In times of anti-gender and anti-LGBTQI hostility, especially in autocratizing contexts feminist movements work under high-risk and high-cost circumstances. Activism may show periods of high levels of resistance and confrontation, but over time adaptation, coping and abeyance are likely. Taylor (1989) talks about abeyance as a holding pattern for social movements: a period when visible mobilization declines or disappears, but the movement persists in a less visible, less confrontational, lower-activity form. This paper aims to adapt Taylor’s concept of abeyance to contexts of anti-gender autocratization: to examine the specific forms of activism that allow feminist movements to adapt, live through such periods, while sustaining or even rewriting feminist objectives. Building on literature on abeyance and activism in autocratizing contexts we examine feminist patterns of action along three dimensions: location, strategies and objectives. Regarding location we show how feminist activism diversifies its locations for action moving below the levels of the hostile regime, away from feminist labeled organizations to other areas of activism, or even to exile. Regarding strategies, we show the outstanding significance of dual strategies as well as creating safe spaces for navigating the hostile environment. Finally, for objectives we show how redefining objectives, success and expectation become critical for survival. We build on a Hungarian case study a context of an anti-gender autocratizing political regime in place since 2010. Our data included 17 in-depth interviews and two focus groups with a diversity of feminist activists gathered within the context of the CCINDLE project.
