Wielding the power of knowledge : anti-gender mobilizations and the strategic (mis)use of epistemic authority

Perger, Nina (avtor), Kuhar, Roman (avtor)

This article examines how anti-gender mobilizations strategically (mis)use knowledge and epistemic authority to legitimize their claims. Focusing on the manual Children Are at Stake! A Manual for Mothers, Fathers, and Teachers to Protect Children from LGBTQIA+ Ideology , we situate our analysis within broader global patterns of anti-gender campaigns that target schools, universities, and academic freedom. While previous scholarship has described such practices as ‘troll science’ or ‘counterknowledge’, our study advances this work by identifying the specific mechanisms through which such knowledge is produced and mobilized. Using a mixed-methods approach, we coded 24 references cited in the manual and analysed the relationship between these sources and the claims they were used to support. The results show three distinct techniques of knowledge (mis)use: the Torsion Technique (twisting knowledge through interpretative extension or distortion), the Magician’s Technique (fabricating relevance through phantomized or invented connections), and the Echo Technique (accurately summarizing ideologically aligned but questionable sources). Together, these strategies demonstrate how anti-gender actors exploit the symbolic authority of science, often stripped of context and sensationalized, to produce a parallel politics of knowledge. We argue that these practices not only delegitimize critical scholarship but also generate alternative epistemologies that reinforce retrotopian visions of social order.

• Jezik: Angleški jezik
• Ključne besede: anti-gender mobilizations, epistemic struggles, epistemic authority, troll science, counterknowledge, knowledge misuse
• Vrsta gradiva: Članek v reviji
• Tipologija: 1.01 - Izvirni znanstveni članek
• Organizacija: FDV - Fakulteta za družbene vede ; FF - Filozofska fakulteta
• Status publikacije: V tisku
• Različica publikacije: Objavljena publikacija
• Leto izida: 2026
• Št. strani: 22 str.
• Številčenje: Vol. , no.
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-180165
• UDK: 305
• ISSN pri članku: 0958-9236
• DOI: 10.1080/09589236.2026.2637522
• COBISS.SI-ID: 270418691
• Datum objave v RUL: 04.03.2026

Gradivo je del revije

• Naslov: Journal of gender studies
• Skrajšan naslov: J. gend. stud.
• Založnik: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 0958-9236
• COBISS.SI-ID: 723989

Licence

• Licenca: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Priznanje avtorstva-Nekomercialno-Brez predelav 4.0 Mednarodna
• Povezava: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.sl
• Opis: Najbolj omejujoča licenca Creative Commons. Uporabniki lahko prenesejo in delijo delo v nekomercialne namene in ga ne smejo uporabiti za nobene druge namene.

Sekundarni jezik

• Jezik: Slovenski jezik
• Ključne besede: spolne manjšine, diskriminacija zaradi spolne usmerjenosti