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This is our second and latest bulletin of 2025. It offers a broad overview of events and trends in gender, sexuality, and abortion policy throughout the year to complement the analysis developed in July that addressed the policies implemented by the Trump’s second administration and the US landscape.

Genspect was founded in 2021 by Irish psychotherapist Stella O’Malley. As will become clear later, it is based on a conservative ideology. Insidiously, it disrespects the transgender community and undermines their rights—namely, the right to undergo medically assisted gender transition—which is in clear dissonance with the current values of integration and acceptance of this group.

by Sonia Corrêa [1] Anti-gender politics: Why the name and how to define it today? In September 2025, there is little doubt that the relentless

In June 2019, we published a special issue on the first 180 days of the Bolsonaro administration. Six years later, we take on the challenge

Democracy promotion The emotional fallout of mass USAID and NGO layoffs – Devex What cutting USAID could cost the U.S. — and how China, Russia

English Pope Francis put women on a pedestal, where they could do no harm – Irish Times Pope Francis opened the door to the LGBTQ

To mark the launch of SPW’s new website, we invited some long-term partners to explore our archive and select a piece of content (a publication,

In 2024, more than 60 countries held or will hold elections at different levels of government. The contests aren’t only about who gets elected, but

Introduction Once again, our newsletter brings you news and analysis about the current times, which are more somber than bright: authoritarian trends, the continued expansion

By: Tomás Ojeda, Mariana Gaba, Isidora Paiva-Mack, Rodrigo Sierra Rosales, Débora Fernández y Alemka Tomicic Year: 2024 This piece explores the relationship between gender-affirming interventions,

Sonia Corrêa In April 2024, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith, the main doctrinal body of the Holy See, published the Declaration Dignitas Infinita. This

by Sonia Corrêa Introduction I was motivated to write this commentary after reading a series of articles that revisit the conditions in which a transnational

What’s wrong with the Cass Review? A round-up of commentary and evidence – Ruth Pearce American Academy of Pediatrics’ response to Dr. Cass NY Times’

>> Download and read in PDF << First Words This edition of the SPW newsletter covers the main events in sexual politics since July, roughly

Access here the article of Alyosxa Tudor: The -anti-feminism-of-anti-trans-feminism

>>> Read/download in PDF <<< Opening Words This newsletter describes and seeks to contextualize the developments in sexual politics since February 2023. In times of

By Nana Soares. In July 2022, we published an article echoing and contextualising the guidelines then adopted by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) regarding the participation of trans women in their competitions. As we highlight in the article, gender policing in sports is not a new debate, but it is one that has intensified and taken on new forms in recent years.

  Maping and tracking Mapping Attacks on LGBTQ Rights in U.S. State Legislatures – American Civil Liberties Union 2023 anti-trans bills tracker – Trans Legislation

>> Read in PDF << First words In 2022, we adjusted our perspective for monitoring and analyzing sexual politics. In the previous two years, our

“I was motivated to write this comment after reading a series of analyses that re-visit the conditions in which a transnational agenda of repudiation of

In early July, we issued the Spanish version of our sexual politics bulletin, published in Portuguese and English in early June.  More complete and updated,

English As elite sports think again about trans participation, our only demand is for fairness – The Guardian International Federations’ bans targeting trans and intersex

>>> Read in PDF  First Words Since April 2020, SPW newsletters have been tracking and analyzing sexual politics in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

English The situation of Ukrainian trans people during the war – Insight ‘Lawful transphobia’ stopping Ukraine’s trans community from fleeing – Euronews ‘Danger everywhere’: War

>>> Download the PDF version here. First Thoughts The last 2020 SPW special hypothesized that during 2021, because of vaccines, Covid-19 would no longer be

Landmark Decision on Colombia Abortion Rights – Human Rights Watch Statements from the Center for Reproductive Rights on the Constitutional Court Decision Decriminalizing Abortion in

By Manuela Lavinas Picq. This law is a victory for regulating the right to abortion due to rape, even allowing survivors to avoid police procedures, but advocates of decriminalization contested exclusionary aspects that will affect the most vulnerable. The dark side of the law? The deadlines.

