Evidently, feminist progress and male violence grow concurrently: the feminist paradox signifies that the more equal women become, the more hatred and violence they face. Today we can see misogyny —Frauenhass in German—everywhere, including new forms of violence such as cyberbullying. It is a proven fact that misogynist violence is constantly on the rise—that is, violence specifically directed at women, such as domestic violence, femicide, sexual assault, stalking, hate speech, and pathological attempts to control their lives.

Women’s right to make decisions about their bodies should be self-evident, yet it is enshrined in law in only a few countries around the world. Historical trajectories show that reproductive biases are aligned along the axes of class, race, ethnicity, and gender. Hence, we use reproductive rights as a common, intersectional thread to investigate the backlash against feminism, which has culminated in an ever-increasing onslaught. There can be no doubt that the current backlash against women’s rights goes hand-in-hand with the rise of far-right extremism.

The 2025/26 Gender Colloquium at the Institute brings together scholars and professionals from the medical and biomedical sciences, public health institutions, media and film, political and legal sciences, and the humanities to confront the issues of abortion, early marriage and female genital cutting, femicide, forced sterilization, #MeToo, and reproductive regimes.