HOSTILE LANDSCAPES - HOW DO GENDER-RESTRICTIVE ACTORS CONTRIBUTE TO VIOLENCE AGAINST

This chapter draws on some of this literature to outline the history of anti-gender movements; explore the use and politics of the language of ‘anti-gender’ and ‘gender-restrictive’ in more depth (building on the brief definitions in Section 1.1); and consider the relationship between gender-restrictive politics and LGBTQI+ rights. [...] The discourse of GBV emerged as a response to critiques of the narrow focus on VAWG, and a call to broaden the definition to include everyone who experiences violence because of their gender (Graaff, 2021). [...] GBV is also used to make it clear that the link between violence against LGBTQI+ people and gender-restrictive actors is about the power dynamic of contesting or upholding gender norms, in addition to being about sexual orientation in and of itself. [...] The analysis of GBV as a form of asserting patriarchal gender norms and regulating gender and sexual identities leads to an understanding of GBV as a system of control over the shape of societies. [...] For example, in South Africa, the issues highlighted by the anti-gender movement (‘protecting children’, ‘freedom of thought and speech’, ‘fairness in sport’, ‘women’s rights/sex-based rights’ and ‘science vs emotions’) appear to have been transplanted directly from the UK and US and do not reflect the local concerns around religion and what they refer to as ‘African values’ (GATE, 2023).