Right-Wing Populism and Gender

1. Why did You chose this topic?

We chose to publish a collected volume on »Gender and Right-Wing Populism«, because it is a politically timely topic. We started out from the observation that gender topics are omnipresent in the increasing conservative and extremist backlash we recently see in many places. The politics range from outright anti-feminism and so-called ›anti-genderism‹ and protests against same-sex marriage, abortion and sex education, to racist arguments that seemingly protect the sexual freedom of (›autochthonous‹) women and gays against allegedly backward Others.

2. What new perspectives does your book offer?

Even though gender seems to play a central role in right-wing discourse, and singular colleagues have worked on that crucial relationship, there is so far no systematic approach focusing on gender and right-wing populism. Our book seeks to tie in here and bring together some of the pioneer voices of this new field of research. Moreover, we seek to offer a first systematic theoretical framework for approaching related questions on the workings of gender as an arena or meta-language in right-wing discourse. We also want to carve out the parallels and differences between locally diverse places, ranging from Germany and Austria, Hungary, Denmark, Poland and Slovenia to the USA and Brazil.

3. What makes your topic relevant for current research debates?

Our book offers a systematic gender lens for research on the currently worldwide conservatism, increasing right-wing populism and extremism. Arguing that gender is fundamental for right-wing logics, we examine how gender functions as an ›affective bridge‹ in this discourse. Furthermore, the contributions of our books suggest a number of useful concepts and patterns for that matter, including ›the right-wing populist complex‹ to refer to a broad range of actors, ›ethno-sexism‹ to address the articulation of racism through allegedly pro-emancipatory arguments, as well as right-wing strategies such as ›intersectionality from above‹ or ›reverse anti-colonialism‹.

4. Choose one person you would like to discuss your book with!

Sabine Hark.

5. Your book summary in one sentence:

An insightful and pioneer examination of the workings of gender as an arena and ›affective bridge‹ in the currently world-wide increasing right-wing discourse.