Fostering Queer Feminist Intersectional Resistances against Transnational Anti-Gender Politics
Welcome to The RESIST Project
RESIST addresses ‘anti-gender’ politics that imperil equality, gender and sexual diversity, and legitimacy of critical knowledge in contemporary Europe.
We understand ‘anti-gender’ politics to be multiple and manifesting differently in diverse national contexts across Southern, Eastern, and Western Europe. They are present across the political spectrum of centrist, left– and right–wing orientations, spanning from illiberal and authoritarian regimes to those considered liberal and democratic. Inspired by intersectional perspectives, we understand ‘anti-gender’ politics to be multifaceted as they limit gendered freedoms, challenge trans* inclusion, question multiculturalism and gender and sexual equality. While they undermine critical studies of race and academic freedoms, ‘anti-gender’ politics result in dangerous consequences for freedoms of speech and press, reproductive justice, sexual and gender diversity, and self-determination.
Crucial to our project is to learn about the feminist and queer practices of resistance against ‘anti-gender’ politics, how they function and are theorised in autonomous, grassroots collectives and organisations in ten case studies: Belarus, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, EU-level action, and a transnational case of people living in exile in the EU due to ‘anti-gender’ politics.
We are collaborating with 40 queer feminist groups to engage in mutual learning and support in creating grounded knowledges that amplify marginalised voices.
From late 2022 to the end of 2023, we mapped how ‘anti-gender’ politics are produced and expressed in contemporary Europe. We analysed hundreds of parliamentary debates and thousands of media articles in four case studies focusing on the UK, Poland, Switzerland, and Hungary between 2016 and 2022. We also used controversy mapping techniques to examine intensive outbursts of ‘anti-gender’ politics in these countries. Our findings reveal how anti-gender politics is creating a dynamic political landscape characterised by increasingly hardened ideological positions, political opportunism and a restless search for new targets of discrimination.
Listen
In 2024 we worked to create new understandings of the effects of ‘anti-gender’ politics on everyday lives and forms of resistance, using data gathered via interviews, focus groups and a survey across nine case studies: Belarus, people living in exile in Europe, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Spain (Catalonia & Basque Country) and Switzerland.
Collaborate
As part of Stage 3 we hosted workshops in the case study countries, bringing together 40 queer feminist collectives and organisations to generate collaborative research about existing strategies to counter ‘anti-gender’ politics and form the basis of a coordinated strategy for a transnational, intersectional, queer feminist network. Take a look at ourEleven Insights handout: suggestions for starting points for solidarities that emerged from 30 expert interviews.
Learn
In Stage 4 we will re-evaluate the existing theories and academic models against the lived experiences and practices that we have identified at the previous three stages. Together with our partners, we will generate concepts and tools that respond to anti-democratic threats.
Share
In order to enable RESIST to make a difference, Stage 5 will see the project share the findings, toolkits and resources to support those who seek to create more democratic societies. Thus we will work with our partners to offer a robust knowledge base and useful and relevant tools for community organisations and groups, policymakers and local authorities, and those who seek to create real world change within and beyond contemporary European societies.
Stay tuned…
Stay tuned, via our Newsletter to read what this next stage of our project discovers.
What We Have Found
What is ‘anti-gender’?
‘Anti-gender’ is a broad term, and it is not always seen as useful: it can be considered too academic, and doesn’t translate across all contexts. Among those who do use this term, it is used varyingly and inconsistently.
However, some find it helpful for naming the ways that gender equality, reproductive justice, abortion rights, and LGBTQIA+ liberations are contested, legally and socially. Drawing on the RESIST project’s terminology, here we use the term ‘anti-gender’ to name intentional, organised, targeted movements and state actions that are anti-LGBTQIA+, anti-feminist, ‘anti-gender’ and sexual equalities, and anti-intersectionality. This includes state repressions, abortions bans, anti-LGBT laws, and gender critical activists working towards court verdicts that define ‘biological sex’.
