Anti-Feminist Politics: An Alliance of Patriarchy, Colonialism, and Fascism

Anti-feminist politics and the demonization of feminism are not new in Arabic-speaking societies. Feminist movements have long faced resistance from political and social hierarchies and have often been portrayed as threats to traditional ideas of society, family, and religion. Anti-feminism is reinforced through religious rhetoric as well as patriarchal narratives that justify traditional gender roles and legitimize violence as normal part of the social fabric.

Arab political regimes have been repressing the spread of grassroots feminist movements for years, using media narratives and policies based on violence, punishment, and imprisonment under the pretext of protecting “national security” and “family values.” This repression has increased with the global rise in anti-gender movements and fascism, pointing to the need to reinvent a feminist discourse that is fundamentally anti-colonial. This is the analytical backbone that would enable us to address the roots of this assault.

The Anti-feminist Movement: Pure Patriarchy or a Colonial Agenda?

The anti-gender and anti-feminist movements are part of a global wave of patriarchal backlash against what is referred to as gender ideology, which has been deemed a threat to traditional, religious, and andro-centric family values. This so-called “gender ideology” is a strawman depiction of feminism that has been shaped by masculinism, racism, and hostility towards queer communities and minorities. These movements employ psychological tools such as amplification and projection to create moral panic and mobilize a reaction against feminists and members of the queer community, often for political goals aimed at upholding traditional power structures.

The anti-gender movement can be understood as a modern extension of a colonial mindset repackaged to fit current modes of domination based primarily on neo-colonial politics. The movement exhibits structural similarities to the colonial project, both in how it justifies its policies and in how it scapegoats marginalized groups, particularly women, queer communities, immigrants, black people, and ethnic minorities.

The movement stems from an interconnected web of patriarchal and colonial notions, such as the “fixed nature” of gender, which have historically been used as tools to exert dominance over women and gender non-conforming people. It also draws on the colonial logic of moral superiority used to justify conquest and racism, whereby intervention in the lives of “others” (whether across borders or bodies) is portrayed as a necessary “civilizing” project. For example, European colonialism relied heavily—particularly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries—on a discourse of “moral and civilizational superiority” to justify its control over the peoples of Africa and Asia. This discourse portrayed conquest, exploitation, and violence as a “civilizing mission”, meaning that “civilized” European powers had a moral duty to rescue “backward” peoples from their ignorance and barbarism. In the Congo, for example, King Leopold II claimed to be “liberating African people” while enslaving and torturing them, killing millions in one of the most horrific genocides in history. In Africa, Britain destroyed farms and traditional industries also under the pretext of “civilizing” them. In Algeria, colonial studies celebrated the transfer of “the Enlightenment and the French principles of justice” to local “barbaric” populations, all the while France practiced systematic plunder, murder, and destruction.

This logic persists today through imperialist domination over the Global South, from the invasion of Iraq in the name of “democracy” to the genocide in Gaza under the guise of “fighting terrorism.”

Today's anti-feminist movement adopts the same logic and promotes the same arguments, presenting the denial of the right to self-determination over one's body and sexuality as a way to “protect” humanity from the threat of homosexuality and feminism. It portrays feminism as a force that encourages women to have abortions and choose their own paths in life, while presenting marriage, childbearing, and the preservation of the “heterosexual family” as the only virtuous way to live. This is based on a narrative that sanctifies the (invented) “patriarchal culture” in the face of the “alien invasion” as represented by feminism.

These movements inflict both symbolic and physical violence on non-heteronormative bodies, just as colonialism transformed the bodies of colonized women and girls into objects ofpunishment. Grounded in a right-wing ideological framework, anti-feminism is transforming into a global project aimed at re-imposing colonial and patriarchal systems as the prevailing order, particularly in countries of the Global South, which are systematically targeted to obstruct their paths to political and economic liberation.

Neo-fascism and the Funding of Patriarchal Projects

At a time when imperialist capitalism is experiencing major structural crises, both in the American settler-colony and in Europe—with the right’s dramatic ascent to political power—the only solution to salvage its hegemony is by resorting to old tactics: fascism and systematic oppression. There is no longer need for smokescreens or justifications based on promoting freedom through neoliberal projects which are, in fact, primarily aimed at undermining and controlling the political discourse of feminist organizations. What we are seeing now, before our very eyes, is a global system transformed into an overt oppression machine that viciously targets all attempts at feminist and popular liberation. 

To achieve the goals of the anti-feminist movement, neo-fascism is allying itself with right-wing organizations and modern tech companies which have become platforms for disseminating a globalized model of masculinity, normalizing colonialism, and stifling revolutionary voices. This marks the beginning of a new phase in which the goal is to create a global normalization of the symbols and discourses of these regimes, paving the way for anti-feminist movements to take over spaces that feminists have struggled to build.

