In the article, published in the journal Politics, Religion & Ideology, Katrine Fangen examines two anti-Islamic Facebook groups.
Fangen finds that the main arguments of participants in these groups are that Norwegian women are in need of protection from dangerous Muslim men, and that Muslim women are oppressed but there is no need to feel sorry for them as they have chosen this subordinate position themselves.
Further, group members not only make use of the well-known stereotypes of dangerous Muslim men and Muslim women as victims, but do so in explicitly sexist language, so that it is difficult to see them as unequivocal proponents of gender equality. Humour, emotions and jargon contribute to building a group atmosphere of xenophobia. The article analyses the group discussions in the light of theories and concepts of ‘femonationalism’ and right-wing populism.
The article is available here (Open Access).
