When Feminism Works Against Women: How feminist terms are being gutted in digital public spheres

Feminist concepts such as freedom, self-determination, and strength are ubiquitous today-even where they are used against feminist politics itself. When Feminism Works Against Women shows why this paradox is not a misunderstanding, but a strategy. The book analyzes how right-wing influencers use feminist language to portray traditional images of women and families as modern, voluntary lifestyles. Visibility replaces power, conformity appears as self-determination, and structural inequality is declared to be an individual choice. From a feminist and sociological perspective, the book reveals how anti-feminist feminism stabilizes the patriarchal order, depoliticizes feminist criticism, and functions as a cultural link between right-wing ideologies. At the same time, it develops counterstrategies and advocates for a feminism that understands freedom as a social possibility rather than a private choice. A precise, political book about the appropriation of feminist language-and about why feminism remains indispensable as an emancipatory counterforce. Bremen University Press has published over 5,500 specialist books in various languages since 2005. January 2026