The Scandal of Women’s Emancipation. Femonationalism, Right-Wing Sexual Politics, and Anti-Feminism

Abstract

Abstract In the past decade, several publications in gender studies have been grappling with conservative and reactionary politics claiming to defend women and sexual minorities against immigrants. Sara Farris’s concept of femonationalism offers explanations for the paradox of far-right actors pretending to care about women and sexual minorities and some feminists making racist statements. Yet Farris’s methodology as well as her arguments show important shortcomings. In a close reading of Farris’s book, this article refutes her hypothesis of a conversion of far-right, EU, neoliberal, and feminist politics and lays out alternative perspectives in order to develop a better understanding of the ongoing phenomenon. The article deconstructs the false opposition of heterosexual familialist migrant and Muslim communities versus queer-friendly feminist Europeans. In presenting recent feminist studies, the article suggests it is necessary to understand paradoxical far-right sexual politics in their familialist, capitalist, and colonialist contexts.

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