Introduction

This module examines the modern populist weaponisation of transgender identities, focusing on how political rhetoric, media ecosystems, and cultural narratives combine to construct trans people as symbolic sites of threat. Rather than treating anti-trans politics as a spontaneous or isolated phenomenon, the module situates it within broader discursive processes through which language actively produces social reality. It explores how political actors manufacture crises through speech, framing gender diversity as a problem to be managed long before it becomes the focus of formal policy or legislation.

Drawing on key theoretical perspectives we explored in module 1, including Foucault’s concept of discourse and governmentality, Barthes’ theory of myth, Baudrillard’s notion of hyperreality, and Butler’s work on gender performativity, the module shows how transgender identities are repeatedly constructed through simplified narratives of risk, protection, and moral order. It analyses how figures such as the “trans threat,” the “bathroom predator,” or conspiratorial tropes like “grooming” function as political myths that condense complex anxieties into emotionally legible symbols.

The module also examines the role of media amplification in intensifying these narratives. Through repetition across political speeches, news cycles, and digital platforms, trans people are often rendered hypervisible as abstract threats rather than as lived communities. This process enables populist discourse to operate through affect, by mobilising fear, belonging, and moral certainty, rather than through detailed policy debate. In doing so, it constructs clear in-group and out-group distinctions that can be used to shape public opinion and justify exclusionary governance.

A central focus is the relationship between messaging and policy. The module demonstrates how sustained discursive framing precedes and enables material outcomes, including legislative restrictions and institutional withdrawal of rights. By tracing these processes, we can begin to understand how language functions as an early warning system for political and social change.