ABSTRACT
In recent years, abortion rights, sex education and gender studies, gay marriage, transnational treaties concerning gender-based violence have all come under attack from what appears to be an increasingly influential and coherent global anti-gender movement. What these campaigns have in common is the demonization of the very concept of “gender.” At the same time, the populist right has not only taken over Poland, Hungary, the United States, Turkey and Brazil, but also won the hearts of millions of people in countries with strong democratic traditions and relatively weaker religious influences, such as Germany, the UK, France and Sweden. Parties such as Vox in Spain and Lega in Italy have included the anti-gender agenda in their political platforms, undertaking campaigns against women’s and transgender rights, often in unison with ultraconservative networks such as CitizenGo. In this section we introduce the core themes of the anti-gender campaigns, outlining some examples of this phenomenon and discussing the ways in which “gender” has become a pivotal category in the “the populist moment.” We also present the sources and materials on which the analysis is based and the methodologies employed in the book.
