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 will collaborate with 40 queer feminist groups to engage in  mutual learning and support in creating grounded knowledges that amplify marginalised voices.

How We Are Doing It

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 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 will host 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.

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.

What We Have Found

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 a dynamic political landscape characterised by increasingly hardened ideological positions, political opportunism and a restless search for new targets of discrimination. 

If you want to find out more about what we’ve found, you can read the outputs from the Mapping Stage here: 

If you would like to read the Transnational Findings, you can find them here in Català (Catalan), English, Français (French), Deutsch (German), Ελληνικά (Greek), Magyar (Hungarian), Polski (Polish), Español (Spanish) and Türkçe (Turkish). These findings bring together the case studies to offer an overall insight.

To access our findings please take a look at the RESIST Research Summary tool we have produced, in English. 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), Español (Spanish) and Türkçe (Turkish).

The Press Releases for the Mapping Stage Findings can be read here in Català (Catalan), Deutsch-Deutschland (German-Germany), Deutsch-Schweiz (German-Switzerland), English, Français (French), Ελληνικά (Greek), Magyar (Hungarian), Polski (Polish), Español (Spanish) and Türkçe (Turkish).

You can read in detail about each of the Case Studies Findings: Hungary, Poland, Schweiz-Deutsch (Switzerland-German), Switzerland (English), UK, and European Parliament.

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.

If you want to find out more about what we’ve found, you can read the outputs from the Listen Stage 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.

The Stage 2 Transnational Findings, which bring together the case study findings to offer an overall insight, are available here in full in English and Ελληνικά (Greek), and in summary form in Català (Catalan)Deutsch (German)Ελληνικά (Greek)Русский (Russian)Español (Spanish)Français (French)Polski (Polish) and Türkçe (Turkish).

To read a summary of our findings for each of the nine case studies, please take a look at the Case Study Summary Findings for Deutschland – Deutsch (Germany – German)Ελλάδα – Ελληνικά (Greece – Greek)España – Castellano (Spain – Spanish)Espanya – Català (Spain – Catalan), France – Français (France – French)Polska – Polski (Poland – Polish)Беларусь – Русский (Belarus – Russian)Schweiz – Deutsch (Switzerland – German)Suisse – Français (Switzerland – French), and Sürgün – Türkçe (In Exile in the EU – Turkish).

The Press Releases for the Listen Stage Findings can be read here for Ελλάδα – Ελληνικά (Greece – Greek) & Greece (English), España – Castellano (Spain – Spanish), Espanya – Català (Spain – Catalan)In Exile in the EU – EnglishFrance – Français (France – French)Im Exil – Deutsch (In Exile in the EU – German)Deutschland – Deutsch (Germany – German)Ireland – EnglishPoland – EnglishPolska – Polski (Poland – Polish)Schweiz – Deutsch (Switzerland – German), Suisse – Français (Switzerland – French)Spain (Catalonia & Basque Country) – EnglishSürgün – Türkçe (In Exile in the EU – Turkish)Switzerland – English and Transnational – English.

You can read about each of the Case Study Findings in full here for Belarus – EnglishDeutschland – Deutsch (Germany – German)Ελλάδα – Ελληνικά (Greece – Greek)Greece – EnglishFrance – EnglishGermany – EnglishIn Exile in Europe – EnglishIreland – EnglishPoland – EnglishSpain (Catalonia & Basque Country) – English and Switzerland – English.

Collaborate

As part of Stage 3 we will host 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.

Stay tuned, via our Newsletter and here on this page, to read what this 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.

Latife Akyüz
Kath Browne

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.

Marianne Blidon
Stef Boulila

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.

Anna Carastathis
Sébastien Chauvin

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.

Roberto Kulpa

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.

Maria Rodó-Zárate

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…


Contact Us

www.theresistproject.eu

Email the project at resistproject@ucd.ie

Our postal address is: University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, D04 V1W8, Ireland