Symbolon (Aug 2020)
Egy elképzelt másság nyomában: nacionalizmus és genderellenesség
Abstract
In Search of an Imagined Otherness: Nationalism and Anti-Genderism The history of gender studies is less than half a century old, nevertheless, it has resulted in a significant ideological shift in the field of social studies and humanities. The new theoretical foundations introduced by gender studies were soon taken up by the public discourse, and the concept of gender, and consequently gender studies became fertile soil for the articulation of illiberal and conservative ideas. The anti-gender discourse and movement have been conceptualized in the literature as operating against all the liberal notions that are understood by the public opinion to belong under the umbrella term of gender. Several international higher education institutions provide gender studies programs. In February 2017 the press in Hungary published news regarding a new (Hungarian language) Gender Studies MA program at the Eötvös Loránd University. This resulted in heated press coverage: the reports of ideologically different media outlets reflected the radical attitudes present in the Hungarian society regarding the topic. Moreover, soon after the news story was published, the Hungarian government announced the starting of a “counter-program”, a family studies MA. Our presentation wishes to outline the interpretations and linguistic representations of the notion of gender in the traditional press and in the new media, on the basis of which s we can state that such radical responses are determined by an imagined otherness.
