Neoconservatism, countermovements and strategies to position the anti-feminist agenda. The case of VOX in Spain

Abstract

Whereas there is a “politically correct” discourse that recognizes equal rights between men and women, and there have been advances in the legislation of different countries, there are sectors in our society that have reviled and discredited the fact of being a feminist and that have attacked some of the main principles of the movement, such as gender violence, or the defense of policies that promote substantive equality between men and women.

The objective of this work is to analyze this type of demonstration against the feminist agenda as an ultra-conservative movement, with a specific logic and form of action. Based on the concept of reaction by Susan Faludi and the proposals for the analysis of counter movements by Meyer and Staggenborg, and Dillard, we analyze the mechanisms with which conservative groups are articulating a discourse that directly questions the demands of feminism.

We start from the Agenda Europe document, where a line of action is established, and review the case of VOX in Spain. We use the technique of discourse analysis, to study how it has been articulated from the party (with the leading role of one of its most emblematic representatives, Rocío Monasterio, president of VOX Madrid), and to exemplify the strategies adopted and the way in which a counter-movement has been formed, with an anti-feminist agenda, which has managed to penetrate important sectors of Spanish society.