Counterstrategies against Antifeminism

Academia meets Practice

Abstract

Based on examples of antifeminist and anti-“genderist” attacks against scholars in Women’s, Gender and Feminist Studies (WGFS) as well as practitioners and activists, this paper proposes relevant counterstrategies. After briefly outlining the characteristics of current antifeminist and anti-“genderist” discourses, we share our own experiences with such attacks. We discuss criticisms of and defamations against WGFS inside academia, antifeminist interventions in journalistic public spheres and difficulties encountered in collaborations between WGFS scholars and activists. From our experiences, we derive seven suggestions for strategies which WGFS could utilize to counter these attacks in a transdisciplinary, intersectional way.