Retronormative desire: nostalgia, antifeminism and the far-right appeal to working-class mothers in Austria

This article analyses the nexus between the transformation of the gender order and the far right, examining accounts of working-class mothers employed in Austrian factories. Drawing on 27 qualitative interviews, I argue that the appeal of far-right mobilizations to women in precarious class positions is shaped by three intersecting themes: nostalgia, antifeminism, and welfare chauvinism. The interviewees articulate a longing for the male breadwinner model and a critique of feminism as elitist, excessive, or irrelevant to ‘ordinary’ mothers. These narratives often intertwine with welfare chauvinism, as interviewees reinterpret insecurity through exclusionary claims about social resources. These narratives can be read as expressions of a retronormative desire for the restoration of gendered norms and securities that are imagined to have been eroded by neoliberal restructuring and feminist gains. Building on insights from feminist scholarship and theories of authoritarian populism, the article situates these accounts within broader debates about anti-feminist politics as a bridging ideology. I argue that retronormativity functions as both a lived response to the contradictions of precarious reproductive and productive labour and as a discursive hinge through which far-right actors mobilize women. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for developing counter-strategies to the contemporary far-right.