In Gender and Queer Perspectives on Brexit, editors Moira Dustin, Nuno Ferreira and Susan Millns bring together contributors to offer explicitly feminist and queer approaches to Brexit that broaden the scope of theoretical and policy debates. This is an important collection that tells a different story of the possible implications of Brexit, writes Toni Haastrup.Output Type: Book Revie

Haastrup, Toni

English

Stirling Online Research Repository

06/11/2019 Book Review: Gender and Queer Perspectives on Brexit edited by Moira Dustin, Nuno Ferreira and Susan Millns | LSE Review of …https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2019/10/29/book-review-gender-and-queer-perspectives-on-brexit-edited-by-moira-dustin-nuno-ferreira-a… 1/4Book Review: Gender and Queer Perspectives on Brexit edited by MoiraDustin, Nuno Ferreira and Susan MillnsIn Gender and Queer Perspectives on Brexit, editors Moira Dustin, Nuno Ferreira and SusanMillns bring together contributors to offer explicitly feminist and queer approaches to Brexit thatbroaden the scope of theoretical and policy debates. This is an important collection that tells a differentstory of the possible implications of Brexit, writes Toni Haastrup. If you are interested in this review. you can read an interview with the editors of the collection here. Gender and Queer Perspectives on Brexit. Moira Dustin, Nuno Ferreira and Susan Millns (eds).Palgrave Macmillan. 2019.Find this book: Gender and Queer Perspectives on Brexit is a timely contribution tounderstanding the process and implications of Brexit, particularly (but notexclusively) from the British perspective. This volume takes explicitly feministand queer approaches to broaden the scope of the theoretical and policydebates around Brexit, and provides more nuanced attention to and beyondthe two policy issues that have become the main proxies for Brexit scholarship– trade and (im)migration. By paying attention to what Brexit might also meanfor families, human rights more broadly and minoritised peoples specifically,this work tackles identity issues head on by centring the lives of migrants,gender and sexual minorities and how they are situated within the Brexit landscape.In the Introduction, editors Moira Dustin, Nuno Ferreira and Susan Millns frame the book around aseries of essential questions. These, however, can be grouped into two broad categories: what doesBrexit mean for the lives of people who are minoritised in society? And what impact does Brexit haveon the human rights of minoritised people? These questions are explored and answered acrosssixteen main chapters and a conclusion.The first section of the book, ‘Setting the Context to Gender and Queer Perspectives’, lays thefoundation for the rest of the collection to show the ways in which gender is implicated in Brexit andwhy a gendered analysis that draws on feminist and queer theories is essential to more nuancedunderstandings and alternative explanations of the implications of Brexit beyond existing hegemonicnarratives. Following a broad outline of the book in Chapter One, Chapter Two calls attention to theprevalence of toxic masculinity in the referendum campaign and the approach to Brexit. Focusing onthe language of the campaign, Columba Achilleos-Sarll and Benjamin Martill show how campaigners’rhetoric replicated militarism as well as a zero-sum mentality that narrows the field of debate with, aswe see, potentially devastating consequences if an amicable exit is not attainable.Chapter Three focuses on the implications of Brexit on Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME)women. Here, Aisha K. Gill and Nazneen Ahmed use an intersectional feminist lens to reflect on theembodiment of Brexit, focusing on the everyday racist experiences of women. This is a significantcontribution not least because the perspectives and perceptions of BAME people, and especiallyBAME women, are consistently overlooked in policymaking so much so that they were hardly a targetdemographic for consultation in the lead-up to the referendum itself. In its method of execution, thiscontribution is also notable in that it utilises personal narratives and poetry. What may then be drawnfrom this chapter is quite visceral and underscores the complexities of identities that go beyond thepolarising pro-Remain/pro-Leave dichotomy, which now seems to define the contemporary politicallandscape of the UK.06/11/2019 Book Review: Gender and Queer Perspectives on Brexit edited by Moira Dustin, Nuno Ferreira and Susan Millns | LSE Review of …https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2019/10/29/book-review-gender-and-queer-perspectives-on-brexit-edited-by-moira-dustin-nuno-ferreira-a… 2/4Image Credit: (Pixabay CCO)‘The UK and the EU: What Future Ahead?’ is the second section of the collection and includes eightchapters. Each chapter focuses on a distinct yet overlapping policy concern centred on social policy,migration and citizenship, and gender and sexual identity. Eugenia Caracicciolo di Torella in ChapterFour examines the unintended consequences of Brexit for work-life balance. In this policy area, aworst-case scenario sees a loss of British expertise at the EU level in law-making and a loss ofprotection of EU citizens. In Chapter Five, Dieuwertje Dyi Hujg focuses on the National Health Service(NHS), a key flashpoint in the discourses around Brexit. This intersectional take asks what Brexitmeans for disabled EU migrants in the context of health service delivery. Part auto-ethnographical, thechapter brings home to the reader the devastating choices made by successive UK governments.Thus, rather than an exacerbation, Brexit may also be read as the logical outcome of a state that hasabandoned its ethics of care.The next two chapters cover two different aspects of family law. While Lara Walker in Chapter Sixfocuses on the legal quagmire likely to be thrown up by Brexit regarding divorce, child abduction anddomestic violence, Iyiola Solanke’s intersectional analysis in Chapter Seven focuses on the impact ofBrexit on a group of Black British children. These children, Zambrano, are born to third countrynationals and their rights are left in limbo as both British and EU citizens. Solanke advocates forZambrano parents to attain British citizenship in order to guarantee their children’s rights. Yet, thechoice to end freedom of movement and the continuance of the hostile environment makes this stillless likely. Still on the topic of children, Ingi Iusmen highlights how Brexit may exacerbate risks formale unaccompanied minors without the protections offered by EU legal frameworks and policypractices. Christel Querton, however, convincingly shows how historical precedence would suggestthat Brexit is unlikely to significantly affect refugee recognition; this analysis nevertheless reminds usof the context within which Brexit is taking place. Brexit is not just departure from the EU; it is also anew context for British policymaking and practices. Without further safeguards, more of the same isnot actually good news.Chapters Ten and Eleven conclude this section focusing on LGBTQI+ rights and lives using queertheoretical perspectives. While Carmelo Danisi, Dustin and Ferreira review the UK’s track record onsexual orientation and gender identity issues, they conclude that the absence of the EU as an agendasetter and the removal of the default to EU soft law instruments to advance the rights of LGBTQI+people is likely bad news for this community. Arguably though, the UK does not receive norms justfrom the EU. Indeed, in Peter Dunne’s analysis, he argues that while the EU has evidently shapedpractices and norms at the UK national level, legally there is unlikely to be detriment. Yet there is anoverall sense in this section that in assessing the reality of the lived experiences of minoritised groupssince Brexit, the socio-economic fallout will impact these communities negatively.The third section is three chapters on the devolved nations: Scotland and Northern Ireland. MichelleWeldon-Johns in Chapter Twelve focuses on work-family conflict in the context of employment policies06/11/2019 Book Review: Gender and Queer Perspectives on Brexit edited by Moira Dustin, Nuno Ferreira and Susan Millns | LSE Review of …https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2019/10/29/book-review-gender-and-queer-perspectives-on-brexit-edited-by-moira-dustin-nuno-ferreira-a… 3/4in Scotland. In this contribution, Weldon-Johns exposes a tension between Holyrood and Westminsterpriorities. While Scotland has used the EU as standard in setting a distinct devolved frame foremployment policy as it affects carers and workers, Brexit calls into question whether Scotland canenact its ambitions. If it is able to do so however, Weldon-Johns suggests that this will continue tofollow the EU standard. Emma Ritch’s analysis of Scottish civil society, particularly women’sorganisations, offers a fascinating account of levels of engagement in referenda. While this chapterprovides a missing narrative that looks outside of state institutional actors, its contribution to Brexit asthe main context for the rest of the collection is not as apparent. Yvonne Galligan on Northern Irelandunderscores the blindspots of policymaking related to Brexit, particularly the exclusion of genderequality from the broad discourse. Importantly, however, beyond gender equality policy itself,Galligan’s feminist considerations expose the jeopardy that Brexit puts on the hard-won peace on theisland