Since 2020, intense controversies against “gender” and trans rights have been unfolding that are mobilized by “gender-critical” feminist strands. As mentioned in previous issues, these

In 2010, Sonia Corrêa wrote on how the concept of “empowerment” is not reduced to a binary between men and women, where men have all

By Sonia Corrêa In September, Pope Francis visited Hungary and Slovakia, and in the latter country, in a conversation with a group of Jesuits, he

Since July, when we published our last Special Edition, as you will see in this issue, a lot has happened in the pandemic and in the field of sexual politics. Once again, the pages that follow are quite dense, but we remind you that the sections are relatively autonomous.

In the last Special Issue of last year we did a brief assessment of Vatican politics. Concomitantly, we published an article by the Italian political

Video prepared as a tribute to the launching of the Brazilian version of the book “Our bodies, ourselves”, presented at the book launch event, a

First Words  In the last 2020 edition of Sexual Politics in Times of Pandemic Special of 2020, we hypothesized that throughout 2021, with the arrival

After more than two years in the making, the first volume of “Nossos Corpos por Nós Mesmas,” has arrived! The book, a Brazilian Portuguese adaptation of “Our Bodies, Ourselves,” covers topics including anatomy and sexuality, birth control, abortion, body image, safer sex and violence against women.

Then I have realized that even before putting those kinds of blinds [of the lock down], we are living under a situation of blinds,  we

The Tokyo Olympics’ Indelible Moments of Loss and Solidarity – New Yorker Olympic magic cut through the pandemic gloom, but the Tokyo Games’ legacy is

Pedro Castillo Terrones is 51 years old and is a primary school teacher, farmer, and militia member. He studied education and obtained a master’s degree in Educational Psychology from the Universidad César Vallejo. He gained public notoriety after leading the teachers’ strike in 2017 and 2018 which stopped classes for months with the demand for salary improvements and the elimination of teacher evaluation. He was active in Perú Posible, the party of former president Alejandro Toledo, and was a member of the Cajamarca committee from 2005 until 2017, when the grouping lost its registration.

The photos in Lucile Boiron’s series Mise en pièce, taken between a cosmetic surgery theatre and her own home, are graphic. The project sees Lucile place shots

Last week’s rallies in London, Berlin, and Los Angeles against lockdown measures attracted both New Agers and far-right groups. We’ve seen before this overlap between the spiritual

A 33-meter open red vulva was dug in the lands of the Usina de Arte, a gallery located in the South Forest of Pernambuco. According

Preliminary comment In 2020, in order to adjust our lenses to COVID-19 world conditions, we suspended our regular monthly announcements and started a series of

With the contribution and/or endorsement of 100 academics from universities such as Harvard, Brown and Columbia, and of organizations such as Greenpeace USA, Amazon Watch,

Derechos en riesgo: la cruzada antigénero en América Latina y el Caribe Línea del tiempo de las políticas antigénero – Wambra Telemedicina: la última tensión

The 2020 US presidential election in data: how Joe Biden won – New Statesman How Homegrown Disinformation Could Disrupt This U.S. Election – NY Times

2013 SPW Newsletter N.13 – July, 2013 – SPW 2014 Vatican Document: Gays Have ‘Gifts and Qualities to Offer’ Church – NBC News Catholic bishops

Editors’ Note We apologize to our readers and partners for the delay in making our last Special Issue on Sexual Politics in the Pandemic available.

