In her book The New Fascist Body, Professor Dagmar Herzog connects her analysis of fascism’s libidinous energy with its animus against bodies perceived as imperfect.
The success of new far-right movements cannot be explained by fear or rage alone – the pleasures of aggression and violence are just as essential. As such, racism is particularly intense when it is erotically charged, migration presenting as a sexual threat to white women being one of many examples. Germany’s strikingly successful right-wing political party Alternative für Deutschland is, according to Dagmar Herzog, characterised by this “sexy racism,” with its second main feature being that of an obsessive anti-disability hostility – both elements resonating strongly with Nazism. Only by studying the emotional and intellectual worlds of past fascisms can we understand and combat their current manifestations.
