Racism in the news: the "Talahon" debate in the German media
In recent weeks, the term "Talahon" has been mentioned frequently in the German media, mainly due to videos that have been trending, in particular on TikTok. The Neue deutsche Medienmacher*innen network took a closer look at the coverage of the topic.
What does the term mean?
The word "Talahon" appears in the 2022 song "Ta3al Lahon" by the rapper Hassan. It is thought to come from the Arabic phrase "Taeal Huna", which means "come here". Some young people from migrant communities jokingly use "Talahon" to refer to themselves.
However, political scientist Dr. Özgür Özvatan attributes the word's current popularity to two Twitch content creators who use the word as a racist and classist term for young men perceived as being Muslim or Arab. As Özvatan explains in a TikTok video, he discovered this while conducting social media research in collaboration with the organisation Transformakers. The term has become widespread on social media as a way of devaluing young Muslim and migrant men. It is also used as a derogatory term to describe women, in variations such as "Talahina" or "Talahon Queen". It has attracted wider media attention due to TikTok.
What happened on TikTok?
The hashtag "Talahon" on TikTok brings up videos in which young people of colour perform rap gestures or boxing moves to the violent song 'Ta3al Lahon' by rapper Hassan. Other TikTokers, mostly white, mock people who are referred to as "Talahon" in the videos, commenting on their appearance and behaviour. In doing so, they often stigmatise young people who are perceived to be Muslim or migrant as criminal and poor. This is where racist and classist discrimination come together. Right-wing extremists also use the term on social media platforms to reinforce the enemy image of the "dangerous Muslim" and to incite anti-Muslim racism.
How does the media cover this?
The term "Talahon" is also reported on in the media. Some media outlets, including those with a particularly wide reach, portray "Talahons" as a homogeneous, problematic group of Muslim or migrant youth. They oversimplify the trend down to sexism, by highlighting videos with sexist remarks. In doing so, they repeatedly use the same two references: (1) The @Niki_asks account on TikTok, where alleged "Talahons" are interviewed; (2) A video from the Pumping mnky account on YouTube, in which young men are interviewed as part of a dating format (the term "Talahon" is mainly used by the video makers, not the interviewees).
Accordingly, the headlines are similar. For example, BILD, the most widely circulated daily newspaper in Germany, writes: "Disgusting TikTok trend 'Talahon': 'The woman has to be a housewife, my housewife'" (Widerlicher TikTok-Trend „Talahon“: „Die Frau muss Hausfrau sein, meine Hausfrau“). The welt, a national German daily, published the headline: "'She has to be my housewife' - Talahon trend worries integration experts"(Sie muss meine Hausfrau sein“ - Talahon-Trend besorgt Integrationsexperten).The B.Z., a tabloid newspaper from Berlin, led with: "TikTok trend 'Talahon': 'The woman has to be my housewife'" (TikTok-Trend „Talahon“: „Die Frau muss Hausfrau sein“).
In other words, many media reports reduce "Talahon" to sexism. This gives the impression that sexism is only a problem for Muslims and people with migration biographies. This narrative reinforces racism, particularly anti-Muslim racism. It also misses the core of sexism as well as the diversity of Muslim and (post-)migrant life choices.
"Talahon" has even been nominated for the Youth Word of the Year. This is a word from 'youth language', chosen annually since 2008 by a jury led by Langenscheidt (a media company specialising in languages). This nomination further increased media attention. Right-wing extremists are pushing for the word to be chosen on social media with posts such as "Can we make Talahon the youth word?" or "Just voted to make Talahon the youth word of the year 2024. This is important because it establishes a word that won't disappear".
The Neuen deutschen Medienmacher*innen believe that a term that is both racist and classist when used as an exonym is totally unsuitable to be nominated as Youth Word of the Year.
Classify sexism, don't exploit it!
What would the coverage be like if white teenagers were gesticulating to a rap song? Would they be labelled? Would the media be looking for videos of white teenagers making sexist comments?
Too often, the blame for sexism is only looked for, named and condemned in one section of the population: men who are perceived as being Muslims or migrants. This implicitly absolves the rest of the population from taking responsibility. But sexism exists in all parts of society. This has to be acknowledged if we want to tackle sexism successfully.
For the Neue deutsche Medienmacher*innen, it is therefore clear that sexism and the glorification of violence must be called out - regardless of who commits these acts. They must not be exploited for racist purposes. So, should we ignore or downplay sexist remarks made by young men on social media? No, of course not, but we need to classify and address them in a way that does not condemn entire religions or populations.
