The study analyses the development and change of gender semantics during the 'long 19th century', based on the premiss of the constitutive role of literature as a medium where socio-historical concepts are formed and reflected upon. In contrast to previous research, the focus thereby lies not on literature of the Fin de Siècle but on the German Naturalism: As Natalia Igl shows by detailed analysis, the era of Naturalism can be regarded as an initial phase where the perceived crisis of traditional 'complementary' gender roles is being addressed in literary as well as in poetological discourse in a significant way. A core piece of the analysed texts consists of dramas of the non-canonical author Elsa Bernstein (1866-1949). Due to the close linkage of naturalist aesthetics and the issue of conflicting gender roles that characterises Bernsteins texts, their interpretation thus provides a 'burning glass' which helps to shed light on the significance of changing gender semantics regarding the discourse of Naturalism as a whole. All in all, the study emphasises the relevance of the naturalist era as a liminal but not marginal epoch of literary modernims which plays a crucial role with respect to 19th century literary anthropology.