Map
From late 2022 to the end of 2023, we mapped how ‘anti-gender’ politics are produced and expressed in contemporary Europe. We analysed hundreds of parliamentary debates and thousands of media articles in four case studies focusing on the UK, Poland, Switzerland, and Hungary between 2016 and 2022. We also used controversy mapping techniques to examine intensive outbursts of ‘anti-gender’ politics in these countries. Our findings reveal how anti-gender politics is creating a dynamic political landscape characterised by increasingly hardened ideological positions, political opportunism and a restless search for new targets of discrimination.
How is ‘anti-gender’ working in Europe?
‘Anti-gender’ in Europe is organised, but not coherent, working in different ways in different places–and this is a strength: there is power in its incoherence. Their key undertaking is to establish LGBTQIA+ people, feminists and others as a problem, and create a controversy around us, our lives and our rights. This is often based on ‘common sense’ and mobilises existing prejudice.
The RESIST research data was collected prior to the European elections in 2024; since then the situation has grown more concerning, and so the research lead by Prof. Gavan Titley is even more prescient now. Examples of how ‘anti-gender’ tactics manifest include:
In parliamentary and media discourse, support for reproductive rights, feminism and LGBTIQ+ rights is framed as ‘gender ideology’. This is used in many ways, for example against abortion rights in Poland, lesbian parental rights in Italy, and trans rights in the UK. When framed as an ideology, we are no longer people; we are dangerous to societies and, indeed, democracy.
LGBTQIA+ people, feminists and others are contrived as a controversy with claims of abuse, corruption, damage and danger. For example, Pride seeks to corrupt, trans-ness is a licence for child abuse, any sexual health education is indoctrination.
The positioning of ‘democracy’ by those who oppose us is also essential to how ‘anti-gender’ works in Europe. ‘Anti-gender’ groups are networked and are active in civil society, lobbying and elsewhere. However, when this is done by LGBTIQ and feminists, it is depicted as an attack on democracy itself. It is ‘common sense’ to consider ‘gender ideology’ a threat and to consider the assault on trans rights, feminism, queer life a liberalism: they are protecting sovereignty, free speech, and of course, democracy.
Want to see the findings highlights?Our ‘Anti-gender’ Tactics Summary Tool highlights key findings from 5 case studies across Europe. Here you will find a 30 page outline of what the Mapping Stage found. It will be made available at a later date in Français (French), Deutsch (German), Ελληνικά (Greek), Magyar (Hungarian), Polski (Polish) and Türkçe (Turkish).
If you want to delve deeper into the Map Stage findings , you can read the full set of outputs from the first phase of the project here:
Finally, if you would like to read the Full Report, containing the Transnational Findings, the National and European Parliament Reports, and how this research was undertaken, you can read it here.
Listen
In 2024 we worked to create new understandings of the effects of ‘anti-gender’ politics on everyday lives and forms of resistance, using data gathered via interviews, focus groups and a survey across nine case studies: Belarus, people living in exile in Europe, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Spain (Catalonia & Basque Country) and Switzerland.
What is the impact of ‘anti-gender’ mobilisations?
Within the RESIST data drawn from 254 people from across Europe, there are, naturally, differences between contexts in how ‘anti-gender’ is experienced; however, anti-LGBTQIA+ and anti-feminist organised and targeted movements, state actions and activisms are everywhere. Some of the key implications identified transnationally include:
‘Anti-gender’ mobilisations lead to physical, verbal and online attacks and systemic discrimination against women, feminists, and/or LGBTIQ+ people. These are frequent and occur in all case study contexts: in both eastern and western Europe, in places like Ireland and Germany, which are supposedly ‘liberal’, as well as places like Belarus and Poland.
Attacks and discrimination have tangible, cumulative effects on those who are targeted, including a pervasive sense of fear and vulnerability, mental and emotional strain, self-censorship and withdrawal from public life, career and financial instability, and migration.
The effects are intersectional with specific attacks on racialised and working class people and communities, and a relentlessness for those who belong to more than one marginalised identity. These mobilisations are present in queer and LGBTQIA+ communities as well; ‘anti-gender’ attacks are not exclusively outside of these spaces.
‘Anti-gender’ discourses and politics therefore cause concrete harm, affecting daily life and creating environments that are arduous and, at times, unbearable. These include severe violations, sometimes amounting to crimes, undermining European democratic values.
