Weaving the Transnational Anti-Gender Networks

This introduction presents the analytical framework for the special issue ‘Weaving the Transnational Anti-Gender Networks’. Our contribution investigates how different configurations of i. actors and identities, ii. causes and conditions, and iii. mechanisms and trajectories can be related to the building of anti-gender transnational contention. Moving from social movement approaches, the article disentangles the definitions of anti-gender collective actors and of transnationalization and diffusion vis-à-vis various organizational and background factors. It argues that we have to look at contextual opportunities (such as European integration and radical-right transnationalization), the 'gender ideology' and 'natural family' frames, as well as events and practices, to comprehensively account for the weaving of anti-gender networks transcending national borders. The interplay of religious resources and conservative familial identity politics are diffused bottom-up and top-down depending on contextually specific threats and opportunities. The role of the Internet for the transnationalization of the contemporary radical right is also highlighted.