WHO'S THE REAL FEMINIST? FEMINIST DISCURSIVE BOUNDARY MAKING IN THE CONTEXT OF ANTI-GENDER CAMPAIGNS

In recent years, there has been a wave of opposition to feminism, gender equality, and minority rights in various national and international contexts. While there is a growing number of works that examine anti-gender campaigns, less attention has been devoted to the potential consequences of the anti-gender mobilizations for the internal relations within socially progressive (feminist and LGBTQ+) organizations. The present article examines how the discursive boundary making within the progressive camp unfolds in the context of increased polarization around gender in two countries: Italy and Sweden. Instead of adopting a movement-countermovement view, we propose conceptualizing the discursive struggles around gender through the lens of a "field of contention." Such a perspective allows us to see that the field of contention around gender is currently undergoing an intense process of transformation: the discursive boundaries between the feminist movement and the anti-gender movement have become increasingly blurred, and there are instances of discursive overlap between these two broad communities, which at times lead to cooperation across the boundary, all the while strengthening divisions within progressive movements.