Feminism for Men

With a range of events and campaigns, Whoosh is active in pushing for more social justice when it comes to the relationship between women and men.

The title of this project may seem like a humorous provocation, but it is deeply serious. And something quite unusual, which lead to the UN Gender department in Vienna contacting us to know more. We will lecture to them soon.

Just over half of our art collective is female, and we are proud to stand for progressive politics, on ecology, LGBTQIA+, Europe and of course feminism. We make walks with Stadt Wien, looking at gender justice out on the streets, and how public space can be more inclusive and create dialogue between different groups. Vienna also uses budgets to make sure that every part of the council considers the gender dimension when applying for funding.

And we make Feminism for Men tours in Brigittenau, which are also open to women of course. The origins of the walk are useful to understand. In 2019, Eugene was asked by Amira Ben Saoud of feminist seminar, Rrriot 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 them. We explore how women and men use public space differently, and what this tells us about gender justice and Vienna. Where do we see the boys, where the girls, and why? And since Brigittenau is a less-visited part of our city, this is also a voyage into new territory for many Viennese, in this diverse, fast-changing district, led by a woman (and named after a woman).

Women's history is not so often told, and we try to correct that, with a tour each summer about an important Vienna woman, who we love. In 2022, Hedy Lamarr, in 2023, Johanna Dohnal, in 2024: Elisabeth Spira, and in 2025, Eva Kail - we will show you the exciting and revolutionary role she has played in changing the look and feel of our city. We celebrate a modern city, and tell new stories about Vienna.

Our monthly Wien Museum Pub Quiz takes as its March 2025 theme, strong Vienna women.

Our focus at Whoosh is on dialogue, walking, dancing and liberal politics, and all these tend to be more female than male. More women than men come to and follow our work. We are proud of that.

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 since 2001, are almost all female, 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.