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Anti-gender movement
International movement opposed to the concept of gender identity / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The anti-gender movement is an international movement that opposes what it refers to as "gender ideology",[1] "gender theory",[1] or "genderism",[2] terms which cover a variety of issues,[2] and do not have a coherent definition.[3] Members of the anti-gender movement are largely on the right-wing and far-right political spectrum, such as right-wing populists, social conservatives, and Christian fundamentalists.[4][5] It has been linked to a shift away from liberal democracy and towards right-wing populism.[6] Anti-gender rhetoric has seen increasing circulation in trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF) discourse since 2016.[7] Different members of the anti-gender movement variously oppose some LGBT rights, some reproductive rights, government gender policies, gender equality, gender mainstreaming, and gender studies academic departments.[2][8][9] The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has linked the anti-gender movement to the risk of "extreme violence" against the LGBTQI+ community.[10] UN Women has described the anti-gender, gender-critical and men's rights movements as extreme anti-rights movements that "use hateful propaganda and disinformation to target and attempt to delegitimize people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions, and sex characteristics."[11]
![Anti-gender march in Lima, Peru](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/Marcha_por_la_Vida_2018_Per%C3%BA_%281%29.jpg/640px-Marcha_por_la_Vida_2018_Per%C3%BA_%281%29.jpg)
The term gender ideology has been described by academics Stefanie Mayer and Birgit Sauer as an "empty signifier",[3] and by Agnieszka Graff as a "great name for all that conservative Catholics despise".[12] The idea of gender ideology has been described by some as a moral panic,[13][14] or a conspiracy theory,[1] as it alleges that there is a secret cabal out to undermine society.[15][16] A report by the European Parliament linked the rise of the anti-gender movement in Europe to disinformation campaigns that are sponsored in large part by Russia.[17]
The movement derives from Catholic theology and can be dated to the late 20th century, but the protests that brought the movement to attention did not start until around 2012–2013.[18] Besides Roman Catholics, anti-gender rhetoric is used by other Christians, Confucians, Hindus, Jews, and Muslims.[19][24] Gender researcher Andrea Pető states that the anti-gender movement is not a form of classical anti-feminism but instead "a fundamentally new phenomenon that was launched to establish a new world order".[25]