Introduction: Gender and the Rise of the Global Right

Abstract

In this special issue of Signs, the contributors address the complex and powerful relationship between gender and the rise of the global Right. This discussion demonstrates how, in transnational terms, the Right has become a significant player in gender politics. It resists the denaturalizing, deconstructive analysis of gender and sex in critical, feminist, and queer scholarship and directs its efforts toward reinstating dominant essentialized gender and sexual norms. These efforts are often coupled with assertions of racial, ethnic, or religious majoritarianism. There is no one formula in responding to this right-wing ideological creep, but one thing is certain: feminist and other progressive groups need to seriously engage with this phenomenon. The compilation of articles for this special issue is one such effort.