We hope the series Anti-Gender Politics with English subtitles can be a resource for organizations and collectives to inform about the order of the attack

Investigate Dr. Sybrand de Vaal with regards to promoting harmful psychiatric practices with respect to Trans (including non-binary) children. This includes: * Examine his competency

Contributions to the List of Issues Prior to Reporting of the review of Brazil by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

AlyneCASE CEDAW AD HOC report  

The SPW is pleased to offer the part-time report produced by civil society regarding the country’s assessment in the UN Universal Periodic Review 2017. The

Thirty years ago, the philosopher Judith Butler*, now 64, published a book that revolutionised popular attitudes on gender. Gender Trouble, the work she is perhaps best known for, introduced ideas of gender as performance. It asked how we define “the category of women” and, as a consequence, who it is that feminism purports to fight for. Today, it is a foundational text on any gender studies reading list, and its arguments have long crossed over from the academy to popular culture. 

By Sonia Corrêa & Rajnia de Vito Recently, references to pedophilia have increased vertiginously in Brazilian social networks and the press. At first glance, this

A series of memes and messages were recently circulated throughout the continent with the aim of alerting people to an alleged movement that would be

  Sylvia Tamale, author of Decolonization and Afro-Feminism, will be discussing her new book with Charmaine Pereira, writer and feminist scholar in Abuja, Nigeria. Host:

SPW dearly congratulates our friend and Steering Committee member, Rosalind Petchesky, for receiving the New Political Science Charles A. McCoy Career Achievement Award, a more

“Conversion therapy” practices Key findings  PDF: English | Spanish | Portuguese Full Report PDF: English

PROTECTING THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF LGBTI PEOPLE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC – Amnesty International LGBTQ Inequality and Vulnerability in the Pandemic – HRW COVID-19 pandemic

A widespread orientation of what is presented today under the name of gender, calls into question the revealed fact: «Man and woman He created them».

As part of DAWN’s webinar series DAWN Talks on COVID-19, Sonia Corrêa shares a piece she wrote especially for DAWN on COVID-19 biopolitics from a

Since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in early 2020, SPW has been reporting on the events, trends and dynamics triggred by Sars-Cov-2. In order to

Since January, when the Chinese government adopted extreme confinement measures in Wuhan,  the pandemic sparked the worldwide spread of questionable war semantics.  It also provided

The global scenario of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed since April, but the crisis is still far from over. Only eight countries are listed as

The SPW Announcement for May and early June 2020 will have the same format adopted in March-April 2020, it will organize the newly compiled information

By Bárbara Sepúlveda Hales & Lieta Vivaldi Macho The recent appointment of the new Minister of Women and Gender Equality, Macarena Santelices, by President Sebastián

By David Patternote (Université libre de Bruxelles)[1] On 13 February 2019, the European Parliament adopted a resolution “on experiencing a backlash in women’s rights and gender equality

Covid-19 Backlash Targets LGBT People in South Korea – HRW Authorities warn against homophobia hindering virus containment efforts – The Korea Herald ‘No one wants

Indonesia Indonesia’s Intelligence Service is Coming Out to Counter COVID-19 – The Diplomat Myanmar In Myanmar, the Coronavirus Gives Nationalists an Opening – Foreign Policy

MAY / JUNE  Domestic violence It is ‘all men’, to varying degrees: men’s violence against women is a systemic crisis – The Guardian Can domestic

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

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

Preamble 1. We, the undersigning individuals and organizations, have gathered from all over Latin America in joint work to accompany people and communities of faith

Gaza/Palestine Domestic Violence in COVID-19 Lockdown: Palestinian Women Are Dying at an Alarming Rate – Egyptian Streets COVID-19 in Palestine: Living between hope and fear

English Trump, Bannon y Cañizares: los lobbies ultrarreligiosos alimentan la teoría de la conspiración abortista del coronavirus – el diario The Coronavirus Is Cutting Off

English Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on Women – UN Interim Guidance – Clinical management of severe acute respiratory infection when COVID-19 is suspected

English States must combat domestic violence in the context of COVID-19 lockdowns – UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, endorsed by other UN rights

MAY / JUNE LGBTQ Inequality and Vulnerability in the Pandemic – HRW LGBT: Covid-19 forced me back home where I’m ‘unwanted’ – BBC LGBT Nonprofits

