Gender Politics after Corbynism

Abstract

This article examines Corbynism's gender politics, and its relationship with feminism. We note that in the early years of the Corbyn period there were starkly opposed positions on the gender dynamics and feminist-friendliness of the Corbyn project. This, in turn, reflected wider factional divisions, often mapping onto different articulations of the relationship between feminism, race/whiteness, and trans rights. We then describe how initial prospects for the cultivation of a more gender-sensitive left politics were ultimately undermined by two key developments: first, a discursive terrain in which feminism increasingly became pitted against the Corbynite left; and second, a defensiveness within the Corbyn project that made it resistant to immanent critique. We conclude by arguing that the failure of pro-Corbyn feminists to gain much traction must be contextualised within the dynamics of personalisation, instrumentalisation and polarisation that increasingly shape our political culture.