Authentic Power in an Age of Fatal Contradictions: A Review of Renée Gerlich’s Out of the Fog: On Politics, Feminism & Coming Alive

By Thistle Pettersen

Out of the Fog: On Politics, Feminism & Coming Alive, published by Spinifex Press, invites the reader to witness a conversation as page after page spins and weaves a tapestry of words and concepts expressed not only by the author herself but by the many thinkers, writers, artists, herbalists, scientists, theorists and feminists she admires. The result is that you feel as if you are immersed in a dialogue between the most thoughtful and creative members of our struggling species. This conversation clarifies difficult concepts and liberates the reader from the confusion brought about by the “fog” of life in today’s world.

In chapter one, Gerlich tells her story of feeling alienated from her peers growing up in Wellington, New Zealand where her parents had moved her from the Netherlands when they immigrated in 1982. She describes “an almost constant feeling of watching life happen through some impenetrable fog” as her peers and role models seemed to be happy and able to tap into joy and spontaneity, while she was not. This foggy feeling leads her to seek out thinkers and books to answer her questions so that the fog may clear up and she can see and make sense of the contradictions and hypocrisy she was observing in her life. One such thinker is Paulo Freire, a Brazilian writer who influenced Gerlich’s thinking starting way back when she was in teacher training school in 2010. His words and theories are woven throughout the book, urging the reader to explore an authentic journey of education that liberates, rather than enslaves one to the system of the “oppressor” and the “oppressed.”

This book was brought on by the many challenges the author faced coming of age, doing activism, and working in a world of contradictions and outright absurdities. This world, of course, is one we all share growing up and living in as we experience these turbulent times worldwide. Gerlich points to climate change, male violence and mass shootings, patriarchy, and racism as the major problems of our times that are both overwhelming and unbelievable. What stands out in Gerlich’s book is the way she weaves the theories, concepts, and ideas of others into her own unique, informed praxis aimed at liberation not only of the oppressed peoples of the world but of the self. She especially, like Mary Daly and others before her, examines the subordinated self women are conditioned to have and works to break free for her own liberation as an individual, accepting that she cannot “end rape” in the larger context for “all women”, and that her own happiness is important.

In the final chapter, we learn that Gerlich, like other shunned and canceled women, struggled to take responsibility for her life and happiness as her reputation and sense of belonging were damaged by both trans activists and feminists alike. The grief of being unrecognized and unsupported by her peers pushes her to new depths of self-reflection. Using the brilliant imagery of a staircase of “external power”, an image she creates to understand the hierarchy of power she, and all of society is caught up in, she sees herself situated on the staircase in the lowest position searching outwardly for both personal and political healing. As soon as she sees the ugliness of her situation at the very bottom of the staircase, she is determined to leave her position there in order to develop her integrity and character as an independent thinker and woman. She describes the end result of this process succinctly here: “In short, grief helped me begin to shift from fruitlessly trying to change what is outside me, to acting on what is inside me.”

Gerlich’s book builds on itself theoretically and conceptually, as well as offering downright great personal and political stories from the frontlines of activism, contemplation, meditation, and measured study of history. Chapter 4 gives the reader “…a broad overview of political events between 2014 and 2020, focussing on Pride and the promotion of transgenderism; Black Lives Matter and prison abolition; mainstream feminism; climate change activism, and the 2019 Christchurch massacre.” This overview reveals the connections between different leftist groups and projects that undermine real progress and justice, even as they purport to work for progress and justice. Also in this chapter is a good discussion of “victims-are-perpetrators-are-victims” thinking and how ultimately, it harms real victims to always view perpetrators in the victim role in the name of compassion. She opens the chapter with a list of “fatal contradictions” we live with in our global society, including axioms such as “Act as if the house was on fire” and “Stay home, save lives.” Throughout, she explains how these contradictions keep us paralyzed, not knowing how to take responsibility for our own lives and feeling responsible for overwhelming problems, such as global climate change. 

The brutal reality of waking up daily to mass shootings, pornified rape culture, wars, massacres, and environmental catastrophes causes all of us to exist in a state of constant, low-level trauma, disconnected from our bodies and feelings. This “fog” we live in can be lifted and we can “come alive” if we take responsibility for ourselves as individuals in this life, and continue to analyze, think and take part in the great conversations of our times. Gerlich and her book certainly do that. It was a joy to read.  

Thistle Pettersen is the founding member of WLRN, an eco-feminist, and a singer/songwriter in her home state of Wisconsin.  Her focus is on arts and culture and the role they play in building liberation and justice movements. You can learn more about Thistle and hear her original music at ThistlePettersen.com