Anti-gender movement

The anti-gender movement is an international movement which opposes what it refers to as "gender ideology", "gender theory" or "genderism", terms which cover a variety of issues and have no coherent definition. Members of the anti-gender movement primarily include those of the political right-wing and far right, such as right-wing populists, conservatives, and Christian fundamentalists. Anti-gender rhetoric has seen increasing circulation in trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF) discourse since 2016. Members of the anti-gender movement oppose some LGBT rights, some reproductive rights, government gender policies, gender equality, gender mainstreaming, and gender studies academic departments. The term gender ideology has been described by academics Stefanie Mayer and Birgit Sauer as an "empty signifier" and by Agnieszka Graff as a "great name for all that conservative Catholics despise". The idea of gender ideology has been described by some as a moral panic or conspiracy theory, as it alleges that there is a secret cabal out to undermine society. A report by the European Parliament linked the rise of the anti-gender movement in Europe to disinformation campaigns that are sponsored in large part by Russia. The movement derives from Catholic theology and can be dated to the late twentieth century, but the protests that brought the movement to attention did not start until around 2012–2013. Gender researcher Andrea Pető states that the anti-gender movement is not a form of classical anti-feminism but instead "a fundamentally new phenomenon that was launched to establish a new world order". In non-English speaking countries, many anti-gender activists avoid using vernacular translations of the word "gender" in favor of the English word to promote the idea that gender is a foreign concept. The concept of gender ideology does not have a coherent definition and covers a variety of issues; for this reason, it has been described by academics Stefanie Mayer and Birgit Sauer as an "empty signifier" and by Agnieszka Graff as a catch-all term "for all that conservative Catholics despise".