An Instant Sunday Times Bestseller One of the most anticipated books of 2024 according to The
Times Guardian Financial Times New Statesman The Independent The Scotsman Time and more
Shouldn't we know what we're arguing about? From one of the most influential thinkers of our
time an enlightening essential account of how a fear of gender is fuelling reactionary
politics around the world Judith Butler the ground-breaking philosopher whose work has
redefined how we think about gender and sexuality confronts the attacks on gender that have
become central to right-wing movements today. Global networks have formed 'anti-gender ideology
movements' dedicated to circulating a fantasy that gender is a dangerous threat to families
local cultures civilization - and even 'man' himself. Inflamed by the rhetoric of public
figures this movement has sought to abolish reproductive justice undermine protections
against violence and strip trans and queer people of their rights. But what exactly is so
disturbing about gender? In this vital courageous book Butler carefully examines how 'gender'
has become a phantasm for emerging authoritarian regimes fascist formations and
transexclusionary feminists and the concrete ways in which this phantasm works. Operating in
tandem with deceptive accounts of critical race theory and xenophobic panics about migration
the anti-gender movement demonizes struggles for equality and leaves millions of people
vulnerable to subjugation. An essential intervention into one of the most fraught issues of
our moment Who's Afraid of Gender? is a galvanizing call to make a broad coalition with all
those who struggle for equality and fight injustice. Imagining new possibilities for freedom
and solidarity Butler offers us an essentially hopeful work that is both timely and timeless.
