Blind Feminist perspectives for men
Vollition Gender Design Award iphiGenia 2025
Most men do not see feminism as something that concerns them – and are conspicuously passive when it comes to the fight for gender equality. ‘If men are the ones who “sort things out”, then why don’t they prevent violence against women, challenge assimilated misogyny, or do anything against sexism among their peers?’ asked Louisa Nikolaus. This question became the starting point for her Bachelor thesis, in which she takes up the handyman / DIY masculinity ideal of the 1950s and ’60s and reworks it into a set of tools that convey feminist perspectives to men themselves.
To this end, Louisa Nikolaus disguises her specially developed tool collection TOOLSFORFOOLS as a DIY store leaflet. The flyer can be distributed widely through letterboxes, is inexpensive to produce, and creates an unexpected moment of confrontation in everyday life. Mixing humour with necessary radical clarity, men are invited to reflect on their own behaviour and interrogate the way they have been socialised.
With TOOLSFORFOOLS, Louisa Nikolaus creates a substantiated yet highly accessible examination of masculinity as a social power and role model. Drawing from a theoretical analysis of socialisation, stereotypes and power structures, she develops an astute design analogy: the toolbox. While mainstream masculinity coaching currently promises “tools” that reinforce old role models, this set introduces new tools that nurture responsibility and reflection – while productively redefining the handyman stereotype. At a time when feminist progress is once again under pressure, this work includes men in the issue and actively invites them to help push gender equality forward. It demonstrates what gender-sensitive design can do: visualise cultural codes, deconstruct traditional role models and open up new perspectives.
The jury was overjoyed – for a student to achieve this with such focus and playful ease gives real cause for optimism, and demonstrates the strength of the future generation of designers.
