Unveiling Istanbul’s intersectional alliance: Unravelling Turkey’s anti-gender backlash

Abstract

The immense global surge in the anti-gender discourse, driven by right-wing populism and appealing to hegemonic masculinity, appears to be a calculated strategy aimed at consolidating conservative support during times of economic and political uncertainties. Conservative governments readily exhibit tendencies to implement this globally shared anti-gender rhetoric through various forms of public policy, such as legislative regulations that restrict abortion rights, limit access to medical services for sex reassignment procedures or by imposing bans on pride marches in public spaces. The worrisome assault undertaken by heteronormativity through the state apparatus may be considered a reflection of the crises surrounding the protective welfare state, the so-called efficient neoliberal economy and masculinity itself. In this article, however, I present an ethnographic perspective to argue otherwise; that the anti-gender backlash unleashed by the current neoliberal Islamic regime in Turkey emerges as a defensive response to Istanbul’s Occupy Movement commonly known as the Gezi events.