From Contestation to Appropriation: Analyzing the Circulation of Feminist Ideas in Far-Right and Anti-Gender Movements

Abstract

This panel explores the circulation, appropriation, and contestation of feminist and gender-related ideas within far-right and anti-gender politics. In a context of growing femonationalism (Farris 2017), and “contentious gender politics” (Lavizzari and Sirocic, 2022) marked by unprecedented polarization regarding gender and LGBTQAI+ rights, it has become increasingly evident that reactionary actors do not merely reject feminism or gender equality. Rather, they actively engage with, appropriate and reframe feminist causes (Calderaro 2025), often through a pervasive racialisation of sexism (Scrinzi 2024, De Giorgi et al., 2023), in ways that sustain their nationalist and exclusionary political agendas (Köttig et al., 2017; Meret & Siim, 2013). While anti-gender movements have often been studied as forces of opposition to gender equality norms and policies (Kuhar and Paternotte 2018, Korolczuk et al., 2020, Lombardo et al., 2021, Lavizzari 2024), and thus understood in contrast to femonationalist dynamics, they also appropriate feminist concepts to advance their agendas – blurring the boundaries between contestation and appropriation of feminism. Building on several case studies, this panel investigates how feminist ideas, narratives, and practices circulate across transnational and local contexts–whether through women-led anti-gender campaigns, anti-trans movements, far-right women’s collectives or in policymaking arenas–and how they become sites of ideological contestation. Across these settings, feminist discourse is rearticulated to present gender equality as either already achieved or threatened by racially minoritised groups, often enable through a prior depoliticization or neutralisation of gender. The papers will address how these appropriation processes encompass key feminist concepts such as bodily autonomy and consent, the mobilisation of moral panics, or scientific knowledge, among other things, and how they unfold at the transnational level. By analysing how feminist discourse and knowledge are selectively reworked, the panel highlights the mechanisms through which gender itself becomes a site of ideological contestation. The panel further explores the interplay between transnational circulation and local adaptation, mapping how anti-gender movements, far-right parties, and conservative networks draw on and transform feminist ideas across diverse political, cultural and policy contexts. It resonates with recent work on transnational anti-gender politics (Holvikivi, Holzberg and Ojeda 2024), highlighting that these mobilisations draw on genealogies shaped by colonial legacies, racial capitalism, and resurgent nationalisms, and cannot be understood solely through nationalist or conservative religious actors. By foregrounding how these actors adapt and legitimise their claims within specific institutional and political contexts, the panel contributes to a deeper understanding of how far-right and anti-gender actors mobilise existing knowledge and authority to influence policy agendas across Europe.

Title	Details
Doing Feminism Beyond Sisterhood? Feminist Circulations and Local Reappropriation in Anti-Gender Mothers-Led Activism	View Paper Details
Beyond Femonationalism: The Far-Right Gender Project	View Paper Details
Disarticulate and rule: From abortion to trans rights	View Paper Details
Manipulating Science: Narratives of the Anti-Gender Movement and Far-Right Populist Politics in Italy	View Paper Details
Transnational Sisterhood on the Far Right? Appropriating Feminism Across Europe	View Paper Details