TAG: latin america

Sexual Politics in late October and November 2016

November began with a resounding shift in global politics: Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. As the reactions flooded through the world media, SPW has developed a preliminary view on what this may imply for sexual politics in the US and beyond and compiled a series of articles written by a wide […]

The controversy surrounding gender: a central question of (sexual) politics in Colombia

By Mara Vivero. In this text I will present some elements on gender ideology, its antecedents and contemporary uses and secondly I will refer to the Colombian case, as one of the cases in which the term “gender ideology” has been used as part of a conservative rhetorical strategy to the constant interfaces between religious and political sectors that oppose the changes that have occurred in society in terms of gender and sexuality.

The situation of the intersex community in Mexico

In Mexico and in Latin America the intersex community faces similar problems to those faced by intersex people elsewhere in the world, with some local quirks. Medical protocols still include genital mutilation, and these practices are justified as necessary to “normalize” genital appearance and so avoid problems in social interactions.

Key Trends and Tensions in sexual politics: a commentary

It also seemed to me that the general mood of pessimism came from the fact that most of the meeting’s participants were not digital natives, not exactly the ”globalized children”. This meant – again, with notable exceptions – that we still saw activism and policy advocacy

Sexual politics in August 2016

In August, the Rio Olympic Games provided a privileged stage for the critical observing of gender and sexuality performances. Several SPW partners positively and generously responded to our invitation to share their views on this peculiar scene. Fernando Seffner, for example, wrote the article Rio 2016: the “Sexual Games”? that glances over sexuality at large. […]

Sexual politics in May 2016

As the Brazilian crisis continues unfolding it gets increasingly intricate with gender and sexuality politics. Read Sonia Corrêa and Fábio Grotz report on what happened in May and the first days of June. A financial crisis is underway at the Inter-American Human Rights System. The Inter-American Human Rights Commission (IACHR) announced the loss of 40% […]

Betraying women: Provider duty to report

The longstanding provider-patient confidentiality relationship is quietly eroding as an alarming number of medical staff across Latin America are reporting women and girls to the police for having abortions. Many countries now require, protect or encourage medical providers to breach their confidentiality duties when they treat women seeking postabortion care. This publication covers the three […]

Chile House of Deputies passes abortion bill

Yesterday, 17 March, the House of Deputies of the Chilean Congress passed the abortion law reform bill tabled by President Michelle Bachelet and her coalition colleagues over one year ago, following a heated debate.

Tackling Zika: Have We Learned Our Lesson on Rights?

The Zika virus outbreak and the increase of babies being born with birth defects seemingly linked to the mosquito-transmitted disease have generated a series of prescriptions from governments of the most affected countries about what people need to do and not do. These include asking women to delay pregnancies—until 2018 in El Salvador, for example.

‘Spotlight’ abuse scandal didn’t end in Boston. In South America, it’s still unfolding

The Boston Globe’s investigation busted open a massive Catholic Church scandal in the United States 14 years ago. But in remote parts of South America, GlobalPost discovered that the church practice of reassigning child abusers to another parish, instead of defrocking them, has continued.

The sexual politics in February 2016

In February, there were good news to report from both Haiti and Europe. In the case of Haiti, the Penal Code reform is underway and the draft document approved by a committee of juridical experts includes a provision that legalizes abortion on the basis of public health concerns and freedom of women. Although this is […]

Is the world finally waking up to intersex rights?

A landmark directive in Chile last month said doctors should stop ‘normalisation’ surgery, but tackling the global systematic, societal and cultural abuse against intersex people is an uphill battle When a baby is born the first question is usually about its sex. But for one in 2,000 people binary notions of male and female are […]