of Ireland, a peace that had been guaranteed by the UK’s and Ireland’s memberships of the EU.The final section focuses on the gendered dimensions of external relations. Chapters Fifteen andSixteen focus on foreign and security policy, and on trade, respectively. Amy Barrow examines theinstitutionalisation process of the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda, the global normativeframework that calls for a gender perspective in security issues. The EU position is analysed againstthat of the UK, which has taken a leadership role in implementation within and beyond Europe.Undoubtedly, the erasure of the EU from the UK’s National Action Plan is telling about Brexit itself;nevertheless, there is still scope for cooperation and engagement following departure from the EUstructure since WPS coordination can happen in other forums and with EU member states. Still, it isworth highlighting that Brexit will have implications for cordial relations with other EU member statesand for joint engagement on WPS. Despite the dominance of perspectives on trade within Brexitdiscourse, the gendered implications have not always been articulated, prompting Mary-AnnStephenson and Marzia Fontana to examine the likely economic impact of Brexit on women. Given thereticence of the UK administration negotiating Brexit to rely on impact assessments as fundamental toevidence-based policymaking, there is rightly scepticism about the upsides of Brexit for women in theUK.In the penultimate chapter Hege Skjeie, Cathrine Holst and Mari Teigen bring in the perspective of anon-EU member state, Norway. This chapter explains how an outsider state in the EU influences andis influenced by the EU (on gender equality) with important lessons for EU-UK relations after Brexit.The authors find that gender equality policymaking despite non-membership has been entwined in therelationship with the EU. From this we may deduce that the policymaking between these two entitieswill necessitate continued alignment. In the concluding chapter, Dustin, Ferreira and Millns call forgreater attention to be paid in the Brexit process to the rights of the most marginalised in society,demonstrating further why an intersectional lens is essential and urgent for UK (and EU) policy andlaw-making.Despite the varied perspectives, the editors have created an important collection that tells a differentstory of the possible implications of Brexit. This volume contributes to the burgeoning literature thatlooks at the gendered process of Brexit and how this is situated within broader political processes inEurope and beyond. Like much of the work on Brexit, there are still a lot of unknowns and this isreflected in many of the contributions, which often speak to ‘potentials’ and ‘scenarios’. At the sametime, it would be a mistake not to take these seriously on the basis that they are not definitive;matched up against the evolution of the Brexit negotiations and changes in UK society, thecontributors argue their case well.Toni Haastrup is a Senior Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Stirling in Scotland. Herwork applies feminist approaches to themes in international studies, particularly in the area of peaceand security. She has published on the gendered implications of Brexit.Note: This review gives the views of the author, and not the position of the LSE Review of Books blog,or of the London School of Economics. 06/11/2019 Book Review: Gender and Queer Perspectives on Brexit edited by Moira Dustin, Nuno Ferreira and Susan Millns | LSE Review of …https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2019/10/29/book-review-gender-and-queer-perspectives-on-brexit-edited-by-moira-dustin-nuno-ferreira-a… 4/4October 29th, 2019 | Britain and Ireland, Europe and Neighbourhoods, Gender and Sexuality Studies bookreviews, Law and Human Rights book reviews, LSE Book, Politics book reviews | 2 CommentsThis work by LSE Review of Books is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 UK: England & Wales.We use cookies on this site to understand how you use our content, and to give youthe best browsing experience. To accept cookies, click continue. 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Gender and Queer Perspectives on Brexit

In Gender and Queer Perspectives on Brexit, editors Moira Dustin, Nuno Ferreira and Susan Millns bring together contributors to offer explicitly feminist and queer approaches to Brexit that broaden the scope of theoretical and policy debates. This is an important collection that tells a different story of the possible implications of Brexit, writes Toni Haastrup

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Gender and Queer Perspectives on Brexit

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