Locating Gender in the Disinformation Landscape Published: 28 April 2022 Commentary Digital Rights Foundation, in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Stiftung, conducted a series of focus group discussions with researchers from across the globe in order to deconstruct ‘gendered disinformation’, understand existing work on the subject and identify areas for future interventions. By Shmyla Khan and Amna Khan
Pan-European Anti-feminist and Anti-LGBT Mobilization Published: 1 December 2021 The anti-gender movements in Central and Eastern Europe have led to anti-democratic turns in gender and sexuality policies. The best counterstrategy is to reveal such movements’ underlying objectives, strategies, participants, and stakeholders. By Iza Desperak
Veiled Bodies of Muslim Nonnormative Sexualities: Notes from a Youth Ethnography in Turkey Published: 1 December 2021 The veiling experiences of two LGBTI+ women in Turkey open questions about the discursive constructions of femininity, masculinity, piousness, LGBTI+ secularity, and how these are used in political rhetoric. By Zeynep Kuyumcu
From Cairo to Berlin: Architectures of Homophobia Published: 1 December 2021 What does a police raid on a bathhouse in Cairo have in common with a police raid on a queer rave in Berlin? Through an examination of two case studies of homophobic violence in Cairo and Berlin, separated by temporal and spatial dimensions, the architecture of homophobia employed by state and media is revealed. By Ahmed Awadalla
Political homophobia and the making of a rainbow criminal in Turkey Published: 1 December 2021 In the past months, Turkey has prosecuted students who have displayed rainbow flags in Istanbul, indicating a pattern of state-induced political homophobia and violence against marginalized groups, together with the motivation to delegitimize the political opposition in Turkey and elsewhere. By Tunay Altay
Women, Queers, and Far-Right Politics in Israel/Palestine Published: 1 December 2021 Israel's embrace of far-right politics rendered the lives of the marginalized Jewish population and Palestinians ever more precarious with forces that promote women’s and queer rights, in tension with forces promoting misogyny and homophobia, all contributing to the contemporary far-right political landscape in Israel. By Sa’ed Atshan and Katharina Galor
School as a Battlefield: The Debate on Sexuality Education in Ukraine Published: 1 December 2021 Over the past decade, activists and CSOs have argued with conservative and religious groups in Ukraine over the introduction of the so-called “comprehensive sexuality education” in Ukrainian schools. By Maryna Shevtsova
What do queer feminist perspectives have to tell us about our current political moment? Published: 30 November 2021 Against the backdrop of political homophobia and anti-feminism in recent years, a two-day digital conference entitled “Queer Feminist Perspectives on Political Homophobia and Anti-Feminism in the Middle East and Europe” was held in September 2021. By Tunay Altay, Nadje Al-Ali, Katharina Galor and Gökçe Yurdakul
Identity politics - What does it constitute? Who is it there for? Published: 2 December 2021 We want to create a space for power-critical engagement with debates around identity politics. By Barbara Unmüßig, Josephine Apraku, Lou Herbst, Gita Herrmann, Ines Kappert and Jana Prosinger