Politics in the Time of Corona: Anti-Asian Racism: A Feature of the COVID-19 Pandemic (Hosted by Jadaliyya Co-Editors Noura Erakat and Bassam Haddad) – Jadaliyya

Navigating the Heteronormative Household: Rabenmutter, Racism and Covid-19 – Feminist Review ‘Calamitous’: domestic violence set to soar by 20% during global lockdown – The Guardian

MAY / JUNE Precarity in Times of Pandemic:Covid-19 and the crisis in India’s informal labor markets – Bot Populi Pandemic Meets Precarity: The Case of

For some time now, many Polish municipalities, provinces and regions have been approving a series of resolutions which, more or less explicitly, aim to target

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

Despite passed 400 days of JMB’s ruling, Brazil’s carnival has shown the strength of popular festivities in producing laugh and scorn. Viradouro samba school was

International Women’s Day – a spotlight on gender and development – IDS Why I’ll be striking for International Women’s Day – OpenDemocracy In Kazakhstan, women

India’s New Laws Hurt Women Most of All – Foreign Policy We Are Seeing, for the First Time, a Sustained Countrywide Movement Led by Women

Full Coverage: Harvey Weinstein Is Found Guilty of Rape – New York Times ABC’s coverage of Weinstein affair  We Didn’t Expect Weinstein to Be Convicted,

“The violence unleashed against Muslims in Delhi by armed Hindu mobs during President Donald Trump’s visit to India is a portent and a lesson. […] More than an echo of the past, the recent violence in Delhi is a lesson”. Read SPW’s compilation.

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

International Conference on Population & Development+25 – International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion Conservative protests against global development conference in Kenya fail to

Transgender Rights Bill India’s transgender rights Bill faces ‘unanimous opposition’ from trans people – RNZ India’s Trans Community Faces Continued Discrimination – The Diplomat Regressive,

HIGHLIGHTS Latin America: Politics in Trance In the period covered by this newsletter, Latin America has been the scene of three simultaneous elections – in

Au sein du Festival des Libertés, qui a eu lieu à Bruxelles, Belgique, la coordinateur du SPW, Sonia Corrêa, a participé du débat Désordre dans

Nairobi, November 14th, 2019. Gathered at the Nairobi Summit to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the International Conference in Population and Development (Cairo, 1994), the

The world has undergone several changes in recent decades, such as declining population growth, aging populations, increased external and internal migratory movements, epidemiological transition, rising

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

This conversation was recorded on Sunday 24 June 2018 as part of the closing plenary of the symposium ‘Planetary Utopias: Hope, Desire and Imaginaries in

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).

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

On Tuesday, September 3rd, JMB has Twitted that he mandated the Minister of Education to draft bill to prohibit the diffusion of “gender ideology” in

Report from Brazil to the United Nations describes a country that does not exist 213 pages. This is the extent of the report published this

At present, 15 bills related to “gender ideology” are being processed in the Parliament. Eight of them were presented in the first half of 2019,

SPW has transcripted and translated Minister of Foreign Affairs Ernesto Araújo remarks during a Public Hearing on July 8th, 2019, when he was summoned to

#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,

Itamaraty instructs diplomats to stress that gender is only biological sex – Folha de São Paulo Eleonora Menicucci: Women will not bow to the delay of

‘People of faith against LGBTphobia’ in São Paulo Pride The group of Freaks in the São Paulo pride Millions celebrate LGBTQ pride in New York

Vatican Issues Document During Pride Month Denying Concept Of Gender Identity – NPR LGBTQ Catholics denounce Vatican’s document on gender identity – PBS Vatican rejects

Download here

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

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

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.

