Experiences of, and resistances to 'anti-gender' politics: Findings from the RESIST study

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Abstract

The presentation, “Experiences of, and resistances to ‘anti-gender' politics: findings from the RESIST study” focussed on the second phase of the RESIST project (2024), where we listened to experiences and insights from 254 people targeted by ‘anti-gender’ politics across 9 case studies, including Greece. Specifically, in the research on Greece, we found that the circulation of ‘anti-gender’/‘anti-woke’ politics results not only in organised attacks on the right; but, also, in more insidious discursive forms on the male-dominated left and in cis-identified feminisms. Virtually all the participants had experienced ‘anti-gender’ attacks, including by elected representatives. Participants identified deep structural conditions, legal discrimination, and social, political and economic power as what has made possible the renewed wave of attacks on their lives and existence. Organised trans antagonism and the renaturalisation of ‘sex’ and of a compulsory, binary system of gender across the political spectrum, and in everyday life, were key themes in the participants’ experiences. Attacks on feminist resistances and cultural production (including art, journalism, and community organisation) that challenged nationalism, religious hegemony, and cisheteropatriarchy, both in physical spaces and online were frequent. Violence was an atmospheric condition in participants’ lives. Still, even when experiencing violence, participants emphasised their resistance. Resistance took many forms and marked their everyday lives and their choices: their communities and chosen relationships empowered and protected them.

https://polsocpsylab.panteion.gr/index.php/activities/9-viewpoint/31-oppattune-collab-identities