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:
Richard Parker, Rosalind Petchesky and Robert Sember
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Authors
Introduction
Sonia Corrêa y Richard Parker
1 – Introduction
Rosalind Petchesky
2 – Brazil
Adriana R. B. Vianna and
Sérgio Carrara
3 – Egypt
Hossam Bahgat and Wesal Afifi
4 – India
Radhika Ramasubban
5 – Peru
Carlos Cáceres, Marcos Cueto and Nancy Palomino
6 – Poland
Wanda Nowicka
7 – South Africa
Belinda Beresford, Helen Schneider and Robert Sember
8 – Turkey
Pinar Ilkkaracan
9 – Vietnam
Le Minh Giang and
Nguyen Thi Mai Huong
10 – United Nations
Françoise Girard
11 – World Bank
Kenneth de Camargo and
Ruben Mattos
Cross-cutting Analysis
Constance A. Nathanson, 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 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.
A global research effort is always a lengthy and challenging endeavor. The project leading to the e-book SexPolitics – Reports from the Front Lines is not an exception. Originally named as the Sexuality Policy Monitoring Project it has 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 politic 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 beetween 2004 and 2006 three collaborative meetings took place involving the country/institution teams and SPW members.
In this process the group discussed the theoretical framework for the study, set a timeline for the construction of the case studies, developed abstracts for each of the country and institutional case studies, and debated and formulated the orientation of the project. Following a lengthy process of review and discussion, the group arrived at a common framework that was sufficiently broad to have relevance across all sites, yet specific enough to provide concrete guidelines for researchers in formulating their working outline, research design and final case analysis. The framework focused on the analysis of discourse, processes (negotiation and contestation) and agents, and used the themes of cultural and historical contexts, tensions between norms and realities, alternative discourses and resistances, as well as future and strategy recommendations. A mentoring system was established that paired research teams with a mentor from or affiliated with SPW. 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 cases studies – Peru, Vietnam and United Nations – were presented in a panel on HIV -AIDS and Sexuality.
A short video documenting SPW activities in Toronto can be seen in this link.
Invited partners
Christine Adebajo
Independent researcher
Shomolu, Nigeria
Sola Akinrinade
Faculty of Arts Obafemi Awolowo
University
Ile – Ife, Nigeria
Ana Amuchástegui
UAM
Mexico City, Mexico
Judith D. Auerbach
Director
American Foundation for AIDS Research
Washington, USA
Carmen Barroso
Regional Director
International Planned Parenthood Federation
Western Hemisphere Region
New York, USA
Ronald Bayer
Department of Sociomedical Sciences
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
New York, USA
Elza Berquó
CEBRAP
São Paulo, Brazil
Carlos F. Cáceres
Facultad de Salud Pública y Administración
Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
Lima, Peru
Kenneth Rochel de Camargo, Jr.
Instituto de Medicina Social, UERJ
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Radhika Chandiramani
Director
Asia Sexuality Resource Center
Delhi, India
Waranuch Chinvarasopak
PATH
Bangkok, Thailand
Rhonda Copelon
International Women’s Human Rights Law Clinic
City University of New York
School of Law
New York, USA
Clifton Cortez, Jr.
USAID
Washington, USA
Sarah Costa
Ford Foundation
New York, USA
Joanne Csete
Human Rights Watch
New York, USA
Marcos Cueto
Woodrow Wilson Center
Washington, USA
Anke A. Ehrhardt
Director
HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies
NY State Psychiatric Institute
New York, USA
Beth Ann Filiano
Department of Sociomedical Sciences
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
New York, USA
Susana T. Fried
Program Director for the International
Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
New York, USA
Jonathan Garcia
Department of Sociomedical Sciences
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
New York, USA
Le Minh Giang
Department of Sociomedical Sciences
The Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
New York, USA
Françoise Girard
Eve & The Snake
*gender equality and sexual rights*
New York, USA
Maria Luiza Heilborn
Instituto de Medicina Social/UERJ
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Judith Helzner
Director, Population & Reproductive Health Area
John D and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Gilbert Herdt
Director of the Human Sexuality Studies Program
Professor of Sexuality Studies and Anthropology
San Francisco State University
San Francisco, USA
Claudia Hinojosa
Independent Consultant
Mexico City, Mexico
Pinar Ilkkaracan
Women for Women’s Human Rights – NEW WAYS
Istanbul, Turkey
Jodi L. Jacobson
Executive Director, Center for Health and Gender Equity
Washington DC, USA
Ratna Kapur
Director of the Centre for Feminist Legal Research
New Delhi, India
Barbara Klugman
Ford Foundation
New York, USA
Scott Long
LGBT Rights Project
Human Rights Watch
New York, USA
Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch
Open Society Institute
New York, USA
Ellen Marshall
Good Work Group
Boulder, USA
Alice M. Miller
Department of Population and Family Health
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
New York, USA
Constance A. Nathanson
Department of Sociomedical Sciences
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
New York, USA
Wanda Nowicka
President
Federation for Women and Family Planning
Warsaw, Poland
Nancy Palomino
Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
Lima, Peru
Mario Pecheny
Visiting Professor
School of International & Public Affairs
Columbia University
New York, USA
Carolina S. Ruiz-Austria
Director Womenlead Foundation, Inc.