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

Caster Semenya ruling ‘tramples on dignity’ of athletes, South Africa says – The Guardian Statement on the CAS/IAAF discriminatory ruling against Caster Semenya – IRANTI

– What do humans have to do not to have regret at that last second before we die? That is one of Elizabeth Streb’s moving

Brazil’s National Council of Christian Churches (CONIC) expresses solidarity with young Christian Evangelical Camila Montovani who, after a series of threats, will have to leave

First of all, could you please tell me briefly about the creation of GENDER INTERNATIONAL? Why have you come up with this idea? How many

About the publication The right to found a family is a fundamental right recognized by many international treaties and conventions. This is an evolving right, indicating

The Christchurch attack In Christchurch, New Zealand, a solitary white male Australian sniper killed fifty people who were praying in two mosques. Prime Minister Jacinda

Christian right summit in Verona draws massive protest – The Guardian Women cross borders to confront the far right in Italy – openDemocracy International anti-LGBT,

Police Stop Women’s Action against Domestic Violence in Baku, Azerbaijan. March in Istanbul, Turkey Amnesty International praised the Ukrainian police efforts in seven cities across

In the March issue of SPW’s Sexuality & Art, we feature the works of American black artist Mickalene Thomas. She invites us to decolonizing look

SPW republishes the article “Reflecting on 2011 events: scattered notes on how sexual politics intersect with a shifting global landscape“, written by Sonia Corrêa, who

It has come to our attention that the facilitator of Agreed Conclusions for the 63rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW),

  In Tokyo, Japan during the Women’s March Source: Elika Takimoto on Twitter In Brasilia Source: Mídia Ninja In Natal, RN Source: @jptrindaade on Twitter

On Friday 8 March, millions of people around the world celebrate International Women’s Day, paying tribute to women’s achievements in the ongoing fight for equality.

#Hail International Women’s Day 2019: struggle, endurance, resistance! #Eyes on Brazil From an insider´s point of view, observing Brazilian politics after January 1st is like being caught

The President and the Golden Shower – New York Times Bolsonaro Tweets Explicit Video To Criticize Brazilian Carnaval – Folha de São Paulo Brazil’s Bolsonaro

In this special issue of Signs, the contributors address the complex and powerful relationship between gender and the rise of the global Right. This discussion demonstrates how, in transnational terms, the Right has become a significant player in gender politics.

Supreme Court Allows Challenges to Trump’s Transgender Military Ban to Continue in Lower Courts – National Center for Lesbian Rights Supreme Court Declines Transgender Military

Call for Papers for a session at the Annual International Conference of the Royal Geographical Society with Institute of British Geographers (RGS-IBG), London 28-30 August

Compiled and edited by Petrus Liu and Lisa Rofel. Originally published at The Center For Emerging Worlds (UC Santa Cruz). Available here. In recent years,

As 2018 reaches its end, SPW publishes a recollection of main events, trends, discoveries and challenges as we start 2019 and prepare for all the

In November 2015, on the trail of the “feminist occupations”, we published for the first time the work of the black painter Rosana Paulino, whose

SPW has the pleasure of promoting the Global Public Health Journal call for papers for the Special Issue — The Contested Global Politics of Pleasure

A report produced by Sonke Gender Justice and South Africa’s Human Sciences Research Council. Download here. “We need to unpack the term of ‘absent father’

Read Sonia Corrêa’s article on the antecedents, outcomes and meanings of the 2018 Brazilian presidential elections.

The Brazilian perfect storm We apologize for the delay in the circulation of SPW’s October 2018 monthly announcement due to the stormy process and result

We share GATE’s Mauro Cabral personal note on this historic achievement: “Today, for the first time since the gender identity law in Argentina was passed

September is the key moment of the year in the global struggle for abortion rights, as the 28th marks the International Safe Abortion Day. In

#MourningMuseuNacional: As this announcement was being finalized, the Brazilian National Museum burned in flames. A singular and irrecoverable collection of the country’s historical and cultural

José Miguel Nieto Olivar* ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to understand feminine and indigenous forms of agency, especially that of the young women

Global Philanthropy Project and Funders for LGBTQ Issues are pleased to present the 2015-2016 Global Resources Report: Philanthropic & Government Support for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender,

