Anti-Gender Fundamentalist Traditionalism and Vulnerability to Misinformation

This study investigates how culturally rooted moral worldviews shape vulnerability to misinformation by introducing the concept of fundamentalist traditionalism—a belief system grounded in rigid values concerning gender, sexuality, and family, and exemplified by culture war phenomena such as the anti-gender movement. While previous research has linked religious fundamentalism to susceptibility to misinformation, the role of moral absolutism—independent of institutional religion—remains underexplored. Drawing on data from the 2017 European Values Study (Italy) and employing Structural Equation Modeling, we test whether traditionalist values mediate the relationship between religiosity and social marginality—a proxy for misinformation vulnerability. The results indicate that more substantial support for traditionalist values is associated with higher levels of social marginality. These findings suggest that moral conservatism—such as that expressed by the anti-gender movement—exists at a culturally vulnerable crossroads, where rigid moral convictions may heighten susceptibility to misinformation.