Science, political crisis and the lives of people

by Lorena Moraes* Last weekend, the largest Brazilian national survey on Covid-19 suffered resistance in a number of cities, most of them located in the country´s hinterland. The cities selected for the survey are described as “sentinel cities” – i.e., the main urban centers of various sub-regions of the country, according to criteria defined by […]
Read moreBolsonaro’s most radical supporters only believe what he tells them

As Brazil has been rising the tops of global coronavirus dissemination curve and Bolsonaro’s popularity hits a new low, his most radical support base has remained by his side. Its members have even inaugurated a new strategy for demonstrations against COVID-19 restriction policies. As rallies turn out has declined, the protest base has ushered more […]
Read moreThe Non-Essential Transphobia of Pandemic Disaster Politics

by Dr. Jacob Breslow You might think that in this particular moment, when there are so many lives to grieve, and when hundreds of millions of people globally are desperate for vital medical and financial support, that it is not an appropriate time to “politicize” allegedly “non-essential” issues like transgender rights and transfeminism. This sentiment, […]
Read moreSexual politics in times of pandemic

March and early April 2020 It has been very challenging to prepare the SPW announcement for March/April 2020 due to the abnormality, risks, and losses caused by the dizzying spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In this troubled context, we thought that it was not sufficient to compile and organize, in our usual categories, the substantial […]
Read moreCOVID-19 and AIDS: parallels and lessons

by Richard Parker* In the COVID-19 pandemic, the history of the HIV/AIDS epidemic emergence and responses offers lessons for reflecting on the current challenges and risks we face. The first lesson is to stress that testing – a civil society demand – is much more than a simple biomedical technique. There are always political dimensions […]
Read moreBack to where we always have been: sex/gender segregation to contain Covid-19

by Sonia Corrêa[1] But, people die, don’t they? Yes, indeed. However, the current naturalization of death erases thinking – Santiago López Petit In the first week of April, the international press reported that, in order to reduce drastically the circulation of people, the governments of Panama and Peru defined a sex/gender criterion to establish the rotation of who can […]
Read moreCOVID-19 and Biopolitics: Compilation I (March-June 2020)

The Agamben Debates Giorgio Agamben: Contagion – Enough 14 Philosophy and Pandemic in the Postdigital Era: Foucault, Agamben, Žižek – Post Digital Science and Education The Biopolitics of Immunity in Times of COVID-19: An Interview with Roberto Esposito – Antipode Online Giorgio Agamben: The Plague was Already Present – Critical Legal Thinking Understanding the Coronavirus […]
Read moreThe Prostitute, the Virus, and the City

Prostitution Policy Watch, IPPUR, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Authors: Soraya Silveira Simões, Laura Murray, Patrícia de Moura e Silva Toledo, Thaddeus Gregory Blanchette, Ana Paula Silva More than three decades ago, when HIV erupted around the world and AIDS was defined as a “syndrome” (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome), the epidemic was classified as […]
Read moreBukele: A ‘caudilho’ Dies and A Messiah is Born in El Salvador

SPW begins a series of brief analyses of the Covid-19 crisis in contexts that are generally under-reported by the mainstream press and which are characterized as regressive in relation to gender and abortion policy. The second article in this series is about El Salvador. We thank educator Amaral Arévalo for his collaboration! by Amaral Arévalo* […]
Read moreNicaragua: A Pandemic Carnival

“Amor en los tiempos del covid-19” march, organized by the government. Photo: EFE. Nicaragua and the dance of horrors in the struggle against COVID 19 by Humberto Meza* This article is not an optimistic text, despite its festive title, nor does it document best practices in the face of the current pandemic. It can be […]
Read moreSexual politics in January and February 2020

Anti- gender politics in Latin America – SPW is pleased to announce the collection Anti-gender Politics in Latin America, which encompasses nine case studies from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay and Uruguay, a regional study on the effects of anti-gender frays on debates of the Organization of American States, and an […]
Read moreSmart Guide: Recognising Sex Workers as Experts
This Smart Person’s Guide is a tool to support sex workers and their allies in advocating for the recognition of sex workers’ expertise. Sex workers’ have an indispensable knowledge of, and experience with the structural, legal, institutional, socio-economic and cultural barriers which impede their human and labour rights. Evidence shows that meaningful involvement of sex […]
Read moreWhatsApp and political instability in Brazil – 2018 Presidential elections
Rafael Evangelista Laboratory of Advanced Studies on Journalism (Labjor), State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil, rae@unicamp.br Fernanda Bruno Communication and culture, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil Published on 31 Dec 2019 | DOI: 10.14763/2019.4.1434 Abstract In the 2018 presidential election, Brazil elected a fringe congressman, Jair Bolsonaro, despite his radical rhetoric […]
Read moreSexual politics round up in 2019

The year of 2019 has finished and, as traditionally, SPW offers our readers and followers a compilation of the main facts, trends, setbacks and victories in gender and sexuality politics that marked the year and point to the challenges ahead in 2020. TRENDS & FACTS January and February Highlights #GlobalPolicyArenas The UN Committee on Human […]
Read moreSpecial issue of the SRHM on ICPD25: Accelerating accountability for SRHR

Editorial Moving the ICPD agenda forward: challenging the backlash Gita Sen, Eszter Kismödi, Anneka Knutsson Commentaries The battle for sexual and reproductive health and rights for all Natalia Kanem A sexual and reproductive health and rights journey: from Cairo to the present Rebecca Brown, Eszter Kismödi, Rajat Khosla, Sapana Pradhan Malla, Lucy Asuagbor, Ximena AndiónIbanez, […]
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