RESIST: Fostering Queer Feminist Intersectional Resistances against Transnational Anti-Gender Politics

Part of EU Open Research Repository
Published October 2024 | Version v1
Report Open

The RESIST Project Report. Effects of, and Resistances to 'Anti-Gender' Mobilisations Across Europe: A Report on Germany

Creators

  • 1. Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts

Contributors

Research group:

  • 1. RESIST: Fostering Queer Feminist Intersectional Resistances against Transnational Anti-Gender Politics

Description

This case study report presents the experiences of anti-feminism and anti-queer hostility as well as resistances against these phenomena in Germany. It illustrates how 24 research participants encounter anti-feminism and anti-queer hostility in their every-day lives, what effect they have on their wellbeing, their work and their communities and what individual and collective strategies of mitigation and resistance they engage in. The report is written based on qualitative interview data from five focus groups and 13 individual interviews with activists, community leaders, academics, professionals working in health care, education, and equality and diversity, as well as members of the general public. They were recruited from across the country and responded to the call for participation because they have experienced organised forms of so-called ‘anti-gender’ politics, anti-feminism or anti-queer hostility. The sample was recruited through targeted emails to civil society organisations, feminist and LGBTIQ+ groups and individuals with a platform. Following an introduction to the national context, this report will outline the key findings that crossed the focus groups and individual interviews.

Abstract (English)

Despite Germany’s recent strides towards gender and sexual equalities on a legal level, several states have introduced a ban of gender-inclusive language in public institutions, including schools and universities. In the case study interview data, oppositions against the term ‘gender’ were therefore mainly associated with these so-called ‘gender bans’ in Bavaria and Hesse, as well as with debates around minority gender identities. By the participants, these contestations were seen as an expression of anti-feminism and anti-queer hostility. With the ascent of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), participants identified ‘ignorance’ and a lack of knowledge not only as a breeding ground for far-right mobilisations but also for institutional erasure and interpersonal micro-aggressions. The participants reported deep concern about the rise of the far-right, the threat of funding being cut, parliamentary inquiries into political and civic education projects and the targeted disruption of feminist and LGBTIQ+ events. As a result of this, participants reported feelings of fear and helplessness. Participants reported an increasingly hostile visibility of trans people in media debates and an intensification of both physical and online violence against trans people and their allies. Participants associated this shift with the debates around the recently passed Self-Determination Act (SBGG). Various participants reported targeted attacks, due to their professional activities, activism or voluntary work, such as media controversies or online ‘shit storms’. These attacks took place against educators, researchers, and counsellors working on LGBTIQ+ inclusion, anti-feminism, and abortion. Participants reported that they often felt alone in dealing with the effects of being targeted, even when attacks occurred as part of their employment. Various interviewees reported that they had to mobilise private resources to mitigate the attacks. As a result, many participants reported retreating from the public sphere, including social media and publications, due to experienced attacks or the threat of them. Facilitating a democratic discourse that is safe for minorities to engage in was identified as an important and sustainable means of making mainstream society more resilient against far-right mobilisations.

Series information (English)

Part of the: Deliverables of the RESIST Project (EU Project ID: 101060749). Output ID: “D2.1: Report on the effects and everyday resistances to anti-gender mobilisations”.

Files

RESIST-Listen-Case-Study-Findings_GermanyEnglish.pdf

Files (453.4 kB)

Additional details

Related works

Is part of
Report: 10.5281/zenodo.11180744 (DOI)

Funding

European Commission
RESIST - Fostering Queer Feminist Intersectional Resistances against Transnational Anti-Gender Politics 101060749