RESIST has mapped ‘anti-gender’ mobilisations and listened to people who are affected by them.
RESIST mapped ‘anti-gender’ politics in Europe by integrating an analysis of parliamentary records, media coverage and ‘controversy mapping’ to understand how a hostile focus on ‘gender’ is mobilised nationally and transnationally. It gathered and analysed data across EU Parliament, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland and the U.K. Research mapped 'anti-gender' in parliamentary debates (206 parliamentary transcripts) and media coverage (1000 newspaper articles), and through controversy mapping (6 cases). Main achievements: mapping of the transnational nature of ‘anti-gender’ mobilisations; demonstrating the critical importance of ‘anti-gender’ politics to a broader assault on civil society and establishing the generative importance of media coverage and dynamics to ‘anti-gender’ politics.
RESIST analysed the lived effects of ‘anti-gender’ discourses, mobilisations and politics, and understanding the everyday resistances developed by affected communities across nine European case studies: Ireland, Spain, France, Poland, Switzerland, Germany, Belarus, Greece, and individuals living in exile. It undertook 104 interviews and 36 focus groups with LGBTIQ+ activists, feminists, and used 58 Relief Maps. RESIST developed and tested a survey question for EU surveys. Main achievements: demonstrated effects of ‘anti-gender’ mobilisations across political and cultural boundaries; established compound effects on marginalised individuals and their experiences of its pervasiveness, and highlighted strategies of resistance.
RESIST has begun to collaborate with 40 CSOs to counter ‘anti-gender’ mobilisations aiming to collectively generate a strategy for a queer feminist network. To date, RESIST has undertaken 30 expert interviews; created a confidential searchable multimedia database; and organised workshops.
Overall, RESIST’s outcomes contribute to the contestation of illiberal and authoritarian forces; reinforce democratic processes and address marginalisation through a focus on anti-feminist, anti-LGBTQIA+ and anti-intersectional mobilisations. It is creating a new understanding of ‘anti-gender’ that can inform policy and support those who are targeted and harmed by these politics.