By Marco Aurélio Máximo Prado “I contend that these values all derive from important Jewish sources, which is not to say that they are only

22nd International AIDS Conference:  On July 22, Pedro Villardi, from GTPI-ABIA, participated in the  Challenging Criminalization Globally Pre-Conference, one of the more important satellites events

We, the undersigned, members of the academic community and civil society organizations, denounce the persecution suffered by advocates of the LGBTI+ community and demonstrate our

July 27 is Pride Day in Iran. It’s been the 9th following year that the 4th Friday of July (1st Fri of Mordad in Persian

Main global trends  ICD Reform – On June 18, the Working Group set up by the World Health Organization (WHO) released the final version of

By Sandra Mazo Cardona An inside look from gender and sexuality on the circumstances that led to Duque’s victory in the Colombian presidential elections On

The World Health Organization has just announced the completion of the ICD-11 and released the official online version. The announcement does not mark the end

Several hundred people danced, marched and raised slogans on the Chennai 10th Rainbow Pride March with banners and flags celebrating the date on June 24.

New Global Health Guidelines a Victory for Transgender People – Human Rights Watch

Watch Sonia Corrêa’s speech ‘Gender Ideology: tracking its origins and meanings in current gender politics’ at the Gender Threat(ened) conference in Rio de Janeiro’s State

Blas Radi (Universidad de Buenos Aires)[1] The sexual and (non) reproductive health of trans men is a challenging issue. In the first place, because it

On 11 December 2017, Intersex South Africa, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, the Foundation for Human Rights and Iranti joined activists and members of

On March 14th, 2018, Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes were brutally assassinated in a shootout a week after Women’s International Day.  Marielle was

I once asked a Guatemalan public defender how she knew when a woman’s murder was the result of gender-based violence and not a simple homicide.

Can a subaltern speak? No, is the response of the feminist philosopher Gayatri Spivak, when she realizes that to “have the right to a voice” the place of the subaltern must be subverted.

Main global trends Another mass shooting in Parkland (Florida) shocked the US and the world. Research findings that gained visibility after the tragedy reveal that

By Sonia Corrêa Brazilian abortion and sexual politics continue ensnarled by the uncertainties of the overall political environment. On February 16th, a presidential decree determined

Ex-Miss Febem is the avatar of Aleta Valente, a Brazilian artist who lives in the peripheric neighborhood Bangu in Rio de Janeiro, where many correctional

Authors: Gabriela Arguedas Ramírez and Lynn M. Morgan Reference: Feminist Studies 43, no. 2. 2017 by Feminist Studies, Inc. Download the article here.

Sexual Harassment in the Academia – What the Hitlist Misses: Debaditya Bhattacharya and Rina Ramdev – Kafila #MeTooInChina Media Highlights – Feminism for China #MeToo

From the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Trans people (REDLACTRANS) we reject the transphobic violent attack suffered by the national coordinator of Barbados, Alexa

In January of 2018, a fierce transnational feminist controversy erupted on the question of sexual harassment. In the same week of the Golden Globes Award

In the occasion of a workshop promoted by The Center for Emerging Worlds in Beijing, China, we gladly the share the conference outcome in the form

By Sonia Corrêa In late January 2018, three people departed whose voices, or better said whose writings, inhabit very special places in my memory and

Remembering Teresita De Barbieri who passed away on January 21, 2018. By Ana Laura de Giorgi Uruguayan, feminist and academically committed. First exiled in Chile, then

One year ago, in the preamble of March 8 when we celebrate International Women’s Day and women around the world historically articulate and promote strikes,

By Magaly Marques Los Angeles, January 21st, 2018 The best part of a protest or demonstration is to witness the creativity with which people express

Montevideo (Uruguay) was the stage of the 14th Latin American and Caribbean Feminist Gathering (EFLAC in Spanish), where women gathered from the 23 to 25 of

The #MeToo movement erupted in October 2017  after several sexual harassment accusations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein became public. It is worth noting, however, that

