When attempting to understand the cultural politics of gender in Europe after 1945, some readers will undoubtedly anticipate answers to the following question: To what extent have the impact of the Cold War, the rise of feminism, the supposedly sexually liberated 1960s, the emergence of ‘post-feminism’, and the putative ‘crisis of masculinity’ changed attitudes towards gender and sexuality, and impacted on gender-related legislation? This article examines the cultural politics of gender at the juncture of globalisation, securitisation, and Europeanisation, and explores how Europeans have ‘fashioned their distinction’ in attempts to reconstitute themselves as global citizens in a multi-ethnic, post-imperial Europe. By focusing on the commoditisation of white femaleness, the coercive normalisation of Muslim masculinity, the ‘liberation’ of the veiled Muslim woman, and the eroticisation of black men in white consumer fantasy, the article's analysis of exemplary cases demonstrates how gendered imaginaries in Europe are forged by a complex dialogue with race, nation, capitalism, sex, and security.