Imaginary enemy, real wounds: counter-movements, ‘gender theory’, and the French Catholic church

ABSTRACT

In France, political opposition to the inclusion of so-called ‘gender theory’ in school curricula reached a peak during the debate over gay marriage in 2012–2013, where many observers were surprised by the strength of the opposition to government reforms promoting gender equality. The Catholic church played a leading role in this ‘anti-gender’ protest movement, seeing an opportunity to integrate conservative sexual morality into the movement’s broader ideological framework. Here, I discuss this movement in order to draw out the shortcomings of the ‘classical’ movement-countermovement theoretical perspective, which often views conservative religious movements as monolithic actors, locked into a binary relationship with progressive forces. I argue however that the key outcomes of the ‘anti-gender’ movement are its effects not on its political opponents, but on the Catholic community itself. Indeed, the shaping of ‘gender’ as an imaginary enemy has powerful performative effects, including on the very group that invented it, including the reinforcement of Catholic identity ‘we feeling’ processes. Its effects include access to a wider audience, appealing to atheists in a global context of panic over the stability of sexual identities, and alliance with other religious groups, on the basis of shared moral values. Nevertheless, this strategy also has its drawbacks: it has revived old conflicts within the Church, and accelerated the internal division of the Catholic community.

KEYWORDS:

• France
• Religion
• Catholic Church
• Gender
• Same-sex marriage
• Controversy

Author Links

https://unil.academia.edu/RomainCarnac

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my gratitude to Prof. Olivier Fillieule and Dr. Christophe Broqua for giving me the opportunity to participate in this special issue and for their valuable support. The extensive comments of Dr. Graeme Hayes and the two anonymous reviewers, and Dr. Camille Debras’ careful proofreading, have enabled me to improve this text considerably; I would like to thank them for their help.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Letter on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World, 31 July 2004, http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20040731_collaboration_en.html.

2. Esther Pivet, talk at the conference ‘Décryptage des ABCD de l’Égalité’ organized by the collective VigiGender, Hotel Pulmann Montparnasse, Paris, 12 June 2014.

3. Avenir de la Culture, ‘La théorie du genre agresse nos enfants – Appel à la résistance’. Pamphlet, 2018.

4. ‘Monseigneur Barbarin: “Il ne faut pas dénaturer le mariage”’. Interview, Le Figaro, 13 August 2012.

5. The signs of this ‘cathophobia’ have been denounced by conservative Catholic political figures (Christine Boutin in December 2012, Laurent Wauquiez in January 2013), and especially on Catholic websites and social networks: see the popular blog Padreblog (http://www.padreblog.fr/hellfest-2011-lacathophobie-se-confirme) or the website of the magazine France Catholique (https://www.france-catholique.fr/Cathophobie-politique.html). The website of the France Jeunesse Civitas movement (http://francejeunessecivitas.hautetfort.com/tag/cathophobie) and the traditional website Le Salon Beige (http://lesalonbeige.blogs.com/my_weblog/cathophobie/) have even made it a separate section.

6. Forum RCF/TLM, 14 September 2012, http://www.rcf.fr/radio/RCF69/emission/139369/428409.

7. Service ‘Famille et Société’ of the French Bishops’ Conference, communiqué ‘Élargir le mariage aux personnes de même sexe? Ouvrons le débat’, 28 September 2012, https://eglise.catholique.fr/conference-des-eveques-de-france/textes-et-declarations/366187-elargir-le-mariage-aux-personnes-de-meme-sexe-ouvrons-le-debat-note-du-conseil-famille-et-societe/.

8. On 6 February 2007, Archbishop Barbarin and the local leaders of eight other religious communities released a joint statement; http://lyon.catholique.fr/?Le-mariage-c-est-l-union-d-un-homme-et-d-une-femme.

9. André Vingt-Trois, Interview, ‘Le grand Jury’ LCI-RTL-Le Figaro, 23 December 2012.

10. Philippe Barbarin, Interview, ‘Forum RCF/TLM’, 14 September 2012.

11. ‘Laissons du temps au débat’, Le Monde, 17 November 2012, https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2012/11/17/laissons-du-temps-au-debat_1792080_3232.html.

12. André Vingt-Trois, Interview, ‘Le grand Jury’ LCI-RTL-Le Figaro, 23 December 2012.

13. Ibid.

14. ‘Un nouveau statut pour l’école catholique’, Le Figaro, 19 April 2013.

15. IFOP online survey for La Lettre de l’Opinion, August 2012, https://www.ifop.com/publication/les-francais-les-catholiques-et-les-droits-des-couples-homosexuels/; BVA online survey for Le Parisien Dimanche/Aujourd’hui en France, February 2014, http://www.leparisien.fr/societe/sondage-l-eglise-et-la-famille-les-catholiques-francais-veulent-du-changement-22-02-2014-3616215.php.

16. Petition ‘Trop, c’est trop’, 28 December 2012, http://www.reseaux-parvis.fr/2014/06/08/trop-cest-trop-petition-6525-signatures/.

17. ‘Mariage, famille pour toutes et tous, une question d’amour et d’égalité. Communiqué de David et Jonathan à propos du Mariage pour tous’, 8 January 2013 http://www.davidetjonathan.com/2013/01/08/communique-a-propos-du-mariage-pour-tous/.

18. Petition ‘Sur le mariage, l’Église aussi est diverse’, 12 November 2012, http://www.christianismesocial.org/spip.php?article266.

19. Petition ‘Ce n’est pas notre Église’, 10 January 2013, http://jeunescathospourlegalite.fr/La-tribune.

20. Officially organised by Action Catholique Ouvrière, Christianisme Social, Carrefour des Chrétiens Inclusifs, David et Jonathan, Évangile et Liberté and Réseaux des Parvis, with the support of various religious homosexual rights groups.

21. ‘“Mariage pour tous”: la guerre des manifs aura-t-elle lieu?’ La Vie, 12 November 2012.

22. ‘Interview avec Béatrice Bourges’, Monde et Vie, 874, April 2013.

23. ‘Le Conseil famille et société de la CEF invite une idéologue du genre’. Salon beige, 3 March 2014, https://www.lesalonbeige.fr/le-conseil-famille-et-societe-de-la-cef-invite-une-ideologue-du-genre/.

Additional information

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Romain Carnac

Romain Carnac is a PhD candidate in Political science at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. He is mainly interested in the political dimension of discourses on gender and sexuality and the contemporary forms of religious expression in the public space. He is also a research fellow at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland (EESP-HES So), where he is involved in a Swiss National Science Foundation-funded research project on philanthropy, taxation and the transformations of the welfare state.