Traditionally, the far right has been a male-dominated
and often openly misogynistic space.
Feminism is cancer, thank you very much.
But in recent years, at least on the surface,
something has changed.
At its core, feminism is ideological poison.
Across the world, women have emerged
as key figures in far-right movements,
playing a central role in softening the image
and broadening the appeal of extremist politics.
They are absolutely crucial to spreading the ideology,
but they are also crucial to spreading the ideology with a smile
and making it seem palatable.
It was women that got Trump elected.
And I guess, to be really edgy,
it was also women that got Hitler elected.
Across the US and Europe,
a new generation of female social media personalities
are emerging as figureheads of far-right movements.
If you get permanently banned on Twitter like I was,
do not start a new Twitter account.
You’ll just build up your platform again
and get kicked off again.
Just move to Gab and Minds.
In Italy, the far-right politician Giorgia Meloni
has just made history.
Tonight, Italy is preparing for its first-ever female prime minister.
In France, Marine Le Pen,
head of the far-right National Rally,
has established herself as the leading rival
to President Emmanuel Macron.
Le Pen is known for her far-right stances
like restricting immigration
and banning Muslim women from wearing headscarves in public.
Have women actually become a secret weapon for the far right?
[DECADE OF HATE]
Women on the far right have emerged as major social media presences,
becoming leading influencers of the radical right.
I blame feminism for the reaction to what’s going on
and for the perpetuation of what’s going on
and why this migration, this mass migration into Europe,
has gotten so bad.
Lana Lokteff made her name
spreading racist and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories
through the white supremacist media channel
she runs with her husband.
Let me run through a few other European classics coming out
that replace the main white character.
Lokteff has been clear about
the unique roles she believes women should
and should not play within far-right movements.
Although we think women are too emotional
for leading roles in politics,
this is the time for female nationalists to be loud.
Why?
Men.
Women have a special power to inspire and motivate men.
If this traditionally attractive woman
with blond hair and a red lip, it somehow isn’t—
It’s supposed to seem less odious
when they talk about white superiority,
but it’s about putting up a certain veneer.
It's also absolutely about recruitment.
Yes, it’s certainly true that the presence of women
kind of humanizes
and also almost justifies a movement.
Yeah, it makes it softer to hear.
It’s easier for people to hear a hard message
when it’s a soft, good-looking woman saying it.
Showing the ways in which there’s actually more familiarity,
more similarity between what the far right believes
and what mainstream conservatives believe,
I think, is really crucial.
There’s one key demographic in particular
to whom female far-right influencers appear to have a special appeal—
and that's other women.
The majority of white women voted for Trump.
So I think the media is trying to spin it that,
“Oh my God, all these women are feminists now.”
I think the majority are not feminists.
And when you actually talk to women and say,
“Well, what does that really mean?”
you find that the majority of them are actually quite traditional.
The irony is that Lokteff and other far-right influencers
spend much of their time railing against the feminist movement
that won women the right to
a public political voice in the first place.
I think of women back then not being able to vote
and having the whole one house, one vote thing.
Why would you marry a man who wouldn't vote in your best interest
or you wouldn't agree with politically to begin with?
They sort of position themselves,
or they have this posture of,
“As a woman, I can speak to what feminism really is.”
Women who feel threatened by it,
women who don’t see a place for themselves,
they think that feminism has ...
made the world a worse place.
They think that it is ultimately an anti-woman project.
They also describe partnership
and motherhood as political action
because when your whole project
is about guaranteeing the future of whiteness,
fulfilling all of that is a matter of politics.
[FUCK ISLAM]
Awesome. All right, that looks great.
Now, this is complete. You’re done.
Got this cute, ad-friendly makeup look.
Figures like the Canadian alt-right star Lauren Southern
operate as independent, empowered entrepreneurs
and consciously use the same social media strategies
as other online influencers to build their following.
Underestimated the amount of people that were going to be here.
I said there was only going to be a thousand.
There are thousands.
Hey, someone who watches the channel! How’s it going?
Alongside the anti-feminist rhetoric from influencers
has been the growth of an entire online subculture
known as tradwives,
who actively reject pursuing their own careers or independence
in favor of raising families and submitting to their husbands.
