Exploring (anti-)gender articulations around the Dutch Transgender Bill 2021: Liberal cisnormativity through cautious policymaking and compassion

This article examines arguments contesting the Dutch Transgender Bill of 2021, situating them within the context of Dutch sexual politics. Drawing on feminist discourse analysis, I first analyze how terms such as gender and “gender ideology” are articulated. I then conceptualize part of this contestation as liberal cisnormativity , pointing toward a rhetorical device that enables a seemingly liberal critique of the legislation while not rejecting the societal relevance of gender outright. Yet, I argue, this rhetoric simultaneously reinforces the essentialization of sex, grants epistemic legitimacy to state officials and public figures, and obscures the scholarly challenges involved in theorizing gender and sex as entangled. By tracing these dynamics, the article contributes to the literature on anti-gender politics by showing how articulations of “gender ideology” may also draw on liberal thought to construct an allegedly empirically verifiable critique of gender as a non-rational belief system.