Three Cards and a Joker: Bolsonaro and the Marielle Case
by Isabela Kalil The Context On October 29, 2019, Jornal Nacional (the main Brazilian television newspaper, broadcast by Rede Globo) reported that the name of Brazil’s current president, Jair Bolsonaro, appeared in the investigation into the murder of Councilwoman Marielle Franco (PSOL). Marielle was assassinated in a drive-by execution in the city of Rio […]
Read moreSexual politics in September 2019
September 28 – “Abortion is a Health Issue” was the theme of this year’s International Safe Abortion Day, widely celebrated around the world (see compilation). On this occasion, a letter forwarded by the International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion gathered signatures from around the world, including Brazil. The letter repudiated attempts to restrict […]
Read moreAntigender politics from May to August 2019
We start this announcement recalling that, before May 2019, two major antigender events have taken place that are worth revisiting because of their potential subsequent ripple effects in Europe and Latin America. The World Congress of Families – The 2019 edition of the World Family Congress (WCF) was held in Verona (Italy) in the last […]
Read moreSexual politics in May and June 2019
#StopTheBans – Thousands of demonstrators marched in more than 500 cities across the US on May, 21th to protect abortion rights after Alabama state house passed, on May 15th, the strictest provision in the country (see a compilation) – which bans abortion at any stage of pregnancy, with an exception only for when a woman’s health is at […]
Read moreUproar and Perversity: Gender and Sexuality in the Vortex of Politics
by Sonia Corrêa A few days before completing the symbolic mark of Jair Messias Bolsonaro’s – or JMB’s – first 100 days of government, consecrated in western democracies as the first moment of fair evaluation for a beginning administration, JMB said that he was not born to be president, but rather to be a military […]
Read morePermanent War, Decreasing Popularity: What Will Come Next?
by Fábio Grotz A continuous state of war driven by the government is what drives the speech and activities of actors engaged in the redemptive mission to “transform and purify” Brazil. The electorate, however (with exception of the faithful nucleus of supporters of the current president), seems increasingly to not believe in this revolution that […]
Read moreSexual politics in Brazil: Almost 180 days into the JMB Administration
With great pleasure, SPW offers an assessment of sexuality and gender politics, including abortion rights, in the first (almost) six months of the Jair Messias Bolsonaro (JMB) government. The essays written by Sonia Corrêa, Fábio Grotz, Rajnia de Vito and Marco Aurélio Prado cover the troubled, cacophonic and warlike Brazilian political landscape, as well as […]
Read moreGender and Abortion Rights in the Congressional Scene
by Sonia Corrêa What has been happening, since January, in the Brazilian Congress regarding abortion rights and gender must be situated in a longer political. The current real or potential setbacks in these two fields are not to be seen simply an effect of the JMB government. Rather, in these domains, the regressive trend, have […]
Read moreHuman Rights, Gender and Sexuality: A Minister Who Does Not Play Around
by Rajnia de Vito and Marco Aurélio Prado In a political scene that is thoroughly saturated with sex and gender tropes and memes, Damares Alves, head of the new Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights, is an icon and spokesperson for the new government’s sexual politics.[i] “Terribly Christian”, as she called herself on January […]
Read moreLena Lavinas: “We’re watching a politics of dismantling”
Lena Lavinas is an economist and full professor at the Economics Institute of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. In 2017, she published the book Takeover of Social Policy by Financialization. The Brazilian paradox, (Palgrave Macmillan). Here, in a long conversation with Fábio Grotz, she analyzes the directions and effects of the Bolsonaro government’s […]
Read moreHealth policy: From lull to cataclysm
by Fábio Grotz With regards to the trajectory of the policy response to HIV and reproductive health in Brazil — which, between 1980 and the first decade of the 21st century was very positive – it was inevitable that the incoming Bolsonaro government would cause damage, particularly with regards to sexual health. It must be […]
Read moreResearch Report on the Right to Education for Transgender People in China
The right to education is a fundamental right of citizens in all countries. Educational institutions play an essential role in shaping the attitudes of individuals and society. At the same time, education is a vital basis for all individuals to obtain social opportunities and resources. In China, the right to education and quality education for […]
Read moreSexual politics in April 2019
Highlights Algeria and Sudan: A revived Arab Spring? – Almost six years after the Arab Spring waned under the shadows of the Sissi regime, political upheavals revived in the Arab World. In Algeria, after six weeks of persistent demonstrations, President Bouteflika, in power since 1999, was forced to withdraw from reelection and then to resign, leaving […]
Read moreA historical debt for Costa Rita: Ministry of Health finally registers Emergency Contraception
The 25 April 2019 was a historical day for sexual and reproductives rights in Costa Rica. On this date, the Ministry of Health published a note informing that it would allow the registration of a dedicated oral drug for emergency contraception. The Ministry had until then systematically rejected pharmaceutical companies applications and it was not […]
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