finally did a feminist thing...

[IceBeing]

...why do I feel so shaky?

I asked a salesperson who was visiting our physics department to take down a overtly sexualized image of a woman that was part of the advertising. I explained we were trying to counteract unhelpful/damaging gender stereotypes in the physics department in order to increase our retention of female students.

He just said, "oh yeah no problem - it isn't my material" and did it.

So why do I feel like I have been in a fight?

Want DD to do it? She's very assertive

I think I am nervous about the german speaking aspect. I mean is okay to phone a company in Germany and just speak English at them?

You could ask them if someone there speaks English - it's likely.
Hallo is Hello in German, then 'Spricht jemand (pronounced yeymand) Englisch' should work.

Or you could just pester them on Twitter.

Or get a German feminist twitterer to pester them.

Thank you for having it removed from your dept anyway. My daughter is in her teens and choosing science subjects and the more welcoming sciences are to girls, the better. She would absolutely have noticed something like that.

Oh yes just speak English at them. Most Germans think their English is terrible but it's actually very good. Just speak slowly, use simple sentence structure/words rather than complicated ones if they seem to be struggling and let them have a chance to digest what you've said, if they don't seem to understand.

(English teacher living in Germany here :))

Sexualised images of women are very much more common here than they are in Britain so it's probably even less likely to be noticed and probably will be thought of as a bit of a joke if you suggest it's a problem, but don't be put off - they ought to be polite to you in person, and you might find you speak to somebody who recognises your concerns.

Also, don't do the British thing of playing it down. When we say "I suggest..." to a British person it reads as "Please do..." but to someone from another culture (especially a direct speaking one like Germany) they read it as "This is just an idea, but it's not very important. Don't worry about it." Just be direct, state the problem, request action. Don't quantify with "it would be great if you..." or "I strongly suggest" just say "It would be best if you..." or "Another photo would be more encouraging" or similar.

Oh and random tip for comprehension - stay away from the word "if". If you find yourself wanting to say it, use "when". The German word wenn covers both if and when (even for hypothetical situations) and they tend to be able to follow much more easily if you use a familiar sounding word which essentially means the same to them.