Lesson 2.3: Media Narratives Across Europe
In this lesson, we explore how ‘anti‑gender’ movements shape their messages to fit different political and cultural contexts. Rather than using one fixed story, they draw on familiar themes—such as protecting children, defending free speech, or resisting outside influence—and adjust them to match local fears, values, and debates. We look at why these messages can be so effective, focusing on how they appeal to emotions rather than consistency.
4. Culture-war dynamics and media representation
In Western Europe, ‘anti-gender’ discourses frequently take on the form of a culture war over language, identity, and free speech. The UK, for example, has a highly commercialised media landscape where gender debates are framed as questions of fairness, safeguarding, or freedom of expression.
IN FRANCE |
Discussions of gender and sexuality are filtered through republican secularism and laïcité (state secularism). Gender studies and intersectional feminism are sometimes portrayed by officials as divisive imports threatening civic unity. |
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The dynamics of culture war occurs both intra- and cross-nationally. ‘Anti-gender’ media discourses use both national(istic) tropes and references to foreign cultural contexts, often depicted as sites of moral decay that threaten ‘Christian values’, ‘tradition’, ‘the natural order’ and ‘common sense’. Meanwhile, ‘pro-gender’ actors and media narratives tend to reference the ‘West’ as an idealised arena of progress, showing the complexities and ambiguities of Polish geospatial cultural imaginary. |
IN POLAND |
Reflect
These examples reveal how ‘anti-gender’ narratives attach themselves to culturally specific notions of morality and public order. Whether invoking religion, secularism, or free speech, they all mobilise emotion and identity to delineate who belongs and who endangers society.
- Which narratives in your context draw most heavily on religion?
- Which rely on secularism, science, or free speech instead?
