(in cooperationwith the ZiFG of the TU Berlin)

The series “Die Zukunft der Gender Studies” is organized by the Margherita von Brentano Center at Freie Universität Berlin in cooperation with the  Center for Interdisciplinary Women’s and Gender Studies at Technische Universität Berlin. The series aims to discuss the current challenges facing gender studies in the context of the (geo)political, socio-economic, and ecological crises of the present day and to explore possibilities for critical intervention.

«The Universities are the enemy» - From gender ideology to critical race theory and antisemitism

What had begun in the mid-1990s as a conservative reaction with the Vatican’s crusade against “gender ideology” turned into a neofascist revolution starting in the 2010s. First, this campaign, both in Europe and in Latin America, has since involved political movements and even governments. Second, it has targeted, starting with the United States and France, not only gender theory, but also Critical Race Theory – and since October 7, 2023, including in Germany, (alleged) antisemitism. Third, anti-intellectualism has now become a crucial component in many of these attacks, from Trump to Putin, Orbán and Erdogan, Bolsonaro and Milei. Finally, I will argue that today, paradoxically, gender studies can be most helpful in trying to make sense of this neofascist turn that was first launched against the concept of gender.