Woman as Sexual Criminal: Weimar Constructions of the Criminal Femme Fatale

The construction of the sexual-criminal woman, evident in early twentieth-century medical and social discourses, is part of the cultural currency of Weimar Germany. The femme fatale as criminal monster occurs in mainstream journalism of the period as well as in Weimar scientific studies. In psychological and social treatises concerning the criminal woman, woman's innate vanity and excess of sexuality motivate criminal action. Weimar street films like Karl Grune's The Street and Joe May's Asphalt further demonstrate interest in the female criminal, as woman stands in for the evils of the city. Representations of the criminal woman reveal Weimar society's discomfort with modernity in general, including the fear of women's liberation, the new importance of the city, and the fledgling German republic. (BH)