Jump to content

Anti-rights movements

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anti-rights movements are movements, groups or campaigns that actively work against the recognition, protection, and advancement of human rights. These movements can target a variety of rights and marginalized groups. They often use misinformation, fear-mongering, and lobbying to undermine legal protections and social acceptance for targeted groups. [1][2][better source needed] ODI described anti-rights movements as "a loose coalition of actors [that] has succeeded in stalling progress and undermining rights and freedoms," and that are "well-organised and extremely well-funded compared to progressive rights movements."[3]

UN Women described anti-gender, gender-critical and men's rights movements as examples of anti-rights movements in 2024.[4][5] Other movements described[by whom?] as anti-rights include anti-immigration and anti-racial equality movements.

The Center for Family and Human Rights has responded that the "anti-rights" label is "part of a larger strategy to delegitimize social conservative voices in multilateral spaces and to redefine civil society to exclude such conservative organizations".[6]

In 2026, Amnesty International published a report suggesting that the UK's Charity Commission review the charitable status of groups it described as "anti-rights", which it then retracted in the face of criticism.[7]

Examples

[edit]

Opposition to LGBTQ rights

[edit]
This section is an excerpt from Opposition to LGBTQ rights.[edit]

Opposition to legal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people exists worldwide. Opponents of LGBTQ rights may object to the decriminalization of homosexuality, laws permitting civil unions or partnerships, same-sex parenting and adoption, the inclusion of LGBTQ people in the military, access to assisted reproductive technology, and gender-affirming surgery and hormone therapy for transgender individuals.

Organizations that oppose LGBTQ rights often resist the enactment of laws legalizing same-sex marriage, the passage of anti-discrimination legislation aimed at curbing discrimination against LGBTQ people (including in employment and housing), the adoption of anti-bullying laws to protect LGBTQ minors, the decriminalization of same-gender relationships, and other related laws.[8] These groups are often religious or socially conservative in nature.[9][10][11][12] Such opposition can be motivated by homophobia,[8][11] transphobia,[8][11] bigotry,[8][10][11] animosity,[8][10][11][13] religion,[9][10][11][12] moral beliefs,[9][10][11][12] political ideologies,[9][10][11][12] or other factors.

According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "natural law theory offers the most common intellectual defense for differential treatment of gays and lesbians".[14] Dag Øistein Endsjø, a Norwegian scholar and professor of religious studies, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, have stated that religious belief underpins most forms of opposition to LGBTQ rights.[15]

Anti-gender movement

[edit]
This section is an excerpt from Anti-gender movement.[edit]
Anti-gender march in Lima, Peru
"Gender no more": demonstrators from Con mis hijos no te metas ("Don't mess with my kids") during a pro-life march in Lima, Peru, 2018
Anti-gender protest in Warsaw, Poland
"Gender is death – it kills identity, soul and body": picketing against "gender ideology" in Warsaw, Poland, 2014

The anti-gender movement is a global, mainly right-wing, social movement in opposition to concepts it refers to as "gender ideology" or "gender theory". These terms are loosely defined, and encompass a range of subjects related to feminism and LGBTQ rights, often with opposition to progressivism as a whole. The movement has drawn support from right-wing populist groups, religious conservative organizations, social conservatives, and the far-right worldwide. It views advancement in gender equality and gender and sexual diversity as a threat to traditional family values, religious beliefs, and established social norms.

The movement's beliefs derive from Catholic theology, and its origin can be dated to as early as the 1970s, though it drew greater attention and membership starting in 2012 through public protest.[16] Operating on a transnational scale, the movement engages in political and legislative action targeting various domains, including reproductive rights, inclusive language, same-sex marriage, transgender people, the social constructionist view of gender, and academic disciplines like gender studies. While some parts of the movement focus specifically on opposing LGBTQ rights, others address broader fears about gender-related social changes.

