Scale of Anti-Feminist Opinion in Europe. From Sweden to Italy. Not the Anticipated Results.

Italy, rather associated with macho politics than with feminist values, might be a country with changing attitudes. According to a survey carried out in eight European countries in 2020 and released in 2021, Italians are the least likely to blame feminism for men feeling marginalised and demonised. In Sweden, a country that is often seen as "a bastion of progressive gender-equality politics", 41%, i.e., more people than anywhere else, agree with the following statetement: "It is feminism's fault that some men feel at the margins of society and demonised." 

The trend in Sweden might be explained as a backlash to successful feminist movements of the past. In other words, victories of Swedish feminist could have activated opposite atttitudes. Anti-feminist views are more or less also expressed in other countries: 30% in Poland, 28% in the UK, 26% in France, 22% in Hungary, 19% in Germany, 15% in the Netherlands, and, finally, only 13% in Italy (via).

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photograph by Erich Lessing (Cesenatico, 1960), Magnum Photos via