Post-feminist German heartland: On the women’s rights narrative of the radical-right populist party Alternative für Deutschland in the Bundestag

Abstract

This essay sketches out the post-feminist narrative employed by the radical-right populist party Alternative für Deutschland in the German national parliament between October 2017 and July 2018. Striving to establish a hegemonic ontology, the Alternative für Deutschland conjures up a social imaginary of a German heartland, where equal rights between ‘naturally’ different women and men have long been achieved – a heartland that has to be protected from ‘Muslim culture’ as much as from the ‘leveling down’ imposed by a ‘radical feminist elite’. Between these frames, the Alternative für Deutschland presents itself as the only true champion of women and, while never asserting to be feminist, implicitly lays claim to a particular and exclusivist post-feminist position. I argue that the Alternative für Deutschland’s capabilities to promote this populist narrative have become further enhanced by its election to the national parliament, presenting a serious challenge and also a chance for German feminism to self-critically engage with issues of intersectionality and representation in public discourse.

Feminism contested and co-opted: Women, agency and politics of gender in the Greek and Greek-Cypriot far right

“…Nonetheless, in this way, far-right women embody a dominant femininity that does not merely serve to legitimise themselves in a male-dominated party, or simply replicates or complements conceptions of dominant masculinity. Through a nationalist nostalgia that imagines a pre-feminism state of unproblematic gender relations, it is presented as the authentic, unadulterated femininity that feminism threatens, thus endangering women, gender relations and social stability (Pettersson, 2017;Sprengholz, 2021). Stressing the importance of 'femininity' at the rhetorical level while transgressing the 'natural' borders of their gender -as these are prescribed by their parties -in practice, far-right women create a gender flexibility that may be attractive in contexts like Greece and Cyprus, where the domain of politics continues to be men's preserve and a symbol of masculinity (Danopoulos, 2017;Kamenou, 2019Kamenou, , 2020.…”

“…Research has shown that the conservative right and the far right use feminism’s gains and some of its ideological repertoire in the service of exclusionary campaigns, through which conservative- and far-right women establish themselves in politics. 3 In some parts of Europe, the conservative right and the far right’s gender regimes are gradually being saturated by an anti-Islam rhetoric that explicitly appeals to feminist values (Askola, 2019; Fekete, 2006; Mulinari and Neergaard, 2014; Pettersson, 2017; Sprengholz, 2021). For example, examining France, Italy and the Netherlands, Farris (2017) describes conservative female actors’ use of feminist ideas and gender equality themes in anti-Islam and anti-immigration campaigns.…”

“…Many feminist scholars concur that neoliberalism and populism have given rise to anti-intersectional and exclusionary versions of feminism; namely, neoliberal feminism (Rottenberg, 2014) and femonationalism (Farris, 2017) that are often mutually reinforcing, converge or work in tandem in attempts to undermine feminism, through the use of references to gender and gender equality. This raises concerns about feminism’s individualisation and nationalisation, and about gender and gender issues’ depoliticisation and repoliticisation through their decoupling from feminism as a theoretical and political project concerned with intersectional, structural and institutional inequalities (Dietze, 2022; Elomäki and Kantola, 2018; Gunnarsson Payne and Tornhill, 2021; Petzen, 2012; Sprengholz, 2021). As Gunnarsson Payne and Tornhill (2021: 4) explain, contemporary feminism is faced with a ‘double-bind’, since ‘neoliberal policy, market solutions and socioeconomic inequalities have paved the way for the authoritarian turn on which anti-gender politics itself thrives’.…”

“…This corroborates the findings of previous research. Far-right women politicians elsewhere in Europe – for example, in Italy, Finland, Sweden and Germany – also claim that gender equality has been accomplished to counter feminist efforts towards intersectional and inclusive equality, while simultaneously avoiding drawing explicitly on patriarchal discourses that would alienate other conservative women (Arfini et al, 2019; Askola, 2019; Mulinari and Neergaard, 2014; Pettersson, 2017; Sprengholz, 2021).…”

8M Demonstrations, the Spanish Far Right and the Pandemic in a Hybrid Media System

“…The main reasons for the success of far-right ideology with European voters are associated with public disaffection with traditional bipartisan politics and the socioeconomic consequences of globalisation (Sandrin, 2021). In a context of economic crisis and reduced national sovereignty, these far-right parties promote the idea of enemies of the people through a nationalist, xenophobic and anti-establishment discourse (Davis & Deole, 2017;Edo & Giesing, 2020;Hart & Winter, 2022) that includes a full frontal attack on feminism (Álvarez-Benavides & Jiménez Aguilar, 2021;Sprengholz, 2021).…”