The movement has been criticized for encouraging discrimination, undermining the protection of human rights, and promoting misinformation and rhetoric against LGBTQ people. The notion of a "gender ideology" secretly designed to harm traditional values and social arrangements, of being pervasive, institutionalized, and imposed, has been described as propagandizing moral panic[17][18] and as exhibiting the characteristics of conspiracy theories.[19]

Trans-exclusionary feminism

[edit]
This section is an excerpt from Trans-exclusionary radical feminism.[edit]

Trans-exclusionary radical feminism, also known as gender-critical feminism,[20][21][22][23] is a subset of feminism that rejects transgender and non-binary identities.[24] Trans-exclusionary radical feminists believe that womanhood is solely defined by sex and that sex is biological, immutable, and binary.[25] They view trans women as men and trans men as women.[24] They consider the concepts of gender identity and gender self-identification to be part of an inherently oppressive "gender ideology", a concept which is shared with the right-wing anti-gender movement.[25]

Emerging from fringe movements within second-wave radical feminism mainly in the United States,[23][26][27] trans-exclusionary radical feminism has achieved increasing global prominence in the 2010s and 2020s. It has been linked to promotion of disinformation[28][29][30] and to the anti-gender movement.[31] Anti-gender rhetoric has seen increasing circulation in trans-exclusionary radical feminist discourse since 2016, including the concept of "gender ideology".[25] In several countries, trans-exclusionary radical feminist groups have formed alliances with right-wing, far-right, and anti-feminist organisations.[32][33][34][35]

Trans-exclusionary radical feminism has been described as transphobic by feminist and scholarly critics.[20][23] It is opposed by many feminist, LGBTQ rights, and human rights organizations.[36][37] The Council of Europe has condemned trans-exclusionary radical feminist ideology, among other ideologies, and linked it to "virulent attacks on the rights of LGBTI people" in Hungary, Poland, Russia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and other countries.[38] UN Women has described the trans-exclusionary radical feminist movement, among other movements, as extreme anti-rights movements that employ hate propaganda and disinformation.[39][40]


