Transnationalization of Anti-Gender Politics on Social Media: Hashtag Practices and Cross-Border Visibility

Dominika Tronina
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Dominika Tronina: Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany / Institute for Social Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany

Media and Communication, 2026, vol. 14

Abstract: Gender politics have become central arenas of contemporary political struggle, with anti-gender movements mobilizing across borders to contest women’s and LGBTQI+ rights. While research has shown that anti-gender actors articulate strikingly similar positions across national contexts, it remains insufficiently understood how such similarity translates into shared transnational action. This study examines how anti-gender movements collectively generate transnational visibility on social media by analyzing ten years of Twitter (now X) communication from 148 anti-gender social movement organizations in Croatia, Germany, France, Italy, and Poland ( N = 126,711 tweets). Drawing on concepts of networked framing and discourse coalitions, this study employs a mixed-methods analysis of hashtag co-usage on Twitter, combining quantitative measures of transnational hashtag connectivity with qualitative thematic content analysis. The findings reveal that anti-gender movements co-create visibility for opposition to gender equality through a threefold pattern, including a continuous dissemination of ideological narratives, an episodic activation of campaigns, and a strategic extension of anti-gender frames into broader public debates. These practices enable actors to jointly enhance the visibility and persistence of anti-gender claims across multiple publics while simultaneously adapting frames to divergent political contexts. By linking cross-border hashtag practices to the co-production of visibility, this study contributes to research on gendered public spheres by demonstrating how similarity among anti-gender actors becomes transnationally consequential through the joint production of visibility in networked communication environments.

Keywords: anti-gender movements; digital activism; far-right politics; hashtag activism; networked framing; social media; social movements; transnational communication; transnationalization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:meanco:v14:y:2026:a:12745

DOI: 10.17645/mac.12745

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