Minna Wettstein-Adelt (1869-died around 1908, precise date unknown) was a German-French journalist and writer, who also wrote under the names Aimée Duc and Helvetia.
Life
Born on 1 May 1869 in
Strassburg, Minna Adelt-Duc grew up in France.
She married a Swiss writer, Dr. Wettstein, and later lived in Berlin,
Dresden and
Munich. She edited ''Draisena'', a journal for ladies riding bikes, and was the publisher of the Berlin ''Modekorrespondenz'' (Fashion Letter).
After the
Christian Socialist Paul Göhre published an account of three months spent working in a
Chemnitz
Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...
machine tool factory in 1891, Wettstein-Adelt undertook a similar experiment. She worked with women at four Chemnitz factories: a stocking and glove factory, a weaving mill, and two spinning mills. Interested in extending female emancipation to the working class, she paid attention to
birth control
Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...
,
sexual harassment
Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...
,
prostitution
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
, and the burden of working women with families. However, she could be disapproving of the "beasts" and "reptiles" into whose midst she was thrown, and her main recommendation was that the "upper ten thousand" who she envisaged as her readers should become factory supervisors.
Her pseudonymously published 1901 novel ''Are They Women'' portrayed a group of "independent, intellectually driven, same-sex loving female medical students"
in Switzerland: the students in the novel view themselves as a '
third sex
Third gender is a concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither man nor woman. It is also a social category present in societies that recognize three or more genders. The term ''third'' is usual ...
', and at the heart of the book is a successful lesbian relationship between two of them, Minotchka and Marta.
[Bland, C. (2016]
Through Science to Selfhood? The Early Generations of University Women in Fiction
''Oxford German Studies'', Vol. 45, No. 1, pp. 45-61.
Works
* Minna Wettstein-Adelt, ''3 1/2 Monate Fabrik-Arbeiterin. Eine practische Studie''
hree and a Half Months as a Factory Worker. A practical study 1893
online digital version.
* Aimée Duc, ''Sind es Frauen?: Roman über das dritte Geschlecht''
re These Women? A novel about the third sex 1901
* Aimée Duc, ''Ich will''
want 1902
* Aimée Duc, ''Des Pastors Liebe. Ein Modernes Sittenbild''
he pastor's love. A modern portrayal of manners 1904
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wettstein Adelt, Minna
1869 births
20th-century deaths
Year of death missing
German women journalists
German women novelists
French women journalists
French women novelists