December 15, 2017.   GATE released the publication Gender is not an illness. How pathologization violates human rights law. This paper was conceived and produced as a contribution

In Europe, the rise of the extreme right – which implies both the deepening of racism and a threat to gender and sexuality-related rights –

By Peggy Antrobus On 21 October 2017 Today is the 43rd anniversary of the murders of my two younger sisters, Jenny and June. They were

The IE SOGI mandate was created through UN Human Rights Council resolution A/HRC/RES/32/2 in June of last year and was confirmed through six separate votes

Table of Contents Special Section: Abortion and Human Rights GUEST EDITORS Alicia Ely Yamin, Paola Bergallo, and Marge Berer EDITORIAL Narratives of Essentialism and Exceptionalism:

The Trans Health Survey is the result of the work of Transgender Europe (TGEU) and its partner organisations Women’s Initiative Supportive Group (WISG), Trans-Fuzja, Daniela

As SPW readers know, for some years now Brazil has been undergoing regressions in gender and sexual politics and, since last year, a full conservative

September is the key moment of the year in regard to abortion rights, as the 28th marks the International Safe Abortion Day worldwide.  As informed

Update: 7 arrested for ‘promoting sexual deviancy’ after raising rainbow flag at Mashrou’ Leila gig – Mada Masr – September, 26 At least 22 arrested

Joint Statement on Access to Safe and Legal abortion globally – HRC36: General Debate Item 8 September 28, 2017 Theme: Resist & Persist! Our Bodies, Our Abortions, Our Rights

The Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL) invites its members, partners, allies, friends and fellow feminists to participate in a conversation on Abortion & Autonomy: Demanding full

September 28 has been a regional campaign for the decriminalization of abortion in Latin America and the Caribbean for over twenty years before being taken

MANUAL ON PROVISION OF MEDICAL AND SOCIAL CARE FOR TRANSGENDER, TRANSSEXUAL AND GENDER NONCONFORMING PEOPLE FOR MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS OF ALL LEVELS OF THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC

The new report for the UN General Assembly on fundamentalism, extremism and the cultural rights of women by the Special Rapporteur Karima Bennoune is now out in all language versions.

Call for Papers for the V. 14, n. 1, April-July 2018 Journalism and Gender Studies Editors: Cláudia Lago (School of Communications and Arts, University of

This information sheet has been prepared for parents and families of children born with intersex variations. The tendency to categorize all people as either ‘female’

This information sheet provides some helpful tips for people wanting to communicate in constructive ways about marriage equality and related issues like gender diversity, sexual

  Stonewall’s new report LGBT in Britain: Hate Crime and Discrimination is out now and reveals high levels of hate crime and discrimination in the

The Supreme Court decision expanded the interpretation of the right to privacy to also address cultural diversity, plurality and more importantly, to recognize it as

By Arnika Fuhrmann Through an examination of post-1997 Thai cinema and video art Arnika Fuhrmann shows how vernacular Buddhist tenets, stories, and images combine with sexual politics

The 26th issue of Sexuality, Health and Society – Latin American Journal, organized by the Latin American Center of Sexuality and Human Rights (CLAM/IMS/UERJ) is out

Recognising 28 September as the Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion, the Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights is

The law on violence against women, including domestic violence, approved by the Tunisian parliament on July 26, 2017, is a landmark step for women’s rights,

In July, once again, contradictory trends were registered in the abortion frontline. In Chile, the processing of a bill aimed at legalizing abortion in three cases

by Seona Smiles. Barbara Hau’ofa was a quiet, modest person who nonetheless justifiably stood out in a crowd. For a start she was extremely tall and slim. As her short chubby friend who was seen constantly in her company on the University of the South Pacific campus, I believe we were nicknamed ‘Bat and Ball’.

