable title that functioned as "a common currency as a lesbian type".

History

''Frauenliebe''

''Frauenliebe'' was established in Berlin in 1926 and its first issue was published on 9 June 1926. It was advertised with the description "Weekly for friendship, love and sexual enlightenment". At the time, it was one of three lesbian periodicals published in Berlin, alongside '' Die Freundin'' and Selli Engler's '' Die BIF – Blätter Idealer Frauenfreundschaften''. Its target audience included lesbians, including transgender women. ''Frauenliebe'' and ''Garçonne'', as the competing ''Freundin'' have been published, often edited and even partly written by men, as they were part of the male dominated homosexual movement of the 1920s and 1930s, who saw lesbian women as a possible supportive force in their fight. The only independent magazine, where only women were in charge, was the short-lived ''Die BIF''. Writer Ruth Margarete Roellig started working as a journalist at ''Frauenliebe'' in 1927. ''Frauenliebe'' was shut down for a time in 1928 by legal authorities, who were unable to name homosexual content as offensive under a law that prohibited , but deemed that the "literary portion of the issues is worthless" and the advertisements that "facilitate sexual relationships

ave is a Latin word, used by the Roman Empire, Romans as a salutation (greeting), salutation and greeting, meaning 'wikt:hail, hail'. It is the singular imperative mood, imperative form of the verb , which meant 'Well-being, to be well'; thus on ...

to be seen as obscene in the sense of the law". In 1930, the magazine's editors changed the name from ''Frauenliebe'' to ''Garçonne'' to avoid legal troubles.

''Garçonne''

The first issue of the magazine printed under the new title of ''Garçonne'' was published on 15 October 1930. In addition to works of fiction and short stories, the magazine published lesbian-related news and opinion pieces from Germany and neighbouring countries; a 1931 article about the lack of lesbian organisations and publications in Switzerland led to the formation of the Swiss lesbian group Amicitia. Its issues contained ongoing debate about the nature of lesbianism and echoed the popular views of

sexologist Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors, and functions. The term ''sexology'' does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as social criticism. Sexologists app ...

s at the time that homosexuality was a form of natural biological variation. Although it was printed and distributed in Berlin, and focused mainly on Berlin's lesbian scene, it was accessible by subscription in regional areas of Germany where there was no local lesbian subculture. One reader from

Görlitz Görlitz (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, East Lusatian: , , ) is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is on the river Lusatian Neisse and is the largest town in Upper Lusatia, the second-largest town in the region of Lusatia after ...

submitted a letter to ''Garçonne'' in 1931 declaring that "this paper means everything to me", while another from

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

reported that "I cannot any longer do without this magazine". ''Garçonne'' ceased publication in 1932.

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garconne (magazine) 1926 establishments in Germany 1932 disestablishments in Germany Defunct German-language magazines Defunct LGBTQ-related magazines published in Germany 1930s LGBTQ-related mass media 1920s LGBTQ-related mass media Defunct women's magazines published in Germany Lesbian culture in Germany Defunct lesbian-related magazines Magazines established in 1926 Magazines disestablished in 1932 Magazines published in Berlin First homosexual movement Flappers