Manila, Philippines
Jyoti Sanghera
Adviser on Trafficking
UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva, Switzerland
Helen Schneider
Independent researcher
Johannesburg, South Africa
Patricia Siplon
Saint Michael’s College
Colchester, USA
Ivonne Szasz
Colegio de Mexico
DF, Mexico
Chris Thrasher
Morehouse School of Medicine
National Center for Primary Care
Atlanta, USA
Carole Vance
Department of Sociomedical Sciences
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
New York, USA
Ernesto Vasquez
Department of Sociomedical Sciences
Mailmain School of Public Health
Columbia University
New York, USA
Lalaine P. Viado
Independent Consultant
Quezon City, Philippines
Victoria Ward
IPPF/WHR
New York, USA
Kate Wood
Thomas Coram Research Unit
London, UK
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SPW members and secretariat team
Vagner de Almeida
Department of Sociomedical Sciences
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
New York, USA
Gloria Careaga
ILGA –UNAM
Mexico City, Mexico
Radhika Chandiramani
Director
Asia Sexuality Resource Center
New Delhi, India
Sonia Corrêa
Co –Coordinator
Sexuality Policy Watch
Research Associate at ABIA
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Adenike O. Esiet
Action Health Incorporated
Lagos, Nigeria
Gilbert Herdt
Director of the Human Sexuality Studies Program
Professor of Sexuality Studies and Anthropology
Executive Director, Institute for Sexuality, Inequality and Health at SFSU
San Francisco, USA
Mayra Pabon
Department of Sociomedical Sciences
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
New York, USA
Richard Parker
Co –coordinator of Sexuality Policy Watch
Professor and Chair
Department of Sociomedical Sciences
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
New York, USA
Rosalind Petchesky
Professor of Political Science and Women’s Studies
Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY
New York, USA
Ignacio Saiz
Acting Director- Policy Program
Amnesty International
London , United Kingdom
Chris Thrasher
Morehouse School of Medicine
National Center for Primary Care
Atlanta, USA
Invited partners
Shahira Ahmed
Program on International Health and Human Rights
Harvard School of Public Health
Cambridge, USA
Thirza Bonner
Youth Incentives,
Utrecht, Netherlands
Kate Bedford
Department of Women’s Studies
Barnard College, Columbia University
Marge Berer
Reproductive Health Matters
London, UK
Mabel Bianco
Fundacion para Estudio e Investigacion de la Mujer
Buenos Aires Argentina
Carlos Caceres
Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
Avenida Armendariz 445,
Lima, Peru
Kenneth Rochel de Camargo, Jr.
Instituto de Medicina Social/UERJ
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Sergio Carrara
Instituto de Medicina Social/UERJ
Rio de Janeiro
Jonathan Cohen
Open Society Institute
New York, USA
Diane di Mauro
The Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University
Department of Sociomedical Sciences,
New York, USA
Susana Fried
Independent Consultant
New York, USA
David Gere
MAKE ART/STOP AIDS
Director, UCLA Center for the Arts and Global Health
Los Angeles, USA
Françoise Girard
Open Society Institute,
New York , USA
Monica Gogna
CEDES – Centre for the Study of State
and Society,
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Jodi Jacobson
Center for Health and Gender Equity
Washington DC, USA
Samuel Kissi
Youth Coalition
Accra, Ghana
Barbara Klugman
The Ford Foundation
New York, USA
Shannon Kowalsky
Open Society,
New York, USA
Scott Long
LGBT Rights Project
Human Rights Watch
New York, USA
Katherine McDonald
Action Canada for Population and Development (ACPD)
Ottawa, Canada
Paulo Vieira de Mello
You Act, European Youth Network for Sexual and Reproductive Rights,
Lisbon, Portugal
Edford Mutuma
Young African Advocate for Rights
Lusaka, Zambia
Vera Paiva
NEPAIDS
São Paulo, Brazil
Nancy Palomino
Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia,
Lima Peru
Mario Pecheny
Universidad de Buenos Aires,
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Cynthia Rothschild
Center for Women Global Leadership
New Brunswick, USA Ignacio Saiz
Amnesty International
London, UK
Theo Sandfort
HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies
at Columbia University
New York, USA
Alejandra Sardá
International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Latin America,
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Sarah Stumbard
Inter and the Center for Health and Gender Equity,
Washington, DC, USA
Veriano Terto
Associação Brasileira Interdisciplinar
de Aids/ABIA
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Adriana Vianna
Instituto de Medicina Social/UERJ
Rio de Janeiro Brasil
Kate Wood
Thomas Coram Research
Institute of Education,
London, UK
Zonnibel Woods
International Women’s Health Coalition,
New York, USA
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sexuality Policy Watch members and secretariat
Vagner de Almeida
The Mailman School of Public Health
at Columbia University
Department of Sociomedical Sciences,
New York, USA
Gloria Careaga
Universidad Autónoma de México
ILGA Latin America
Mexico City, Mexico
Sonia Corrêa
Co-coordinator
Associação Brasileira Interdisciplinar
de Aids/ABIA
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Diane di Mauro
The Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University
Department of Sociomedical Sciences
722 W. 168th St., 9th Floor
New York, USA
Adenike Esiet
Action Health Incorporated
Lagos, Nigéria
Jodi Jacobson
Center for Health and Gender Equity
Washington DC, USA
Charles Klein
Institute for Sexuality, Inequality and Health at SFSU
San Francisco, USA
Miguel Muñoz-Laboy
The Mailman School of Public Health
at Columbia University
New York, USA
Dulce Natividad
The Mailman School of Public Health
at Columbia University
New York, USA
Mayra Pabon
The Mailman School of Public Health
at Columbia University
Department of Sociomedical Sciences
New York, USA
Richard Parker
Co-coordinator
Sexuality Policy Watch
The Mailman School of Public Health
at Columbia University
New York, USA
Rosalind Petchesky
Professor of Political Science and Women’s Studies
Hunter College and the West 1726
New York, USA
Ignacio Saiz
Amnesty International, International Secretariat
London, United Kingdom
Robert Sember
The Mailman School of Public Health
at Columbia University
Department of Sociomedical Sciences
New York, USA
Michael Tan
Packard Foundation
Manila, Philippines