The “Pink Ladies”. The use of misogyny in far-right politics.
The notion of women and children requiring protection from misogynistic forces has been an apparent reality for feminists since people began to study the effects of patriarchy on the population. I have seen these ideas become used against the very people who are the victims of abuses.
This blog concerns itself mainly with the patterns and incremental authoritarianism of transgender exclusion, and I have spoken many times in the media about these attacks being rooted in misogyny.
As far as I have been able to work out, through writing this blog and listening to others, three main prejudices infect our society.
Those are Misogyny, Racism and Abelism.
It has been hard for me to formulate transgender identity as an organising principle for protest or concern because this means something quite nebulous between trans people. We have to focus on what connects us outside of that.
Here comes that repackaging of racism and misogyny I documented when writing about Kellie Jay Keen….
On October 1, 2025, the streets of Westminster were filled with pink. Dozens of women, dressed in pastel jackets, scarves, and sashes, gathered under the banner of #PinkLadies to protest the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.
The Pink Ladies, founded by Lorraine Kavanagh, began as a small local protest group. But in just a few months, they have become a regular presence on GB “News” and TalkTV, where their simplistic slogans — “Protect our women,” “Keep our streets safe” — are treated as common sense.
Kavanagh is often introduced as a community campaigner. Yet the group’s rhetoric, and its rapid adoption by right-leaning media and Restore Britain, reflect an unmistakable pattern: the growing alignment between anti-migrant activism and the language of women’s protection.
That narrative has been amplified by Jess Gill, a right-wing political commentator, activist, and founder of the Women’s Safety Initiative (WSI). This slickly branded organisation claims to be a new, grassroots movement defending women’s safety.
Jess Gill is also a member of the Ladies of Liberty Alliance. This US-based Libertarian women’s organisation is anti-socialist and pro-free Market Economy. It is a former campaigner for the far-right TPUK, led by Nick Tenconi, who was recently filmed doing a Nazi salute.
WSI spokespersons frequently appear on billionaire right-wing media platforms, including Paul Marshall’s GB News and Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV. Controversial far-right MP Rupert Lowe and Conservative Councillor Susan Hall endorse their posts.
Tommy Robinson has commented that his movement is “growing” because it used to be all lads who would come out to support him and now it is women and children too. This could be a sign of that old Overton Window shifting. Still, this is also a sign that these movements rely on marketing and advertising of their ideas, and to seem palatable to the wider middle and get more attention, they must improve their image.
This is something JK Rowling and her transphobic lobby groups, the LGB Alliance and Sex Matters, have known since their inception. They cannot put their motivations and intentions on the headline because that would put off people who could be radicalised and drawn into a transphobic narrative by what they term as “peaking”.
Footage obtained by Stand Up to Racism can exclusively reveal that Orla Minihane, vice-chair of Epping Forest Reform UK and Reform UK election candidate, shared a stage with a member of a neo-Nazi group at a recent Epping protest against refugees being housed in the Bell Hotel.
Minihane is vice-chair of Epping Forest Reform UK and a leading figure in the protests against the Bell hotel. The video shows Minihane speaking on stage and sharing a megaphone with Callum Barker. Stand Up to Racism this week exclusively revealed that Barker was a member of neo-Nazi group Homeland, and himself has been a key organiser the Epping protests.
UKIP leader Nick Tenconi appeared alongside anti-migrant demonstrators near South Parade Pier on August 8, opposite the Royal Beach Hotel — which the Home Office uses to house asylum seekers while their claims are processed.
Tenconi has insisted there was “nothing Nazi-esque” about his gesture at a recent anti-migrant protest.
10K views · 277 reactions | UKIP leader, Nick Tenconi gives a Nazi salute in Portsmouth. These are the sort of people that are organising protests against refugees in hotels, while Farage, Braverman & Jenrick fan the flames and sadly Labour concede to. We must stand up to fascism, racism & hatred. | Stand Up To Racism
The speech was shared and celebrated by prominent neo-Nazis, including Mark Collett and Homeland itself. It suggests that local Reform UK officials are prepared to work with a known fascist activist to organise the protests at Epping.
The Pink Ladies represent another form of that peaking and radicalisation where the cover story is the concerned mother, but underneath that thin veneer is the same racism, misogyny and ableism that all far-right groups fall back on. There is nothing new or original about that particular trope.
The far right is not protecting women — it poses a direct and increasing threat to women’s rights, as well as to the rights of racially minoritised people and LGBTQI communities. Far-right activism fuels violence, particularly racist and Islamophobic violence, and violence against women and girls. (Close The Gap)
Blog | The far right is a threat to women's equality and rights: Close the Gap's response to recent rise of far-right activism
Freda
