Hostile landscapes: how do gender-restrictive actors contribute to violence against LGBTQI+ people?
- Author: Evie Browne
- Published by: ALIGN
Scholars and activists use the terms ‘anti-gender’ or ‘gender-restrictive’ to describe well-funded, transnational networks of actors who organise to oppose gender equality, women’s rights, LGBTQI+ rights and rights for other oppressed groups.
While violence against LGBTQI+ people is increasing in many countries, and narratives of backlash create a climate of fear and repression, evidence-based analysis has not yet established a link between gender-restrictive movements and increased gender-based violence against LGBTQI+ people.
This report contributes evidence to this suggestion, bringing together literature on gender-restrictive movements with that on violence against LGBTQI+ people, and complements this with empirical data from interviews with 14 LGBTQI+ rights activists and policymakers from different world regions. It highlights possible connections to violence, and activist strategies of resistance.
Key Messages:
Key Messages:
- The report points towards the critical understanding that GBV against LGBTQI+ people is a means to maintain patriarchal gender norms, by disciplining gender and sexual identities that challenge these norms.
- Gender-restrictive rhetoric spreads hatred against LGBTQI+ people, often constructing a narrative that they are a threat to the nation and traditional family values. This creates a climate where violence is normalised and legitimised as a means to maintain the patriarchal status quo.
- Backlash is much more significant than a contestation between people who are pro- or anti-LGBTQI+ rights. It is a fundamental battle for control over the normative structure of societies, and violence is sometimes a means to this end.
