‘Nicht der Homosexuelle ist pervers, sondern die Situation, in der er lebt (It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives) - Rosa von Praunheim’

The voice-over uses the word “schwul” (homo) ninety times. The term was still considered to be hate speech in 1971, two years on from the abolishment of Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code, which criminalised homosexual acts between men. Rosa von Praunheim’s Nicht der Homosexuelle ist pervers, sondern die Situation, in der er lebt (It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives) is a striking, sometimes funny but occasionally imbalanced depiction of the everyday lives of gay men, and their position in society. It was the first film to force a broad and open discussion on the subject in West Germany.