References

[edit]
  1. ↑ "Anti-Rights Actors". AWID. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  2. ↑ "Countering the Anti-Rights Movement Globally". Women Deliver. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  3. ↑ "Women Deliver 2023: we can't let the anti-rights movement prevail". ODI. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  4. ↑ "LGBTIQ+ communities and the anti-rights pushback: 5 things to know". UN Women. 28 May 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  5. ↑ "UN Women says gender-critical activists are 'anti-rights movement'". The Times. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  6. ↑ Oas, Rebecca. "Anti-Rights: The New Censorship Weapon of the Left". DEFINITIONS: A Monthly Look at UN Terms and Ideas. Issue 35. September 14, 2024.
  7. ↑ Mchangama, Jacob. J.K. Rowling Is Turning A Free Speech Victory Into A Defeat. Persuasion. July 29, 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Cite error: The named reference Opposition to LGBTQ rights Fetner 2001 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. 1 2 3 4 Cite error: The named reference Opposition to LGBTQ rights Gannon 1981 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cite error: The named reference Opposition to LGBTQ rights McKeegan 1993 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cite error: The named reference Opposition to LGBTQ rights Ibrahim 2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. 1 2 3 4 Cite error: The named reference Opposition to LGBTQ rights lawnet.fordham.edu was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ↑ Cite error: The named reference Opposition to LGBTQ rights opinion was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ↑ Cite error: The named reference Opposition to LGBTQ rights Stanford was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ↑ Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page without content in them (see the help page).
  16. ↑ Kuhar & Paternotte 2017, p. 12.
  17. ↑ Careaga-Pérez 2016, p. 251.
  18. ↑ Żuk & Żuk 2019, p. 1.
  19. ↑ Marchlewska et al. 2019, p. 766.
  20. 1 2 Thurlow, Claire (2022). "From TERF to gender critical: A telling genealogy?". Sexualities. 27 (4): 962–978. doi:10.1177/13634607221107827. S2CID 252662057.
  21. ↑ Williams, Cristan (2016). "Radical Inclusion: Recounting the Trans Inclusive History of Radical Feminism". Transgender Studies Quarterly. 3 (1–2): 254–258. doi:10.1215/23289252-3334463.
  22. ↑ Rogers, Baker A. (2023). "TERFs aren't feminists: lesbians stand against trans exclusion". Journal of Lesbian Studies. 28 (1): 24–43. doi:10.1080/10894160.2023.2252286. PMID 37679960. S2CID 261608725. many lesbians despise TERF ideology
  23. 1 2 3 Bassi, Serena; LaFleur, Greta (2022). "Introduction: TERFs, Gender-Critical Movements, and Postfascist Feminisms". Transgender Studies Quarterly. 9 (3): 311–333. doi:10.1215/23289252-9836008. S2CID 253052875.
  24. 1 2 Burns, Katelyn (5 September 2019). "The rise of anti-trans "radical" feminists, explained". Vox. Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2022. "I don't think American women are buying it", she said, pointing out that nearly every major US feminist advocacy group is vocally pro-trans rights and inclusion.
  25. 1 2 3 Pearce, Ruth; Erikainen, Sonja; Vincent, Ben (2020). "TERF wars: An introduction". The Sociological Review. 68 (4): 677–698. doi:10.1177/0038026120934713. hdl:2164/18988. S2CID 221097475. Archived from the original on 20 November 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  26. ↑ Thomsen, Carly; Essig, Laurie (2021). "Lesbian, feminist, TERF: a queer attack on feminist studies". Journal of Lesbian Studies. 26 (1): 27–44. doi:10.1080/10894160.2021.1950270. PMID 34313195. S2CID 236452285.
  27. ↑ Dickey, Briar (2023). "Transphobic Truth Markets: Comparing Trans-hostile Discourses in British Trans-exclusionary Radical Feminist and US Right-wing Movements". Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies. 10 (2): 34–47. doi:10.21825/digest.85311.
  28. ↑ Billard, Thomas J (3 April 2023). ""Gender-Critical" Discourse as Disinformation: Unpacking TERF Strategies of Political Communication". Women's Studies in Communication. 46 (2): 235–243. doi:10.1080/07491409.2023.2193545. ISSN 0749-1409. S2CID 258464300. Archived from the original on 2 July 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  29. ↑ Willem, Cilia; Platero, R. Lucas; Tortajada, Iolanda (2022). "Trans-exclusionary Discourses on Social Media in Spain". Identities and Intimacies on Social Media. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. pp. 185–200. doi:10.4324/9781003250982-15. ISBN 978-1-003-25098-2. OCLC 1334107848.
  30. ↑ Tudor, Alyosxa (May 2023). "The anti-feminism of anti-trans feminism". European Journal of Women's Studies. 30 (2): 290–302. doi:10.1177/13505068231164217. ISSN 1350-5068.
  31. ↑ Ben Chika, Fourat (21 September 2021), Combating rising hate against LGBTI people in Europe (Provisional version) (PDF), Council of Europe Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, archived (PDF) from the original on 23 September 2021, retrieved 8 December 2021
  32. ↑ Butler, Judith. "Why is the idea of 'gender' provoking backlash the world over?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 November 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  33. ↑ Taylor, Brooke (30 July 2021). "'Rights aren't a competition': Anti-trans hate is on the rise in Canada, activists and advocates say". CTV News. Archived from the original on 29 November 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  34. ↑ Alm, Erika; Engebretsen, Elisabeth L. (15 June 2020). "Gender Self-identification". Lambda Nordica. 25 (1): 48–56. doi:10.34041/ln.v25.613. hdl:11250/3048285. S2CID 225712334.
  35. ↑ Studnik, Joane (24 January 2023). "Was bedeutet TERF? Wie linke Transfeindlichkeit Rechtsextreme stärkt" [What does TERF mean? How left-wing transphobia strengthens the far right]. Der Freitag (in German). Archived from the original on 18 August 2025.
  36. ↑ "Our Feminism is Trans Inclusive. | Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights". Action Canada for Sexual Health & Rights. Archived from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  37. ↑ "Les signataires - Toutes des Femmes". 25 February 2020. Archived from the original on 8 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  38. ↑ "Resolution 2417 (2022): Combating rising hate against LGBTI people in Europe". Council of Europe. 25 January 2022. Archived from the original on 19 November 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  39. ↑ "LGBTIQ+ communities and the anti-rights pushback: 5 things to know". UN Women. 28 May 2024. Archived from the original on 28 June 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  40. ↑ Beal, James (13 June 2024). "UN Women says gender-critical activists are 'anti-rights movement'". The Times. Archived from the original on 16 June 2024. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anti-rights_movements&oldid=1375959118"