Anti-gender campaigns have emerged as a significant neoconservative mobilization, utilizing the concept of “gender ideology” to oppose equality politics. The introductory chapter to this collective volume explores how the term “gender ideology” has been deployed as a tool in the politics of fear, equating it with threats such as migration and war. By tracing the origins of this concept to Vatican-led opposition against feminist and LGBT+ rights in the 1990s, the chapter highlights its instrumentalization in contemporary populist and nationalist discourses. Anti-gender movements have evolved into transnational networks, leveraging conspiracy theories, moral panic, and human rights rhetoric to undermine gender equality policies. The chapter further explores the political consequences of these mobilizations, including restrictive policies on reproductive rights, attacks on gender studies and academic freedoms, and the broader reconfiguration of democratic institutions. By positioning anti-gender mobilizations within the larger framework of democratic backsliding and the rise of illiberalism, this chapter underscores their far-reaching impact on human rights, democracy, and social justice.