The Ideologies of the Radical Right in Italy and Power Asymmetries in a Gender Perspective

The persistent reproduction of gender inequality, from which material disparities arise, is fed by symbolic elements that legitimize and sustain this condition. While we witness the to the emergence of new sensibilities that are determined from gender issues, in contrast to the progressive demand for the recognition of new civil rights, there is a constant and dynamic development of misogynistic and sexist spheres of influence that reproduces the symbolic apparatus on which gender-based power asymmetries are based.

Such reproduction is based in part on an angry response to the loss of privileges, in part as a political dimension in relation to which to oppose opponents and exercise hegemony in order to gain power. On the one hand, what emerges is an articulated galaxy known as Manosphere from which a process of constructing masculinity is produced online through the use of gender stereotypes. On the other, stereotypes based on a traditional and hierarchical view of gender roles are present in social communication by far-right leaders, in their respective political manifestos and election programs.

In order to highlight the constitution of new types of convergence between political parties and movements based on symbolic reproduction that legitimize gender inequalities, our analysis will focus on Men’s Rights Activism (MRA), their anti-feminist, misogynist and sexist imaginary. Far from considering MRA as a peripheral opinion movement, the aim is to highlight the convergences with the gender imaginary that shapes the perspective of the mainstream Italian Far-right Parties, focusing on Fratelli d’Italia and Lega for Salvini.