Margarete Stokowski (born April 14, 1986 in Zabrze, Poland) is a Polish-German writer and essayist. She is best known for her weekly essays for the magazine

Spiegel Online ''Der Spiegel (online)'' is a German news website. Before the renaming in January 2020, the website's name was ''Spiegel Online'' (short ''SPON''). It was founded in 1994 as the online offshoot of the German news magazine, ''Der Spiegel'', wit ...

where she writes about the current state of

feminism in Germany Feminism in Germany as a modern movement began during the Wilhelmine period (1888–1918) with individual women and women's rights groups pressuring a range of traditional institutions, from universities to government, to open their doors to wome ...

. The numbers of clicks on her essays reach up to 900,000. The

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. History ...

stated that she is the "loudest voice of German feminism" in 2019. Stokowski advocates freedom for every gender and often criticizes the neo liberal economy for the oppression of women especially, but also men. According to her views, the modern German society often misleads women into buying goods they don't need or being unhappy with their own bodies by setting up impossible-to-reach

beauty standards Physical attractiveness is the degree to which a person's physical features are considered aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. The term often implies sexual attractiveness or desirability, but can also be distinct from either. There are many ...

. She states that a non-patriarchal world would be better for everybody and sees the fear of losing power as the main motivation for some people to cling on to patriarchy. Stokowski is a sharp observer and critic of right-wing tendencies all over the world. As of July 2019, Stokowski has published two books off her own, namely ''Untenrum frei'' (Freedom "Down There") in 2016 and ''Die letzten Tage des Patriarchats'' (The last days of patriarchy) in 2018. Both works were very successful and reached high positions in the bestseller rankings. In September 2019, Stokowski was awarded the

Kurt-Tucholsky-Preis Kurt-Tucholsky-Preis is a literary prize of Germany. The prize amount is currently €5,000. The prize, for "committed and succinct literary works" was first awarded in 1995, and thereafter annually till 1997, since when it has been awarded every t ...

for her critical analysis in her columns.

Personal life

Stokowski was born in Poland but moved to Germany with her family at the age of two. She grew up in the

Neukölln Neukölln () is one of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is located in the southeastern part from the city centre towards Berlin Schönefeld Airport. It was part of the former American sector under the Four-Power occupation of the city. It featu ...

neighborhood of Berlin, attended a Catholic private school, and then studied philosophy and social sciences at

Humboldt University Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of ...

. She lives in Berlin. After contracting COVID-19 in early 2022, she was diagnosed with long COVID.Margarete Stokowski: Long Covid ist ein ernstes Problem – Kolumne von Margarete Stokowski. In: Der Spiegel. 15. März 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stokowski, Margarete 1986 births German feminists German women essayists Polish feminists Polish women essayists Polish essayists Feminist theorists German people of Polish descent Living people Der Spiegel people People from Zabrze Humboldt University of Berlin alumni