SPW PROJECTS
SexPolitics - Reports from the Front Lines
The book is the outcome of a project launched by Sexuality Policy Watch (SPW) in 2004: a transnational, cross-cultural research initiative that we hoped would capture some dynamics of sexual politics in our time. Research was performed in eight countries – Brazil, Egypt, India, Peru, Poland, South Africa, Turkey, and Vietnam – and in relation to two global institution, the United Nations and the World Bank.
The case studies reflect great differences in theme and emphasis, some focusing more on HIV/AIDS, some on reproductive health, some on issues of gender and sexual identity. Yet common threads have clearly emerged from the research outcomes. Firstly, local and the global sexual politics dynamics are always intertwined. Secondly sexual politics are always on some level about power and, everywhere, attempts to destabilize traditional gender and sexual relations will threaten established political, religious and familial hierarchies. Last but not least the cases reveal that both research and political activism is needed to furthering an agenda of change that brings together social justice and erotic justice.
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Case Studies - Summaries
The summaries of the case studies presented in this section were prepared for and discussed in the last research meeting that took place prior to the 2006 XVI International AIDS Conference, in Toronto. Subsequently they were posted in the SPW webpage. Making these summaries available to the general public was a first step towards sharing the wealth of knowledge generated by the SPW global research effort on sexuality and politics. They provide a synthesis of the articles contained in the e-book SexPolitics – Reports from the Front Lines.
The Book
SexPolitics – Reports from the Front Lines is the outcome of a project launched by Sexuality Policy Watch (SPW) in 2004—a transnational, cross-cultural research initiative that we hoped would capture some dynamics of sexual politics in our time. The perceived need for such an effort grew out of the political contradictions we are experiencing. On the one hand, the revival of religious extremisms of all kinds, the “war on terror” with its rationalization of unrelenting militarism and torture, the shadow of US military hegemony, and an atmosphere of unbridled power create unusually dangerous times for those committed to social justice, peace and human rights—particularly the rights to health, bodily integrity, and pleasure. They are dangerous in very particular ways for sexual and gender outlaws, whether they be gays and lesbians, transgender and intersex people, unmarried youth, sex workers, or heterosexual women trying to live a “non-traditional” social and erotic existence.
At the same time, global transformations of recent decades have opened up important new spaces in almost all societies and institutions for advocacy and activism in defense of gender equity and sexual freedom. Increasingly extensive global flows—not merely of capital, but of people, technologies, images, and ideas—have made possible not only the spaces of local struggle in which the politics of contested bodies have increasingly taken place, but also the emergence of important and growing transnational movements and activist networks. These networks have begun to change the contemporary landscape of sexual and reproductive health and rights, opening up new dialogues and debates in arenas as local as clinics and brothels and as global as the United Nations. And they produced SPW itself and its collective work, including this book.
The project that ultimately became SexPolitics started with a broad meta-question: How and why are gender and sexuality being used in political power struggles within and across countries and institutions? Researchers for 10 case studies – 8 country settings (Brazil, Egypt, India, Peru, Poland, South Africa, Turkey, and Vietnam) and 2 institutional ones (the United Nations and the World Bank) – were asked to investigate this question through three analytical streams: hegemonic discourses (about the meanings of “manhood” and “womanhood,” sexuality, youth, etc.); political processes (local, national and international); and key actors (politicians, religious and medical authorities, NGOs). Then case study authors identified what they considered the most critical sexuality-related issue or issues in their particular country or institutional setting and examined these issues from the perspectives they determined would provide the greatest insights.
As a result of this open-ended process, the case studies reflect great differences in theme and emphasis, some focusing more on HIV/AIDS, some on reproductive health, some on issues of gender and sexual identity. Yet common threads bind them together as well. First is the shared sense that the local and the global are always and necessarily intertwined and that our studies needed to show this two-way reverberation. Second is an understanding that sexual politics are always on some level about power and that attempts to destabilize traditional gender and sexual relations will threaten established political, religious and familial hierarchies. Last but not least is the commitment of all the case study authors, and SPW as a transnational program, not just to doing research for its own sake but also to furthering an agenda of change that brings together social justice and erotic justice. We seek to build a world where pleasure and well-being are no longer exceptional or the prerogative of a few.
SexPolitics – Reports from the Front Lines
(Click the names highlighted to view biography)
Edited by:
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Authors
Introduction
y Richard Parker
1 – Introduction
Rosalind Petchesky
2 – Brazil
and
3 – Egypt
and
4 – India
5 – Peru
, and
6 – Poland
7 – South Africa
, and Robert Sember
8 – Turkey
9 – Vietnam
and
10 – United Nations
11 – World Bank
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Cross-cutting Analysis
, Robert Sember and Richard Parker
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Copy editing:
Joan Ross Frankson and Maria Dulce
F. Natividad
Graphic design:
Metara Comunicação
Support:
– Ford Foundation
– Open Society Institute
The Research
A global research effort is always a lengthy and challenging endeavor. The project leading to the e-book SexPolitics – Reports from the Front Lines was not an exception. Originally named as the Sexuality Policy Monitoring Project, it started with a meeting in New York (March 2004) when a group of researchers and activists were invited by Sexuality Policy Watch to discuss the paper prepared by Françoise Girard “Global Implications of U.S. Domestic and International Policies on Sexuality” and develop a preliminary frame for a global research project to document the dynamics of sexual politics in various countries in relation to a variety of issues: abortion, HIV, sexual diversity. After this first meeting, the SPW steering committee made a decision about countries and institutions that would be examined. Individual researchers or research teams were also defined and between 2004 and 2006 three collaborative meetings took place involving the country/institution teams and SPW members. In the last meeting, in April 2006, preliminary findings and drafts were revised and after that final drafts were once again revised by mentors as well as by external reviewers.
The reflections and debates of the Toronto workshop greatly contributed to the construction of the first chapter of the book “Contested Bodies: The Local and Global Politics of Sex and Reproduction”. At the AIDS Conference itself, three case studies – Peru, Vietnam and the United Nations – were presented in a panel on HIV-AIDS and Sexuality.
