Around the world
Since its launching, in 2006, the Sexuality Policy Watch website has circulated relevant information on sexual politics trends, events and actors around the world. This investment has resulted in a rich archive of global and national sexual politics.
One main feature of this database is that it is not confined to specific areas or issues. It encompasses information on abortion, sexual and reproductive rights, sex work, sexual violence, gender and women’s rights, HIV and AIDs; and emphasizes materials and analysis that contribute to locate these issues in relation to the political economy of sexuality. Since 2013, key facts, events and trends are selected and highlighted in monthly announcements.
The gay sex worker who defied sharia law in Banda Aceh to organize
Faisal Riza is a national organizer for the Organisasi Perubahan Sosial Indonesia (the Organization for Social Change, or OPSI) — an Indonesian human rights initiative focusing on the welfare of sex workers. Anna Marie Sterling JAKARTA, Indonesia — Faisal Riza started as a sex worker in one of the riskiest possible places for any kind of transgressive behavior: Aceh, a […]
Read moreAbortion Rates Alone Don’t Tell Us What We Need to Know About the State of Reproductive Wellness
by Steph Herold, Sea Change Program June 11, 2015 – 11:33 am While a new Associated Press report suggests the abortion rate is declining in almost all states, we still don’t know whether there’s been an increase in reproductive wellness. Focusing only on a lowered abortion rate as metric of health and well-being is both […]
Read moreMexico Supreme Court Legalizes Gay Marriage
Mexico’s Supreme Court has effectively legalized same-sex marriage after finding that state laws restricting marriage only to heterosexual couples were discriminatory. “When I heard the judge pronounce us legally married, I burst into tears,” Hiram Gonzalez told The New York Times. Gonzalez married his boyfriend, Severiano Chavez, last year in the state of Chihuahua after […]
Read morePharmacy Access to Medical Abortion in India: Reality, Necessity & Potential
by Dr Nozer Shariar Past Secretary General & Chairperson, MTP Committee, Federation of Obstetric & Gynecological Societies of India (FOGSI); Past President,Mumbai Obstetric & Gynecological Society; Member, Technical Expert Committee, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India; Member, Board of Directors,Ipas & C3 India Member, Medical Advisory Panel,Family Planning Association of India […]
Read moreMoroccan Magazine Under Fire for Cover Asking ‘Should We Burn Homosexuals’
Rabat – Weekly magazine Maroc-Hebdo has come under fire after it ran a cover deemed by many as homophobic. The cover depicts two men ‘intimately’ looking at each other in a swimming pool under the headline “Shall we burn homosexuals?” “Sure it’s an individual right. But what about moral and religious values,” the sub-head added. […]
Read moreWangechi Mutu creates Africa’s Out
Since very early in time SPW has included Sexuality and Art as one topic of its Newsletter. In doing so we aimed at making visibility to artists from the global South, the diaspora or at the margins of the art market mainstream. In 2015, when we re-designed the website, we have further enlarged the space […]
Read moreCALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO CAL @ 10
The Coalition of African Lesbians [CAL] invites all its members, partners and friends to submit contributions for a publication celebrating ten years of collective feminist resistance, resilience, revolution and power as lesbian and bisexual women and trans-diverse people across Africa through our association with CAL at various times and in different spaces of our movement. […]
Read moreCanada’s Lost Women
An investigation into the abuse and exploitation of aboriginal women in Canada and the authorities’ failure to stop it. 10 Jun 2015 15:03 GMT | Human Rights, Women, Canada, US & Canada, Law Canada’s aboriginal women make up a small fraction of its population, yet for decades they have suffered disproportionally from abuse, exploitation and […]
Read moreRHM Call for Papers: deadline extended
Reproductive Health Matters has extended the deadline of the Call it has launched for Papers on Sexuality/Sexual Rights/ Sexual Politics.
Read moreUgandan Lesbian Covers Time: ‘We Are Here to Stay’
A leading Ugandan activist fighting for LGBT rights takes a powerful stance on the cover of Time magazine’s Europe edition. BY SUNNIVIE BRYDUM JUNE 07 2015 5:00 AM ET 37498 In what’s being celebrated as a monumental moment of visibility for Uganda’s beleaguered LGBT community, one of the nation’s leading LGBT activists graces this week’s […]
Read moreThe veil conflicts unabated
In Sexuality, Health and Human Rights (Corrêa, Parker and Petchesky, 2008) we have examined the early 2000’s French controversies, which led to the banning of the use of veils in 2004, as an illustration of the political problems deriving from the attachment to and application un- problematized conceptions of laicité in the following terms: “…the […]
Read moreThe Charlie Hebdo episode
Any critical revisiting of 2015 will inevitably address the tragic episodes of Paris that left behind 17 dead people, including the journalists and cartoonists from Charlie Hebdo. Among other effects this murderous attack reactivated the schematic visions on the conflict between West and Islam. Given that the questions and arguments triggered by these episodes are […]
Read moreBreaking House Rules: Hoodies, Hijabs, and Belonging in the Netherlands
With panoramic views of both the city and its harbor, the Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam (OBA), proved to be an ideal place for me to take a break from working at either my home or office at Leiden University.
Read moreMozambique decriminalises same-sex sexual conduct between consenting adults
After decriminalizing abortion last December, Mozambique has once again taken an important step toward sexual rights by decriminalizing same-sexual relations between consenting adults. The change was celebrated by civil society in the African country.
Read moreInternational Sex Workers Day
June 3rd marked International Sex Workers Day. In Brazil the date was commemorated in many places. In Belém do Pará it also marked the anniversary of GEMPAC onde of the oldest sex workers’s organizations in the country (in Portuguese). To learn about June 3rd events around the world check the NSWP website.
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