Against the Heresy of Immanence: Vatican’s ‘Gender’ as a New Rhetorical Device Against the Denaturalization of the Sexual Order

Abstract

Since the mid-1990s, the Vatican contests the concept of gender as forged by feminists to study social arrangements through which the sexual order is naturalised. This contestation came with the distortion of the analyses and claims formulated by feminists and LGBTQ scholars and social movements. This article understands the Vatican's invention of 'gender ideology' as a new rhetorical device produced both to delegitimise feminist and LGBTQ studies and struggles and to reaffirm that sexual norms transcend historical and political arrangements. It also investigates how the transnationality of this discursive construct relates to the specific features it has taken in two different national contextsFrance and Italy. The article is structured as follows: it first highlights the logic and structure of the anti-gender discourse. Then, it analyses how the same argumentative device is performed in anti-gender demonstrations. Finally, it scrutinises the rhetorical and performative strategies through which anti-gender actors have formulated their views and argues that 'gender ideology' can be understood as a political reaction against the entry of minorities into the fields of politics and theory.

Unpacking “Gender Ideology” and the Global Right’s Antigender Countermovement

“…Conservative organizations such as the American College of Pediatricians have also entered the debate, calling gender ideology harmful for children (Cretella, Van Meter, and McHugh 2017). 6 In addition to serving as a political instrument, gender ideology functions as an epistemological counter to feminist and queer theorizations of gender (Buss 1998;Garbagnoli 2016;Paternotte and Kuhar 2017). Gender ideology can thus be conceptualized as a rhetorical counterstrategy that aims, first, to refute claims concerning the hierarchical construction of the raced, gendered, and heterosexual order; second, to essentialize and delegitimize feminist and queer theories of gender; third, to frustrate global and local gender mainstreaming efforts; fourth, to thwart gender and LGBTQ1 equality policies; and finally to reaffirm heteropatriarchal conceptions of sex, gender, and sexuality.…”

“…Examinations of antigender campaigns that deploy gender ideology propaganda often focus on specific national contexts, investigating domestic political dynamics and the campaign's effects on gender and sexual equality initiatives. 8 This work provides important comparative insight into framing strategies, 5 See Robcis (2015), Bracke and Paternotte (2016), Garbagnoli (2016), and Viveros Vigoya (2016a). 6 The American College of Pediatricians (ACP) is a socially conservative organization founded in 2002 by health care professionals who opposed adoption by gay couples.…”

“…7 See Robcis (2015), Bracke and Paternotte (2016), Fassin (2016), Garbagnoli (2016), Viveros Vigoya (2016a), and Paternotte and Kuhar (2017). 8 See Graff (2014), Anić (2015), Kuhar (2015), Maďarová (2015), Robcis (2015), Fassin (2016), Garbagnoli (2016), Viveros Vigoya (2016a), Graff and Korolczuk (2017), and Kuhar and Zobec (2017). repertoires of contention, political opportunities, and mobilizing structures that are used on both sides of the gender debate (McAdam, McCarthy, andZald 1996, Tarrow 2001). Scholars have also explored the role of the Catholic Church and its influence in mobilizing against feminist and LGBTQ1 policies, highlighting the Church's role as the primary movement entrepreneur and ongoing architect of antigenderism.…”

“…Thus, the Holy See's perspective deeply depends on a stable and predictably correlated relationship between biological sex, gender identity, and heterosexual orientation, which is expressed in the Church's terms as the one and only natural unity of mind, body, and soul. Because this unity is believed to be rooted within natural and divine law-as a direct creation of God-it transcends political, historical, and social arrangements shaped by man (Hogan 2015, Garbagnoli 2016.…”

“…SeeGraff (2014),Anić (2015),Kuhar (2015),Maďarová (2015),Robcis (2015),Fassin (2016),Garbagnoli (2016), Viveros Vigoya (2016a),Graff and Korolczuk (2017), andKuhar and Zobec (2017).…”