Il movimento va al Congresso. Reti di movimenti anti-gender tra dispositivi retorici, partecipazione dal basso, conoscenza e alleanze politiche

This essay aims to strengthen the connections between ongoing reflections on the diffusion of anti-gender protests and social movement studies. Starting from the scrutiny of the recent World Congress of Families (Verona, 29-31 March 2019), it makes a plea for recognizing the unvaried centrality of gender relations as a field of conflict. Afterwards, it bridges the contents of three recent publications on anti-gender mobilizations with pivotal concepts in social movement studies. First, the fabrication of the gender rhetorical device at the hands of the Vatican is bridged with the construction of collective identities and with movement framing strategies. Second, attention is paid explicitly to movement knowledge practices as a paramount component of broader anti-gender protest repertoires. Thirdly, patterns of institutionalization are discussed by looking at cognitive and practical convergences between movement and party actors in the institutional arena.