This alliance has paved the way for a unified discourse amongst champions of patriarchy. Regardless of the differences between them, they are united in their hatred of women and queer communities. This is not a return to traditional patriarchy, but rather a modernized one that aims to create societies willing to accept oppression and submission to neocolonialism, directing their awareness and anger toward imagined enemies, such as feminism, homosexuality, and multi-culturalism, thus shattering any possibility of solidarity that could threaten the interests of imperialism.

On this topic, the Open Democracy platform disclosed the massive funding received from American rightwing Christian groups – many of them linked to Trump and his allies – for campaigns against women's rights and the queer community around the world. This money – which exceeds $280 million USD and is known as “dark money” due to the lack of transparency about where it is sourced or how it is spent – has been used to influence laws and policies related to sexuality and gender in Africa, Asia, and South America. 

This shift in American politics, from funding neoliberal policies in feminist and political movements in order to control and absorb their radicalism, to funding outright fascist and misogynistic movements, is not simply a struggle between feminism and patriarchy it is an attempt to install a new colonial order.

On the one hand, the USA and EU are funding Israel to annihilate Gaza, while sustaining  totalitarian regimes waging proxy wars in Sudan, Yemen, Western Sahara, the Congo, and elsewhere. On the other hand, they are paving the way for the rise of fascist regimes in the Global North, injecting shady money to indoctrinate minds and restructure the world order to maintain colonial interests.

Patriarchal Hegemony and National Chauvinism

Hegemonic fascist policies have gained ground in the Arabic-speaking world. The rise in chauvinistic discourse propogated by totalitarian regimes accompanies increasing persecution of women, sexual and ethnic minorities, and migrants. All this under the pretext of national security from the “danger” of homosexuality, rebellion against male-dominated authority, and demographic changes “due to immigration.”

Patriarchy and racism are already deeply rooted in the values ​​and ideologies that prevail in many societies, they are are also incited and inflamed by shifting global discourses. The organic link between neocolonial regimes and global fascism is no longer a secret; these regimes are beholden to the prevailing discourse in global politics and seek to adapt the messages directed at their peoples to serve the same logic of hegemony.

To understand this connection more deeply, one can look at the punitive policies against feminists, trans women, and activists. Feminists and gender non-conforming people are sanctioned for “incite debauchery”, while trans women are charged with “imitating the opposite sex”, all of which is seen as a threat to gender conventions and the traditional family structure.

In Saudi Arabia, for example, the regime declared that feminism threatened national security and incited “terrorism.” It then launched arrest campaigns that included most of the feminists active in the struggle to abolish male guardianship, demand the right to drive, and achieve political and social rights. 

This official approach towards punishment and violence against feminists escalated into a de-facto declaration of war on the presence of women in public and online spaces, targeting even the marginal spaces where women might dare to emerge beyond the constraints of the patriarchal system.

In Egypt, TikTok girls have been arrested under the pretext of “protecting the Egyptian family.” This is an explicit declaration by the authorities that they will defend the traditional social order based on gender and patriarchal oppression, criminalizing choices of appearance and identity as the basis for the continuation of this system. 

In Kuwait, Iraq, and elsewhere, the arrest of lesbians and transgender women continues on charges of “imitating the opposite sex.” The anti-gay and anti-transgender movement has been bolstered more by the“global anti-gender movement” than the principle of of “halal and haram.” For example, the “Fitra” campaign has built its arguments against homosexuality within the framework of global right-wing discourse, which promotes binary gender norms and frames heterosexuality as the only 'natural' orientation. 

The protection of patriarchal and heteronormative hierarchies in the SWANA region is fundamentally linked to the survival of existing regimes. The existence of gender hierarchies at the household level contributes to the normalization of class hierarchies and the justification of political oppression and repression at higher scales. Political regimes are increasingly spreading chauvinistic nationalist and patriotic discourses to produce a populace that is submissive to the idea of a patriarchal ruler who oppresses and persecutes “for the greater good of the people” and fights the foreign threat represented by “migrants.” 

This model has been evident in North Africa, where the regimes in Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria have relied on chauvinistic and racist varieties of nationalist discourses toward Black people to mobilize their populations against migrants and collaborate with Europe to militarize borders and criminalize irregular migration. This policy stems from European migration strategies based on “border imperialism,” which perpetuate capitalist dominance over Africa and suppress its people's attempts to seek a better life.

Confronting Hate with Resistance

The rise of anti-feminist discourse in the Arabic-speaking world cannot be understood in isolation from its historical and social context. This phenomenon is not merely a local reaction to change; it is integral to the larger neocolonial hegemonic strategies that work in tandem with traditional patriarchal systems to maintain the status quo.

The challenge is not merely to critique anti-feminism academically, but to construct a radical theoretical and organizational alternative capable of resisting it. This establishes effective communication channels with grassroots groups (particularly oppressed groups), suppresses hate speech, and stands against all forms of colonial, patriarchal, and capitalist hegemony.

The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.