“Gender ideology” and the rise of the radical. A global phenomenon with local peculiarities.

Abstract

In this paper, I will discuss the role of “gender ideology” as a key element of the construction of field of adversity of the political radical right, with special emphasis on the case of South America. To do so, I will try to define first the main features of the radical right. Then, I will analyze regional and ideological specificities of the radical right and its links with anti-gender movements. Hence, I will try to historicize how the denunciation of gender ideology has become a key element of the cultural battle of religious activism and later of the radical right. Although there is no simple identification between anti-gender movements and the far right, many scholars have identified similar patterns of development and opportunistic synergies between them. More importantly, the attack on feminist and LGBTQI activism has become a key element for the articulation of different streams of the radical right, enabling forms of political cooperation between them. Therefore, I consider that the construction of gender ideology as an absolute enemy has had a strategic role for the rise of the radical right that we are experiencing in different geographies and that these developments are threatening liberal democracy.