Turning the Lens: Feminist Anti-Prostitution Campaigns in Europe as Instances of De-democratisation

The recent literature addressing the intersection between rising opposition against gender equality and processes of de-democratisation in Europe overwhelmingly conceptualises feminist actors as democratic by definition, against the inherently anti-democratic nature of anti-gender and radical right actors. Using current feminist campaigns against sex work in Europe as an example, we trouble this categorization by questioning the intrinsically democratic nature of feminist actors, as well as the idea that their relationship to anti-gender and radical right actors is necessarily antagonistic. To do so, we build a theoretical framework in order to assess the democratic credentials of feminist anti-prostitution campaigns. We draw in particular on the key mechanisms of de-democratisation identified within the recent literature on the rise of opposition against gender equality in Europe, which are routinely attributed to anti-gender and radical right populist actors. We then analyse the development, interactions, and effects of anti-prostitution campaigns in Europe through the prism of such de-democratising mechanisms. We focus on both the national and supranational level, addressing feminist anti-prostitution campaigns in Germany and the EU as emblematic and crucial sites of mobilisation since the mid-1990s. We draw on a qualitative data set triangulating policy and media documents with interviews and ethnographic field notes. Through this analysis, we show that in their mobilisations against sex work, anti-prostitution feminists employ tactics otherwise exhibited by anti-democratic actors: they exclude non-hegemonic subjects from political participation, contribute to policy backsliding, and construct gender equality in exclusionary terms. Moreover, anti-prostitution feminists exploit powerful alliances with anti-gender and radical rights actors as well as the state to pursue their idea of gender equality. We argue that these processes constitute a form of opposition against women’s rights that emerges in and is pursued from within feminist movements. Hence, it forms part of the democratic backsliding currently observed in Europe.