Imagine if someone were to ask you, to your face, if you were the most hated man or woman in your country. All of us would probably say no. When I recently put this question to Gabriele Kuby, a German Catholic sociologist, she paused to think about it quite seriously.

“No, maybe not,” she replied. “The politicians of the AfD right-wing party, they can’t go into restaurants. They are on TV and everyone knows their faces. Many people know my face too – but I think it is worse for them … But concerning all the LGBT issues, maybe concerning that, and gender, yes – it’s me.”