2015 Sexual Politics Round- Up
As the year heads toward its end, SPW recollects main trends and facts in sexual politics worldwide. January Pope Francis drew global attention after urging the faithful not to reproduce as “rabbits”. The remarks sparked reactions from the most diverse quarters actors (here and here). In Chile, a new law was approved that recognized civil unions […]
Read moreRemembering Fatema Mernissi
This tribute is to Fatema Mernissi: mentor, insightful teacher, organic intellectual, incisive feminist, powerful voice, charismatic presence, craftswoman, generous host, and friend.
Read moreNew issue of Kohl: a Journal for Body and Gender
The second issue of Kohl: a Journal for Body and Gender Research is out. Kohl serves as an alternative platform of knowledge production. It tackles feminisms, bodies, and sexualities, as they intersect with other identities and struggles in the Middle East, South West Asia, and North Africa region. The current issue’s theme is The Non-Exotic Erotic: […]
Read moreReports from Exploring the Continuum between Sexuality and Sexual Violence
Partners for Law in Development have compiled the rich, vibrant discussions from the Roundtable on Exploring the Continuum between Sexuality and Sexual Violence on April 28, 2015, into a series of 4 volumes, representing each of the panels. ‘Critical Reflections‘ brings nuanced perspectives that emerged from the roundtable with the larger movement, to initiate and […]
Read moreReflections On The Limitations Of The Call For Full Criminalisation Of Marital Rape: Madhu Mehra
I will critically discuss the campaign for (full) criminalisation of marital rape to call attention to ways by which this campaign reduces a potentially tranformatory agenda on gender, sexuality and marriage, to one of law, crime and punishment.
Read moreHolding Kings to Ransom – Royal Women in Matrilineal Kerala: Manu Pillai
Below is an edited excerpt from Manu S.Pillai’s forthcoming book from Harper Collins, The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore. The book throws interesting light on gender and political power in the matrilineal royal houses, and offers tantalizing hints about the pre-colonial roots of brahminical patriarchy in the region.
Read moreIACHR Publishes Report on Violence against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Persons
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights today is publishing a regional report on the violence perpetrated against lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and intersex (LGBTI) persons or those perceived as LGBTI.
Read moreOut of DSM: Depathologizing Homosexuality
In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed the diagnosis of “homosexuality” from the second edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). This resulted after comparing competing theories, those that pathologized homosexuality and those that viewed it as normal. In an effort to explain how that decision came about, this paper by Jack Drescher […]
Read moreGAPW Policy Brief marks World AIDS Day 2015
One of the main NGOs in the country and engaged in fighting HIV / AIDS for 28 years, the Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association – (ABIA)/ Global AIDS Policy Watch (GAPW) marks World AIDS Day (December 1) beginning with the publication of a GAPW Policy Brief – Prevention Literacy: Reinventing HIV Prevention for the 21st Century […]
Read moreSexual Politics in November 2015
As we were finalizing the compilation of sexual politics related events that make the headlines in November the screens were taken over by the armed attack on the Colorado abortion clinic that killed three people and left many other gravely hurt. There was no time to develop an in depth analysis of this tragic event, […]
Read moreThe marks on our bodies
Mauro Cabral draws a line between the marks on his flesh and the words that clinicians use to define and treat intersex bodies. Thirty years ago, in a small pediatric clinic that still works at Baigorrí Street, Córdoba, Argentina, a gynecologist discovered that my body was different from those of other girls who were my […]
Read moreIntersex rights and freedoms
Published in the UNSW Law Society journal “Court of Conscience” issue 9, 2015, on “rights and freedoms”, this paper considers what it means to address the rights and freedoms of people born with intersex traits. “Intersex status” is a new attribute in federal anti-discrimination law, introduced in 2013, but few institutions have yet responded to […]
Read moreQueering Paradigms V – Queering narratives of modernity
The authors of this edited volume use a queer perspective to address colonialism as localized in the Global South, to analyse how the queer can be decolonized and to map the implications of such conversations on hegemonic and alternative understandings of modernity. This book is distinct in at least four ways. First, its content is […]
Read moreOf Flags and Fetishes – The Paris Attacks and A Misplaced Politics of Solidarity: Debaditya Bhattacharya
I have absolutely no problems with flag filters on Facebook. Or for that matter, profile-picture revolutions that happen all too often. I’m not, in the least bit indignant about such a competitive exhibitionism of feeling – indexed through a currency of memes and emoticons. In an age of such mass-production of violence (‘terroristic’ or ‘humanitarian’), it is no surprise that the event of mourning must become a symptom of the incompatibility between ‘act’ and ‘response’.
Read moreTransgender women living with HIV in Los Angeles County face an array of unmet legal needs
Transgender women living with HIV in Los Angeles County face a variety of legal needs that have a significant impact on their access to resources such as income, health care and housing, but most do not receive any legal assistance, according to a new analysis by researchers at the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.
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