The perfect storm: Gender ideology and publics articulation

Abstract

This article discusses three possible explanations of the irruption of gender ideology in public debates in Colombia in 2016, using existing literature. First, as a political strategy; second, as rhetoric and expression; third, as reaction against and resistance to change in gender and sexual orders. These interpretations are relevant but insufficient. It is argued that gender ideology not only contributed to public presence and revitalisation of already existing political actors. It also instructed a broader public, creating consensus around issues under discussion in Colombia at that time. Even more, gender ideology articulated disparate social sectors under a common sense when Colombia was negotiating a new social pact. Gender ideology has a formative dimension.