Feminism for Men walk - WIR SIND WIEN.FESTIVAL

On this Thursday afternoon tour through Brigittenau, we explore how women and men use public space differently, and what this tells us about gender justice and Vienna.

The origins of the walk are useful to understand. In 2019, Eugene was asked by Amira Ben Saoud of feminist seminar, Riot Conference, to make a tour for their meeting in 1200. We first made it, Persy Bulayumi and me, for Vienna Walking Week, as a liberation experiment, showing men how exciting and important feminism is for men.

Brigittenau is a less-visited part of our city, but diverse, fast-changing, led by a woman (and named after a woman).

Eugene finds the soul of our city deeply female. Vienna is a pioneer of gender-mainstreaming - where city-planning and budget decisions are inclusive and involve just as many women and men. Most cities are built by men for men, and we need to fight against this. New street names here are almost all female, since 2001, men sit down to urinate in their own homes (mostly), the streets are safe for single women (mostly), there is paid paternity leave of up to two years, and the city is not turbo-capitalist. Architecture here is mostly built on a human scale, with fewer phallic glass and steel towers.

We want to show the potential for men to embrace their full personality, including the freedom to explore less binary roles and responsibilities. In this sense, the tour is a humorous and joyful experience, full of storytelling. Women are of course welcome on the walk, but our focus is on opening up feminist ideas for the other half of the population, who may be less familiar with the subject. The future is female, and women's issues do not just affect women.

Why are we meeting here? Radio Orange has a cool feminist show each week, and across the road, Aktionsradius has done lots of important work on female representation. We will visit a park, public transport, Gemeindebau, Hannovermarkt, betting shop, Turkish cafe and gym. Whoosh made a tour about Hedy Lamarr in 2022, Johanna Dohnal in 2023, Toni Spira in 2024, and will show you the exciting and revolutionary role Eva Kail has played in changing the look and feel of our city, in 2025. We celebrate a modern city, and tell new stories about Vienna.

This is our 30th cooperation with the exciting, surprising WIR SIND WIEN.FESTIVAL, which explores Vienna's Grätzln, every summer. Nach der Spaziergang gehen wir zusammen zum Bipolar Feminin baulueckenkonzert, die auch ein teil der Festival ist.