The New Natalism: Biopolitical Dreams, Gender Troubles

• In Event: Populism and Authoritarianism

Abstract

This paper tackles one of the defining threads of the new right: the effort to resurrect natalist dreams and ideals. One prominent argument across the new right is that the nation (and nations more broadly) face a dire emergency, due to declining birthrates. Accordingly, a movement has arisen around a core imperative: to save the nation (sometimes cast as an effort to save civilization itself), it is necessary to boost birthrates. Some of these arguments have gained notoriety through white nationalists, seeking to “save” a white racial core to the nation by boosting specifically white reproduction.

The paper will use theorists such as Michel Foucault, Nikolas Rose, and Roberto Esposito to elaborate this emergent biopolitics. Where much attention (both classic and contemporary) has justifiably fastened upon the eugenic character of these campaigns, the essay will highlight a less appreciated theme: how this reproductive politics reflects a far right tradition of gender eliminationism, that seeks to use biologically “female” (itself, of course, a contested category) reproductive powers, while diminishing the public powers and status of women.

Author

• Michael Feola, Lafayette College