Dude, don’t listen to this narrative of feminism
that is killing white Western society.
Don’t buy into it.
The trad movement is this movement to
celebrate women who are in traditional roles.
You are creating content that celebrates,
that highlights how good the tradlife is.
It's making traditional gender roles seem appealing, seem cool,
seem a part of the future.
But if you really spend time with it
and you look at some of these Instagram accounts or TikTok,
what you’ll realize is it’s as much about what it’s against
as what it's for.
Thank you for not being ashamed to be traditional,
to be Christian, to be conservative, and to be white.
I'm feminine, not feminist. Right?
And so seeding these ideas that, “You know you want to be like me.”
“Look how great my life is. Children love me. Men love me.”
“Look how celebrated I am in comparison to ... ” Right?
You’ll start to see the ways in which being trad
is also about being anti-something,
not just pro-tradition but anti-progress.
No role could be more important in the far right
than being someone who is willing to
uphold a society of traditional gender roles
and to have children
and raise children within that society.
In Europe, two examples stand out
of female politicians leading far-right parties
to mainstream acceptance.
In France, Marine Le Pen
took over her father’s far-right anti-immigration party in 2011
and immediately set about trying to soften its hardline image,
taking it from the margins to become a major opposition party.
I will control immigration and re-establish security for all.
Far-right movements and parties, first of all, are highly strategic
and, secondly, are highly opportunistic.
Women are essentially a tool to that end.
Women are seen as having
a better entrée into that process of detoxification.
There will be in these immigrants terrorists.
Marine Le Pen is a very smart and adept politician.
She wants to project racist ideas to potential voters,
but she also sees that there's a boundary.
And if she goes too far, that would start costing her voters
instead of adding voters.
Le Pen has even tried to co-opt feminist arguments,
pitching her anti-immigrant rhetoric as a defense of women’s rights.
A day after the allegations of mass sexual assault were made public,
Cologne continues to search for the perpetrators
and for answers.
On New Year’s Eve 2015,
large numbers of women were sexually assaulted
by groups of male immigrants
at celebrations in Cologne and other German cities.
Far-right parties immediately seized on this
to amplify panic about
the so-called European migration crisis that year.
An estimated 1,700 right-wing demonstrators
protested Germany’s liberal immigration policy
after more than 20 migrants were arrested for
allegedly assaulting women on New Year’s Eve.
Le Pen herself wrote an editorial
claiming that immigration from Africa and the Middle East
was a threat to women’s rights in Europe.
The fact that Marine Le Pen uses women’s rights in some arenas
and doesn’t use women’s rights in other arenas
is a perfect example of how that’s an opportunistic strategy.
It’s a tool to say,
“I want to attack ethnic minorities.”
“I’m going to attack them using this tool.”
In Italy, there’s been a similar process
of female-led “detoxification,”
with Giorgia Meloni leading the far-right Brothers of Italy,
which has roots in Italian fascism,
to become the largest party in parliament.
I think Mussolini was a good politician.
The 45-year-old firebrand insists she’s no fascist,
just a proud conservative and nationalist.
And unlike Marine Le Pen,
Giorgia Meloni doesn't use feminism in order to gain votes.
I see that woke ideology.
Will we surrender in front of this?
In fact, she openly rails against modern feminism,
instead championing so-called traditional family and gender roles,
despite herself having faced the stigma of being an unwed mother.
Yes to the natural family. No to the LGBT lobby.
Meloni is, like virtually all far-right politicians,
extremely contradictory.
Some parts of feminism work for her as a politician.
At the same time, absolutely interested in using
anti-LGBT, anti-women’s rights,
anti-welfare for immigrant rights rhetoric when it suits her.
Very important to realize that women are not politically a monolith
now or in history.
We create our own peril
by failing to understand
how central women can be in the far right
if we have blinders on
that make us think that far right is a man’s terrain
and progressive politics is a woman’s terrain.
And guess what? Now we’re pissed.
And we have very good reason to be pissed.
And I hope you're not twisting this for your liberal media.
Influencers use the platforms won for them
by feminist pioneers
to attack feminism itself.
But as long as they keep pulling in votes and online clicks,
no one on the far right is going to get too hung up
on these hypocrisies.