The reconfiguration of anti-gender activism in the queer nation of Taiwan

The Centre of Taiwan Studies is delighted to welcome Dr Juliette Duléry for a talk exploring the changing landscape of anti-gender activism in Taiwan, examining how conservative Christian movements and emerging gender-critical feminist groups have shaped debates around gender, sexuality, and national identity. 

Taiwan was the first Asian state to legalise same-sex marriage in May 2019. It might appear paradoxical that in such a progressive ‘queer nation’, anti-gender groups have emerged publicly in the 2010s in opposition to marriage equality. Moreover, from the 2020s onwards, anti-gender activism has extended to new ‘trans-exclusionary feminist groups’ close to independentist networks. 

Anti-gender activism is a transnational movement that opposes a wide range of themes, including gender education, homosexuality, abortion, feminism and trans rights. How to study the reconfigurations of anti-gender activism in the queer nation of Taiwan? Conservative movements are often reduced to countermovements, opposed to progressive groups. However, these groups have their own objectives that warrant examination. 

This talk examines these groups ‘from the inside’, through an ethnographic approach. First, Dr Duléry will focus on the Christian Right, which emerged in Taiwan in the 2000s as part of a globalised movement. Christian informants also expressed strong contradictions between their pro-family ideals and practices. Second, she will explore the extension of anti-gender activism to 'progressive' gender critical feminist groups from the 2020s onwards. These organisations emerged amid an intensified Chinese military threat. Dr Duléry will question how gender politics are securitised in Taiwan in relation to a ‘transgender threat’.

Image credit: Andrew Leu via Unsplash.