Catholicism and anti-gender movements: hate speech, digital media strategies, and religious discourses against gender and feminism

Anti-gender movements employ conservative Catholic ideologies to oppose same-sex unions, LGBTQ+ rights, abortion, and feminism. As these movements’ visibility is growing in the U.S. and Europe, they seek to marginalize, abuse, and restrict the rights of certain citizens. Hence, this presentation seeks to answer the following questions: How do anti-gender groups employ Catholic values as resources for their anti-feminist and pro-family ideologies? What kind of communicative and digital media strategies do they employ to spread their messages? The study employs a mixed-method approach combining interviews and analysis of social media accounts of anti-gender groups. The analysis suggests that these groups use Catholicism to enforce a “us versus them” dynamic that promotes hate speech and violence against women and LGBTQ+ people, but also immigrants and non-white people. In conclusion, the presentation suggests using literature on social movements and media activism to understand the connections between religion, politics, gender, communication, and violence.