Anything but an Exception: Gender-based violence as part of the gendered political game

Abstract

This panel interrogates gender-based violence not as an aberration within politics, but as a constitutive and normalized feature of the gendered political game (Bourdieu 1997), a space where power, representation, and public discourse are systematically shaped by gendered hierarchies. Drawing on a variety of feminist theoretical conceptualizations, the panel papers argue that violence has the function within political institutions to reinforce exclusionary practices and undermine democratic participation. Rather than treating violence as an exception, the panel positions it as an embedded structural element of political institutions. E.g., in the parliament, gendered power relations are reproduced through everyday interactions, communication with the electorate, institutional culture, and the symbolic violence of political discourse. An aspect of the analysis is the dual lens of the gendered workplace and the political public sphere. The panel examines how the parliamentary environment—often characterized by hierarchical, masculinized cultures—normalizes forms of verbal aggression, intimidation, and harassment, particularly against women and non-hegemonic genders. These dynamics are not confined to elected officials but extend to parliamentary staff, who are frequently positioned as both mediators and targets of gender-based violence. As the MPs proxy communicating with the public, staff members become symbolic sites of contestation, absorbing and amplifying the gendered hostility that permeate political institutions. Their experiences reveal how violence is institutionalized not only through formal rules but through informal norms, microaggressions, and the gendered division of labor. It also becomes clear that investigations into violence against MPs should take the entire parliamentary system into account, including staff. For Members of Parliament, the panel explores the interdependence between the parliament as a workplace and the public sphere of political discourse. To hone in on this interplay, violence is regarded as continuous phenomenon, not only spanning from incivility to actual physical or sexualized attacks, but also linking different forms of violence, e.g., online and offline. The public sphere, far from being a space of rational deliberation, becomes a contested terrain where gender-based violence functions as a tool of silencing, particularly in policy areas deemed “feminine” or “threatening” to dominant masculist narratives. The panel further investigates how political masculinity—both as a position of power and as a site of vulnerability—shapes the perpetration and experience of violence. Far-right and antifeminist actors weaponize violence not only to attack individuals but to reassert hegemonic masculinity and dismantle gender equality in public life. This strategic use of violence reveals how the political public sphere is not a neutral arena for debate, but a battleground for gendered power.

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