Perceptions of Women in the Far-Right: A Comparative Ideology Analysis of Far-Right Perceptions of Women.

By Elin Eriksson

This bachelor’s thesis aspires to contribute to the field of research concerning women and far-right extremism. Scholars have during recent years called attention to the surge of far-right extremism and female participation in jihadi terrorism. However, when these fields of research meet, various knowledge gaps are distinguishable. The explicit research gap that this thesis aims to fill concerns a lack of comparative research on how men and women in the extreme-right perceive women. To fill this gap, this thesis aspires to describe how women are perceived, on a sex-disaggregated basis, in the far-right extremist movement by answering the research question: How do the female far-right extremists in Proud Girls and the male far-right extremists in Proud Boys' perception of women differ? Using the gender-separated US extreme-right group Proud Boys/Proud Girls as a typical case, the study performs an ideology analysis to distinguish how the groups perceive women. Thus, this study contributes to the field by presenting a comparative analysis of how extreme right perceives women. The results of the study suggest a difference in how Proud Boys and Proud Girls perceive women as the former conveys a more misogynist perception whereas the latter adheres to a more empowering view of women.

Uppsala, Sweden: Uppsala University, 2021. 39p.