The gender exceptionalism backlash? Rise and development of the contemporary anti-gender and anti-feminist movement in Denmark

In a context where gender equality is cherished as a democratic principle and a national value, the rise of concerns and grievances for men’s declining role in the West, followed by the formation of groups, organizations and individuals avowing to work for traditional gender and sexuality roles against feminism and LGBTQ+ activism, seem at odds with the emancipating frames. In its most extreme version, the fear for men’s future in the West conflates with The Great Replacement conspiracy views: the fear that the (male) Muslims eventually will overtake the increasingly feminized, secularized, and demographically shrinking Christian West. The development of such phenomena in the Danish context needs to be understood and contextualized within the global rise of antifeminist and anti-gender movements wielding close relations with the global far right and with traditional conservative milieus. Yet there are also specific features characterizing the Danish case, most notably that most antifeminists do claim to support gender equality while some even subscribe to an allegedly more ‘original’ or ‘true’ form of feminism, which can be reconducted to the position wielded by gender equality politics and legacies. This paper aims to map anti-gender and anti-feminist frames within the Danish landscape, where different actors network nationally and transnationally. We look at what and how anti-gender narratives are disseminated. We hypothesize that Nordic welfare states’ gender sensitive politics are increasingly weaponized by the populist and radical right not only to condemn Muslim minorities’ approach to gender, but also to hold women and LGBTQ+ people back regarding the emancipation of gender and sexuality.