Reflecting on teachers’ safety, belonging and thriving in times of resurgent, far-right anti-gender politics

In this paper, I draw on literature that provides theoretical and empirical insights into far-right‑motivated anti-gender politics and situate it within the study of education. I do so as a basis for contextualising educator safety and well-being, considering the assault of far-right‑driven anti-gender disinformation campaigns targeting schools as sites of so-called radical indoctrination. My aim is twofold: (i) to elaborate a theoretical and analytic framework for understanding anti-gender mobilisations that helps make sense of the mainstreaming of anti-trans and queer rhetoric and its chilling effects, especially for trans and queer educators and students in schools; and (ii) to provide further empirical insights into the affective intensities characterising the current mobilisation of ‘gender ideology’ and the deployment of groomer discourse by parental rights and anti-drag protest movements in their targeted attacks on queer and trans teachers. I conclude with reflections on active hope and what it means for educating about and challenging anti-gender regimes.