Anti-feminism in the Context of Corona Conspiracy Theories in Germany

This paper asks in what way anti-feminist narratives emerge in the context of corona conspiracy theories in Germany and examines the functions and dynamics associated with these narratives. So-called Anti-Corona-Protests mobilise against the measures to contain the pandemic and have been taking place all over Germany since March 2020. Initial studies indicate that the participants of these protests are a heterogeneous group. Some participants of the protests identify as Corona Rebellen. The so-called Corona Rebellen are primarily using the messenger service Telegram to mobilise for their cause. Thus, this study analyses a Telegram chat of the Corona Rebellen through a qualitative content analysis combined with dialogical narrative analysis. Chat posts within the time frame of April 2020 to December 2020 are included in the analysis. The analysis reveals that a wide range of anti-feminist narratives appear in the context of corona conspiracy theories, such as narratives referencing to the term ‘gender ideology’ to devalue feminist positions or stories that promote the idea of the threatened cis-heteronormative family. Corona conspiracy theories link these kinds of anti-feminist ideas to the current Covid19 pandemic for example, by claiming that the pandemic is part of a secret plan of an alleged ‘gender lobby’. Furthermore, in the context of corona conspiracy theories anti-feminist narratives serve several bridging functions. For example, actors on the far-right use anti-feminist narratives to incorporate current corona conspiracy theories into their ideologies. In the chat, anti-feminist positions are also used to mobilise for the Anti-Corona-Protests. Further, in combination with explicit calls for violence anti-feminist narratives increase the risk of radicalisation. In addition, over the course of time, the use of anti-feminist stories also increased while containing voices challenging anti-feminist narratives were getting fewer and fewer. Mareike Fenja Bauer completed a master’s degree in social science at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Her master’s thesis focused on antifeminist narrative within the context of corona conspiracy theories. She works at the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society and is part of the Institute for the Study of Protest and Social Movements. Her research interests include digitization and digitalization processes, protests and movements, science and technology studies and feminist theory.