RESIST found that though resistance is broad and wide ranging, it is easily underestimated. The attacks can feel relentless, and this can lead to hopelessness. Some examples of resistances that the RESIST research identifies include:
Being visible, be it on a public platform or in everyday spaces,is an important defiance of ‘anti-gender’ movements. By surviving we are resisting the forces that want an end to gender and sexual equalities, trans lives, etc.
Collectives are also mobilising through solidarity and community building, advocacy, legal action, research, education and knowledge sharing. Individuals form ‘bubbles’ with each other: safe spaces where they can exist, at least temporarily, away from ‘anti-gender’.
Ensuring safety and protection is a key strategy among communities facing threats; this can involve limiting event publicity, engaging with local police, and focusing on self-defence, as well as avoiding particular spaces where it is feared attacks would take place. Digital safety is also vital, consisting of blocking and muting certain accounts, using strict privacy settings, and careful storage of information.
Dialogue–or, ‘having the chats’–with those who might be hearing disinformation or mis-information, enabling open conversations, allowing for mistakes, and developing understanding, serves as an effective form of resistance.
Depending on the individual or group, avoidance of or engagement with social media both act as resistances. Online platforms can amplify LGBTQIA+ and feminist movements and information, and some LGBTQIA+ allies respond to online attacks to divert attention from the primary targets of these attacks. However, many seek protection and peace by refraining from using social media.
Migration, or plans to migrate,as well as an effect of ‘anti-gender’ targeting, is an ‘anti-gender’ resistance, in that it enables escape from hostile environments, and can open up new possibilities, for example, in terms of expressing sexual and gender identities.
Queer joy! Creating spaces for collective joy is an important aspect of this resistance, and can mitigate the weight of organisational work, attack and fear of attack.
If you want to delve deeper into the Listen Stage findings , you can read the full set of outputs from the second phase of the project here:
The Stage 2 Full Report can be read here in English, containing the Transnational Findings, individual Case Study Findings, Relief Maps, and details of how this research was undertaken.
As part of Stage 3 we hosted workshops in the case study countries, bringing together 40 queer feminist collectives and organisations to generate collaborative research about existing strategies to counter ‘anti-gender’ politics and form the basis of a coordinated strategy for a transnational, intersectional, queer feminist network.
Check out RESIST’s Eleven Insights handout – suggestions for starting points for solidarities that emerged from 30 expert interviews
Stay tuned…
Stay tuned, via our Newsletter and here on this page, to read what the next stage of our project discovers.
About Us
We are a research consortium of 10 organisations across Europe. Co-investigators work in gender and sexualities research in and across the disciplines of sociology, human geography, philosophy, gender studies, anthropology, area studies, cultural studies, demography, and political sciences.
We draw on a queer feminist ethos of collaborative work and mutual learning, and thus will actively engage with diverse civil society organisations (CSO), informal groups, as well as external experts forming an Advisory Board.
Co-Investigators
Dr Latife Akyüz (European University Viadrina) is a sociologist who works on state borders, gender, migration and exile studies. She is a co-editor of forthcoming book titled Exiled Intellectuals: Encounters, conflicts, and experiences in transnational context. She will coordinate the transnational case of people living in exile in Europe.
Prof. Kath Browne (University College Dublin) is a geographer with a focus on sexualities and gender. Her work has explored LGBTQIA+ liveabiliites, heteroactivsm and most recently divisions around socio-legal changes to sexual, gender and abortion. She will coordinate a country case study on Ireland and is the project coordinator.
Dr Marianne Blidon (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) is social scientist specialising in geography and demography. Her research areas include gender and sexuality, feminist geographies and ethics of research, cities and migrations, social justice. She will coordinate a country case study on France.
Prof. Dr Stefanie Boulila (Hochschule Luzern) is a transdisciplinary social scientist and Head of Research at the Institute of Sociocultural Community Development at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. She is a winner of a 2021 Emma Goldman Award for feminist research in Europe and an inaugural member of the Swiss Young Academy. She will coordinate the case study of Germany, contribute to the Swiss one, and lead on Stage 4: Learning.
Dr Anna Carastathis is a political theorist and co-director of the Feminist Autonomous Centre for research. She is the author of Intersectionality: Origins, Contestations, Horizons and co-author of Reproducing Refugees: Photographia of a Crisis. She will coordinate the case study on Greece and lead on Stage 3: Collaboration.
