From the network that has brought you racist, homophobe Joy Reid, MSNBC is now claiming that “right wing extremists” have weaponized the ideas of motherhood. So now, being a mom to your child is considered right wing extremism. I swear, I think I’m living in some bad dream or something. MSNBC should have just called mothers “birthing people” or something.
Motherhood plays an especially key role in the kinds of rhetorical strategies far-right extremists use, including the kinds of “utopian propaganda” that calls on followers to reject modernity and embrace “traditional values” and roles. But women aren’t called upon to be entirely passive as mothers, or to be relegated completely to domestic tasks. Rather, motherhood is used to justify women’s engagement in activism and to “depoliticize” their actions by positioning them as acting on behalf of their children and families.
Themes about the need to protect children are especially powerful in drawing women into extreme and even violent action, as illustrated by the rise of conspiracy theories and propaganda that mobilize mothers around themes of child exploitation and protection. Some women have been drawn into QAnon through relatively banal entry points like wellness blogs and yoga studios, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. In these spaces, healthy skepticism of traditional medicine and a propensity for alternative models of wellness can create inadvertent gateways to entire rabbit holes of conspiracy theories and disinformation, much of which calls on women to protect children.