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.
MP 557 is an absurd measure; instead of protecting pregnant women, it violates their human rights
Brazil: President Dilma Roussef signed an act that regulates the obligatory registration of pregnant women. The text includes language that treats the fetus as a person. Read more.
Read moreOur Rights, Our Lives: Women’s Call to Action toward Cairo+20
Endorse the “Our Rights, Our Lives: Women’s Call to Action toward the 20-year review of the Cairo conference in 2014”. It was developed by an inter-generational group of over 30 feminists convened by Realizing Sexual and Reproductive Justice (RESURJ), International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC) and Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN). Read the call.
Read moreABEH (Brazilian Association of Homoculture Studies) releases the call for papers and schedule of the VI International Conference of Studies on Sexual and Gender Diversity
The Brazilian Association of Studies on Homoculture (ABEH) released the first version of the schedule, the menu of group themes, and the composition of the scientific commission of the VI International Conference of Studies on Sexual and Gender Diversity that is going to take place at UFBA (Federal University of Bahia) in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, on August 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 2012.
Read moreReports to the UN Universal Periodic Review Brazil – 2012
Sexuality Policy Watch (SPW) and the Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association (ABIA) were involved in the production of reports on the status of human rights in Brazil for the second Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council, which will be held in June 2012. Read the reports.
Read moreFreedom for Razan Ghazzawi
Syria: Authorities arrested Syrian blogger, feminist, and activist for free expression Razan Ghazzawi on December 4th, 2011. Read the statement written by human rights activists and defenders.
Read moreIn favor of a real debate in Cameroon
Read In favor of a real debate in Cameroon, published at CLAM website, presenting an analysis of the African sexuality context, based on an interview with S.N. Nyeck, a Cameroonian-born Ph.D. candidate at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Department of Political Science.
Read moreNigeria’s Senate passed the “Same-Gender Marriage” Bill on November 29th
Nigeria: The Senate passed the Same-Gender Marriage Prohibition Bill. Nigerian Human Rights Defenders have condemned the Bill and the Coalition for the Defense of Sexual Rights in Nigeria circulated a call for action. Read more.
Read moreBans of “gay propaganda” in Russia
Russia: On November 11, 2011, St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly approved a bill to ban the so-called propaganda of “sodomy, lesbianism, bisexualism and transgenderism, and pedophilia to minors”. The second reading of the bill has been temporarily postponed until 30 November, 2011. Read more.
Read moreInterview: Cai Yiping and Pei Yuxin
In late September 2011, SPW promoted an Inter-Regional Dialogue about Sexuality and Geopolitics. Cai Yiping, a feminist activist based in Beijing, who is a member of the Executive Committee of DAWN – Development Alternatives with Woman for a New Era, and Pei Yuxin, assistant Professor of the Department of Social Work, Sun Yat-sen University (in Guangzhou) have also participated. They were interviewed by SPW team and shared their knowledge of sexuality research, activism and related public debates in China. Read the interview.
Read moreThe connections between China and the world
SPW: How do you see the connections between China and the rest of the world in terms of sexuality research and activism? Pei: As I see it the connections are very weak China and the international academia. Language is a main problem. I can listen to English and I can talk, but I feel very […]
Read more:: Main challenges for research and activism on sexuality
SPW: What about challenges? Pei, what are the main challenges for research in sexuality in China? What are the main obstacles? What are the opportunities? Pei: I think the most important challenge in terms of research is the difficulty in accessing governmental funding. Today the government has a bulk of resources to support high education. […]
Read more:: Critical sexuality issues in Chinese society
SPW: What do you see as the most critical issues concerning sexuality and sexual rights, broadly speaking, in China today? Pei: As a researcher, I think the most critical issues on sexuality in China are related to how we look at the value of marriage, in a very practical sense. “Marriage” is undergoing much transformation […]
Read more2011 – Intersections and challenges for the sexual politics in LA, Africa and Asia: notes on the Inter-regional Dialogue on Sexuality and Politics
From September 26 to 29 2011, the Sexuality Policy Watch (SPW) organized the Inter-Regional Dialogue on Sexuality and Politics, in Rio de Janeiro, gathering researchers and activist members of the global forum, as well as people involved with the Regional Dialogues on Sexuality and Geopolitics, which took place in Asia (April 2009, Hanoi, Vietnam), Latin America (August 2009, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Africa (October 2010, Lagos, Nigeria).
Read moreAnand Grover calls on all countries to abolish criminal laws that control women’s reproductive freedom
Global: On October 24th, 2011, Anand Grover, UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, presented a report before the UN General Assembly, calling on all countries to abolish or suspend any criminal laws that seek to control women’s sexual and reproductive rights. Read the NGO statement supporting the report and more.
Read moreAsian experts endorse SOGI rights
Thailand: In September 2011, the “16th Asia Pacific Forum’s Annual meeting” took place in Bangkok and Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn presented the report written by the Advisory Council of Jurists on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity. Read the Douglas Sander’s article.
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