Dr Sébastien Chauvin (Université de Lausanne) is a sociologist and co-president of the University of Lausanne’s Interdisciplinary Platform in gender studies (PlaGe). He is the co-author of Introduction aux études sur le genre and Sociologie de l’homosexualité. He will contribute to the case study on Switzerland.
Dr Katya Filep (Université de Fribourg) is a social geographer specialising in gender, with a regional focus on Central Asia and Eastern Europe. She has a professional background in research, project management, translation and interpreting. She will coordinate the case study of Belarus and Hungary.
Dr Roberto Kulpa (Edinburgh Napier University) is a social scientist interested in transnational sexual politics, especially dynamics between Central-Eastern Europe and ‘the West’, as well as in critical epistemologies. He will coordinate the case study on Poland and lead on Stage 5: Communication and Dissemination.
Prof. Gavan Titley (Maynooth University) has interests in the politics of freedom of speech in a digital media environment, race, racism and multiculturalism in European politics, and the generative role of media and communications in this politics. His books include Is Free Speech Racist? (2020) and Racism and Media (2019). He will contribute to the case study on Ireland and was the lead on Stage 1: Map.
Dr Maria Rodó-Zárate (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) is a social scientist working on social inequalities from an intersectional, spatial and emotional perspective applied to issues such as the right to the city, gender-based violence or LGBTI-phobia. She will coordinate the case study on Spain and lead on lived experiences, Stage 2: Listen.
Postdocs
Dr Leon Freude (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) is a social scientist working on social inequalities from an intersectional perspective. He is particularly interested in queer and intersectional quantitative methods, and has been working as a postdoc on Stage 2: Listen.
Dr Mathilde Kiening (University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne) is a psychoanalyst and a postdoctoral researcher, whose work focuses on the intersection of healthcare practices and situated knowledge, and has been working on Stage 2: Listen and Stage 3: Collaborate.
Dr Myrto Tsilimpounidi is a social researcher and photographer. They are the co-author of Reproducing Refugees: Photographia of a Crisis (Roman & Littlefield, 2020); Sociology of Crisis: Visualising Urban Austerity (Routledge, 2017); and the editor of Street Art & Graffiti: Reading, Writing & Representing the City (Routledge, 2017). Myrto is the co-director of the Feminist Autonomous Centre for Research in Athens, Greece. They are the post-doctoral fellow on Stage 3: Collaborate for the case study on Greece.
Dr Adrianna Zabrzewska (Edinburgh Napier University) is a feminist philosopher and co-editor of Gender, Voice, and Violence in Poland (2021). As Senior Research Fellow, Adrianna combines a professional background in content marketing with interdisciplinary research expertise to implement RESIST’s impact plan and contribute to the Polish case study.
Research Assistants
Gaé Colussi (University of Lausanne, Switzerland) is a gender studies scholar whose interests focus on LGBTIQ+ issues in Switzerland, particularly in regard to health, activism and the responses from state institutions. Gaé has been working as a research assistant on Stage 2: Listen and Stage 3: Collaborate.
Bilge Cömert (European University Viadrina) works on the transnational case of people living in exile in Europe in Stage 2: Listen and in Stage 3: Collaborate. She is interested in intersectional feminism, critical migration, race and exile studies and has experience in qualitative research designs such as discourse analysis on critical knowledge production of marginalised communities in Germany.
Dr Jojo Hekate Diakoumakou is a social researcher, trans activist, musician, and probably the first openly trans woman in Greece to work in research and to teach at universities. She is collaborating with the Feminist Autonomous Centre for research and is contributing to the case study on Greece for Stage 2: Listen and Stage 3: Collaborate.
Toni Kania (Edinburgh Napier University) is a psychologist, activist, and a social researcher interested in decolonial, intersectional study of gender diversity, trans liberation, reproductive justice, and disability politics. They are a research assistant in the case study of Poland for Stage 2: Listen and Stage 3: Collaborate.
Keep In Touch
Newsletter
We send project progress updates and news about publications via our RESIST Newsletter. You can sign up here…
