"Edl Angels Stand Beside Not behind Their Men": The Politics of Gender and Sexuality in Anti-Islamist Movements

‘Close-up’ research on gender and sexuality in the extreme right is sparse. This is attributed usually to two contentions. Firstly, in all extreme right groups from relatively moderate radical-right political parties to the most extreme, violent neo-Nazi groups, women are largely absent, significantly underrepresented or inhabit marginal (‘girlfriend’) roles. Secondly, it is argued, extreme right ideology is rooted in a broader rejection of human equality and desire for a return to traditional values and thus is an inhospitable environment for women and sexual minorities.

This article draws on such ‘close-up’ research – an ethnographic study conducted over three years (April 2012-July 2015) with activists in the English Defence League (EDL) – to reconsider these assumptions. This article draws on interviews and participant observation with EDL activists to consider whether such movements should cause us to rethink how we understand gender and sexuality in the contemporary populist radical right more broadly. The article finds that the EDL remains heavily male dominated. However, it confirms that women activists do not simply ‘follow’ men into movements. Secondly, the article considers organisational ideologies and individual activists’ views on gender roles and sexuality (support or otherwise for LGBT rights). Finally, the article explores the relationship between the promotion of gender and sexual equality and the movement’s anti-Islamist ideology. The article thus concludes by considering whether anti-Islamist movements make a definitive break with class far right movements in their gender politics or simply deploy gender and sexual equality rhetoric strategically in their anti-Islamic views.