Antifeminism

Antifeminism as a State Project: Women, Nation and Right-Wing Mobilisation in Turkey

The lecture analyses antifeminism in Turkey as a historically rooted element of an ethnonational state project, in which women are simul-taneously idealised as ‘mothers of the nation’ and demonised as a threat. It shows how this gender order has persisted from the republican founding period through to contemporary ultranationalist and Islamist-conservative milieus and operates transnationally – including in Germany. Antifeminism emerges here not as a fringe phenomenon, but as a structur-ing principle of political mobilisation and social homogenisation.

Biographical Notes
Dr. Dastan Jasim is a politi-cal scientist and Associate Fellow at the GIGA Insti-tute for Middle East Studies with Kurdistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey as focal countries. Her re-search areas include political accountability and participation, Kurdish studies, democracy research, and security policy in and around Kurdistan. She is publicly engaged in the media, for example in the podcast “Über Israel und Palästina sprechen: Spezialfolge – Syrien im Fokus” from April 2025.

“Regressive Rebels”? Men’s Rights Groups and Antifeminist Meaning-Making in Turkey

This lecture explores the ideological production of men’s rights groups in Turkey and reflects on how they may constitute a potential social basis for far-right formations. While existing literature has emphasized affective dynamics such as male rage and resentment in the relationship be-tween antifeminist mobilisations and the far right, this lecture shifts attention to the ideological productivity of men’s rights groups themselves. It asks whether their form of ‘regressive rebellion’, particularly visible in the antifeminist resignification of gender equality, functions as a site of meaning-making that may feed into or rearticulate far-right projects, rather than merely consuming them.

Kurzbiographie
Dr. Funda Hülagü Demirbilek is a political scientist working on gender conflicts from a materialist feminist perspective. She is currently engaged in theoretical work on socio-economic transformations and antifeminism, drawing on com-parative case studies from Germany and Turkey.

Admission

Admission only after prior registration and subject to organiser approval!

The organisers reserve the right to restrict participation to registered individuals. Persons who are members of far-right extremist parties or organisations, who can be identified as part of the far-right extremist scene, or who have previously made racist, nationalist, antisemitic, or otherwise dehumanising statements are excluded from the event.

Participation is free of charge. Registration is required for each event individually . Please register at least 3 days before the events you are interested in by emailing: projekt-retra@oth-regensburg.de.
After organiser approval, you will receive confirmation email as well as the video conference link shortly before the event.

Content Note

This lecture series addresses topics such as racism, political violence, antisemitism, and far-right extremism. Some content may be distressing.