The 'jytky' of the Finns party : or, how to take advantage of masculinity in populist politics

Abstract

In this article the authors look at the way leading politicians of the Finns Party have appealed to masculine values. The exceptional rise of the populist party between 2003 and 2015 is seen as a major indicator of the overall rise of ‘masculinist’ values in Finnish politics. However, the question is not only of more masculinist politics, but also of a change in styles of masculinity – a shift towards a plurality of different political styles emphasizing masculine values. This does not preclude the ideological nature of the adherence to those values but sets new challenges to scholarship addressing what has been called backlash of traditional values in recent years in Europe and from 2016 onwards in the United States as well. The authors analyze the usages of two keywords, ‘jätkä’ (roughly meaning ‘bloke’ when referring to oneself ) and ‘jytky’ (big bang, referring to the landslide victory of the party in 2011) by former party leader Timo Soini. From this analysis the authors proceed to show connections between the masculinity-related rhetorics of Finns party representatives and the central identity politics of the party.