All different but all misogynists

Möser, C., Ramme, J. & Takács, J. (Eds.) (2022). Paradoxical Right-Wing Sexual Politics in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract

In recent years, with the strengthening of the populist right and its increased focus on gender and sexuality, there has been growing interest in studying this issue among researchers of social sciences, leading to the publication of several edited volumes (e.g., Kuhar & Paternotte, eds., 2017; Krizsán & Roggeband, eds., 2019, or Kováts & Põim, eds., 2015). Yet another volume on this topic, therefore, needs to promise something extra beyond the general description of right-wing anti-gender strategies most of us in the field are already familiar with. This collection of essays promises such an extra addition (a focus on paradoxes), and while it does not consistently keep this perspective, it does offer some exciting new additions to the literature of right-wing populism and gender. It grew out of a research project that would have compared right-wing discursive strategies regarding gender and sexuality in Europe, and which, though never completed, provided enough inspiration to a number of renowned researchers to explore these issues in their local context. This original background also accounts for the fact that most articles focus on analyzing discourses (of parties, organizations like the World Congress of Families, or even of researchers), and (with one exception) less attention is paid to the experiences of ordinary people.