More Learning Assets - Extra Lesson

1. 'Anti-gender' in Central and Eastern Europe

Across these contexts, anti-gender actors present themselves as defenders of democracy, freedom, and pluralism — while portraying gender and sexual rights as totalitarian or excessive. By positioning LGBTIQ+ communities and feminists outside the nation and democratic order, these narratives legitimise exclusion through the language of protection.

RESIST findings from Poland, Hungary, Belarus, and the European Parliament show that ‘gender ideology’ is not only framed as Western, but also frequently associated with communism.

In Poland, critiques of reproductive rights and gender and sexual diversity are also linked to comparisons with Nazism and historical genocides (RESIST WP1 Report, p. 140). These references operate as empty signifiers (Laclau, 2005), activating historical trauma to elicit emotional responses rather than analytical clarity.

In Belarus, similar logics appear within an explicitly authoritarian context. Here, ‘anti-gender’ narratives are embedded in state-building projects that frame feminism, gender equality, and LGBTIQ+ rights as destabilising foreign influences. State-aligned media depict ‘traditional values’ as essential to national survival, enabling the delegitimisation of activists as agents of external interference. Although Belarus is not an EU member state, sovereignty discourses play a comparable role: gender equality is portrayed as incompatible with national culture and political stability, mirroring dynamics observed in EU contexts such as Poland and Hungary.

This ideological reversal complicates simple East–West distinctions, revealing the flexibility of anti-gender rhetoric. Opponents of gender equality often depict ‘the left’ as the source of what they describe as extreme gender and sexuality politics. Labels such as ‘Marxism’, ‘neo-Marxism’, ‘communism’, and occasionally ‘Bolshevism’ are used interchangeably to produce moral alarm.

2. Video: Confronting Anti-Gender Mobilizations in Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, Russia: Queer-Feminist Resistance

By watching this video, you can learn more about RESIST Project's findings from the case studies on Poland and Belarus.

• 00:00 - 03:00 - Intro
• 03:01-14:00 - Adrianna Zabrzewska, Understanding ‘Anti-gender’ Politics Across Europe: An Overview of the RESIST Project
• 14:01-26:00 - Ekaterina Filep, Lived Experiences and Resistances to the ‘Anti-gender’ Mobilisations in Belarus
• 26:01-28:35 - General comment
• 28:36-48:00 - Roberto Kulpa, Lived Experiences and Resistances to the ‘Anti-gender’ Mobilisations in Poland.