ABSTRACT Anti‐gender campaigns frequently use the term ‘gender ideology’ to mobilize against progressive gender ideas. What are the dominant narratives about gender displayed by anti‐gender campaigns and to what extent are these messages characterized by semiotic violence? To answer these questions we study social media as a key arena for anti‐gender campaigns, and Twitter/X specifically. Our sample consists of 9284 tweets collected from 16 actors including ultraconservative groups and trans‐exclusionary feminist groups. The results show that despite the heterogeneity within the groups, there are central narratives that transcend actors. Reoccurring narratives claim that gender is a threat to women's rights and to physical safety of children. Further, these narratives are characterized by using semiotic violence in which symbols and language are tools to delegitimize, dehumanize or undermine the identity and status of others. This type of violence creates stereotypes and stigmas. We conclude that beyond the presence or absence of specific hateful terms, the overarching narrative used by anti‐gender movements to portray gender can be a violent act.
Kesberg et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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