“Gender In Crisis”: A Transnational Conversation on Populism, Anti-Genderism, and Academic Censorship

This panel examines the centrality of gender and sexuality in contemporary moral panics in India, Turkey, and the United States. By analyzing specific university and state policies, the presenters will explore how populist regimes turn gender and sexuality into sites of crisis, reinforcing “sex-based” hierarchies and distinctions. Moving beyond viewing gender as a localized issue, our transnational conversation will highlight how attacks on “gender” and “gender ideology” serve to reassert patriarchal authority, thereby reshaping the relationships between knowledge, morality, and belonging.

Presentations will focus on anti-genderism and campaigns against "gender ideology"—terms employed by conservative and religious actors to reject non-essentialist perspectives, feminist politics, and LGBTQ+ rights. Rather than treating gender as just one aspect of populist politics, this panel approaches it as fundamental to populist states and their epistemic authority. We will collectively address:

1. How do attacks on gender and sexuality manifest in diverse national and transnational contexts?
2. In what ways have these attacks disrupted feminist knowledge production and transformative practices?
3. What resistance strategies and transnational alliances exist to counter contemporary populisms?

By foregrounding these questions, the panel aims to deepen understanding of gender's role in knowledge production, resistance formations, and belonging within the politics of populism.