Masculinisation and Isolation of the Swedish Anti-Nuclear Movement After 1980: A Call for Environmentalists to Learn from the Past

Book chapter, 2021

Wågström shows how ecomodern masculinisation has transformed and dissipated the Swedish anti-nuclear movement since the rise of neoliberalism in the 1980s. Changes entail an exclusion of traits and knowledges that are considered feminine (in Global Northern ideologies based on gender dualisms), including moral and ethical considerations. Drawing on similarities between this movement and recent endeavours for climate justice—both being led by girls and women, both having justice as core concerns—Wågström encourages climate activists to contemplate the decline of the anti-nuclear movement in order to avoid a similar destiny. If the climate justice movement is to stand a chance against neoliberal assimilation and destructive masculinisation, it must continue to see the freedom of all as a part of its own struggle. It must continue to criticise reforms not only intended to combat environmental problems, but that can also be blind to social injustices. In times of neoliberal hegemony, this is not the easiest task.