Love Parade GmbH vs. Ladyfest: Electronic Music as a Mode of Feminist Expression in Contemporary German Culture

Berlin's Love Parade, having lost money every year after losing its status as a political demonstration in 2001, met its demise as of the summer of 2004. Despite its past designation as a demonstration and the quasi-political rhetoric surrounding Love Parade—with slogans such as "Access peace" (2002) and "Love rules" (2003)—the event espoused no definitive platform, which led in part to its failure. However, this article details how the open-endedness of Love Parade created space for other subcultures, and specifically feminists, to reappropriate the technologies that fueled Love Parade for their own more definitive political ends. (EB)