“Gender Hatred” and Fantasy in the Argentine Anti-Populist Configuration

Abstract

This article analyzes the anti-populist cultural battle in Argentina against “gender” and “gender ideology”, examining how hatred functions as an identity cement for the radicalized right led by Milei. It argues that “gender” operates as an articulating signifier that condenses diverse anxieties, juxtaposing feminisms, CSE (Comprehensive Sexuality Education), human rights, and Kirchnerism as threats. The study of affective economy and the performativity of hatred, the novelty of social media and the political practices of “affective publics”, and the operations of fantasy involved in identity constitution allows us to understand the workings that cohere sexism, lesbian-homo-transphobia, xenophobia, and racism. Historical contextualization reveals the specificities of the Argentine anti-populist configuration that seeks to invert victims and perpetrators, legitimize violence, and dismantle progressive policies linked to hegemonic struggles from the Kirchnerist populist configuration to the present. While the use of gender as a feminist critical tool is constantly reformulated, its anti-populist treatment allows us to consider this category as a signifier disputed by rival, anti-feminist, and anti-democratic signifying chains.