When visibility becomes political: visibility and stigmatisation of young people

ABSTRACT

This article analyses the processes of politicisation of some identities, religious affiliations and individual choices within the context of a right-wing backlash to increased recognition of the value and legitimacy of diversity in Europe. The rise of right-wing politics and increasing visibility of anti-immigrant and anti-LGBT movements have demonstrated the strong presence of traditional and patriarchal values and subjected some identities, religious affiliations or individual choices to processes of politicisation. One consequence of the problematisation and politicisation of such personal matters as gender, sexuality and religion is the further stigmatisation and marginalisation of already vulnerable groups. In this article, we consider the experience of young feminists, women of the Muslim community and LGBTIQ activists drawing on a meta-ethnographic synthesis of five cases of young people's activism from Portugal, Germany, Croatia and Russia. Analysis focuses on the question of visibility among these groups of stigmatised young people. We show that while, for some, visibility is a matter of necessity for political engagement, for others, it can entrench stigmatisation and discrimination. We also consider the role of families and communities of belonging, which, in some cases, encouraged but, in other cases, responded negatively towards the young people's engagement.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• visibility
• stigmatisation
• personal
• political

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Although, historically, religion cannot be considered as a strictly private matter, we are concerned here with its gendered dimension, namely how, by wearing the hijab, Muslim women become visible and subject to intersectional discrimination (which specifically addresses them as Muslims and women) and to stereotypical assumptions invoking political discourses in which religion is politicised.

2 More about ethical reviews of studies included in PROMISE project can be found in the Introduction to the special issue. The YMW case was given ethical approval by the PROMISE Ethics and Standards Committee on 19 December 2016. (Ref: 19121602). Both LGBT and FEM cases were approved by the Institutional Review Bord of the National University Higher School of Economics on 08 September 2016. The YAGI case was approved by the Ethical Lab of the Catolica Institute of Bioethics in Porto on 29 November 2016. The ZP case was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Pilar Institute on 19 September 2016. (Ref: 11-73/162021).

3 These are available at: http://www.promise.manchester.ac.uk/en/ethnographic-case-studies/

4 LGBTQ is used in relation to the Russian case study as this reflects the terminology used by activists in this case. In contrast, Zagreb Pride is an LGBTIQ organisation which includes intersex people in their work, and thus the abbreviation LGBTIQ is used when referring to Croatian case study.

Additional information

Funding

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No 693221.