Problematising a Gendered Issue as Gender-Neutral : A Comparative WPR Analysis on the Inclusion of Sex in Swedish Hate Crime Legislation

Sammanfattning

This study examines the research gap concerning how the issue motivating the inclusion of sex in hate crime legislation is constructed and represented throughout the Swedish policy process. It investigates how certain forms of gender-based violence and hate become politically intelligible, while others remain overlooked or obscured. The study identifies changes in problem formulations over time, as well as contradictions, tensions, and silences that emerge as the policy progresses through different institutional and political stages. To accomplish this, it employs a comparative feminist post-structuralist approach guided by the critical WPR framework, together with a tailored analytical framework whose sub-questions investigate gender-based violence against women, misogyny, and incels. The findings reveal that the problem of violence and hate against women is progressively neutralised, as it is systematically reformulated in gender-neutral terms that include men, while misogyny and incel-related violence are increasingly silenced as the process unfolds. This suggests that the initial problem formulation is gradually watered down. The study thus demonstrates how policy processes actively construct social problems, illustrating that gender equality policies concerning gender-based violence against women risk insufficiently challenging gendered norms and roles, thereby threatening women’s realities through active gender neutralisation.