'A Boys’ Club': Mapping the Micropolitics of Power in Male-Dominated Political Activism - The Case of Female and LGBTQ Participation in the Autonomous/Anarchist Collectives in Athens, Greece

This article examines the limits of political participation and representation of female and LGBTQ individuals in the autonomous/anarchist/anti-fa communities and collectives, in Athens, Greece. Within the socio/spatial context of a national economic «crisis» , the political far-right rising and images of a youth in revolt, the greek autonomous/anarchist/anti-fa communities are often considered the radical reaction to a neoliberal state, declaring standing «against all forms of domination»,at the same time fostering a male-dominated, aggressive and some times misogynistic and homophobic social space. Building upon interviews, participatory observation and discourse analysis, this article attempts to reveal and «map» the micropolitics of power in the everyday life, cultural , political practices, and collective procedures of the above communities. where political participation of non-cis-straight-white-male is often reduced to social mothering and care, reproducing the stereotype of the separate spheres, rendering political participation to a gendered experience, either passive, introvert and private or active, extrovert and public (riots, protests). At the same time, the article examines the ways privatising the political, denying the political dimensions of the personal, and, subordinating gender to class, manifest in the voicing, positioning and visibility of female and LGBTQ individuals in the community . Drawing from feminist and queer interpretations of gender, power and space, as well as critical geography, urban sociology and performative masculinities’ scholarship this article aims to shed light to issues of political participation and gender representation but also to propose a different way of studying radical social movements and the micropolitics of power in male-dominated political communities. !