The Body in Representation and What That Means for Promoting an Inclusive Democracy

In recent years, scholarship on the radical right has displayed an increasing interest in understanding its gendered aspects and what radical right political leaders and members of parliament ventilate. Scholars have unpacked the hegemonic white, binary, cisgender, heteronormative conceptions of femininity and masculinity that obfuscate any intersectional differences, and revealed how radical right discourses on sex, gender and sexuality propagate a toxic masculinity and a reactionary conception of femininity. Increasingly, feminist scholars investigate how members of parliament and other political or social actors engage with defending and strengthening gender and LGBTQI+ equality and rights to counter radical right, often labelled anti-gender initiatives, focusing on strategies, coalitions, and mechanisms of resistance or opposition. Much of this work sees a political arena, which for decades has been considered a main hub to promote equality and an inclusive society, turning increasingly hostile, inaccessible, shrinking, or even disappearing. This paper will address one particular aspect of this issue, focusing on the body of political actors. Literature on political representation pays a lot of attention to what politicians say and do while little attention is paid to how messages get constructed, supported or undermined relying on the body, be it intentional or not. This paper would like to look at attacks of radical right political actors focusing on the body and how it is used to convey anti-gender messages attacking the equality acquis. First, it will discuss how bodies become politicised and accrue meaning in themselves, as strong carriers, or symbols of their views on sex, gender, and sexuality. Second, it will address the question of what to do with this from a feminist point of view when it comes to the repertoire of strategies they can rely on to counter anti-gender attacks.