By all accounts, photographer Alice Austen was an extraordinary woman. Born into an affluent family on Staten Island in 1866, she challenged oppressive Victorian conventions

Patrick Alley, Global Witness Guest Editor Oliver Hudson, Sur Journal Managing Editor Source: Conectas Five years ago, on 26 April 2012, Chut Wutty, a courageous

A global coalition of civil society organizations and trade unions launched last weeek at the United Nations in New York the report “Spotlight on Sustainable

In his performances, Francisco Camacho – Portuguese contemporary dancer and choreographer — proposes a thought-movement centered on gender, which, until quite recently, has been ignored

Women’s Health and Equal Rights Initiative (WHER) has launched its second issue of Empower newsletter. “We are hoping that our work will be a challenge

An advance edited version of the 1st report (A/HRC/35/36) by the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity

How do we create new men in Africa? A process of consciousness raising, or the journey of men increasing their self-awareness of patriarchy or male domination, is required. The new man should be able to experience empathy, to care for others, show compassion and to discuss their emotions openly.

In March and early April, two grave cases of crackdowns against women’s rights activists have been registered worldwide. In Jamaica, activist Latoya Nugent was detained

In March and early April, the abortion frontline in Latin America has been remarkably eventful,  in positive ways. In Bolivia, the proposed revision of abortion

LBT Women’s Economic Empowerment: Reflections on the Successes and Struggles from the CSW – ARC International CSW 61 marred by US travel bans – AWID

The Nigerian feminist and writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was plunged into a noisy row after remarks that distinguish experiences of transgender women from those who are

Turkish artist Güneş Terkol challenges feminine imaginaries. She departs from personal or collective histories shared by women at workshops organized in the context of her

by Sonia Corrêa Last week, in Rio, I visited an exhibition of drawings, painting, and sculptures produced by persons belonging to the ‘first nations’ of

What is the state of activism in Africa today? How effective is activism in bringing about the transformations that are needed to improve the lives

Traditionally, marriage and sexuality have been bagged together and tinted with a bed-of-roses romance that has, over the last century or so, been unpacked and

Text by Essar Batool [1] published at AWID, on Feb 22, 2017. Available here. In 2016, the Indian-occupied state of Kashmir once again erupted in

Originally posted at TGEU, on Feb 8, 2017. Available here. This is a review of some of the European editions of the National Geographic Special

Originally published at Institute of Development Studies (IDS) by Priliantina Bebasari, on February 6, 2017. Available here.  I attended an event by UN Women Indonesia

Transgender Europe (TGEU) calls on the National Geographic to publish a response[1] to the European trans community who has been negatively affected by the translation,

In January, the first and foremost events to be reported are avalanche of draconian and regressive policy measures adopted in the chaotic first two weeks

My own sense is that Trump unleashed a rage that has several objects and several causes, and we should probably be skeptical of those who claim to know the true cause and the exclusive object. The condition of economic devastation and disappointment, the loss of hope in the face of an economic future brought on by economic

Massive and global women’s protest raged through the world and stormed the headlines in a historical action to protest and mark a clear standpoint against

Supreme Court on Monday issued a verdict requesting to provide citizenship to gender and sexual minority under the Others (O) category. The Ministry of Home Affairs has already begun providing citizenship on the basis of identity but there are still obstacles in the districts.

Once more, Happy New Year! There have been so many things we have been working on during the last months of 2016 that we want

When it comes to Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who was sentenced to prison after leaking a trove of classified government data to

his study on trans-women living in Pakistan uncovers an in-depth review of their socio-economic situation and the challenges/barriers they face as well as the support systems available to them.

Compiled by Arcus Foundation (special thanks to Garrett Sander), January 2017. The purpose of this document is to provide a comprehensive and fluid list of

As 2017 begins, SPW highlights the main events and trends as well as tensions and challenges traversing sexual politics worldwide. January In January, the Zika

The 24th issue of Sexualidad, Salud y Sociedad marks its eighth year of systematic publication and presents an expressive illustration of its central themes and objectives.

November began with a resounding shift in global politics: Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. As the reactions flooded through the world

In the midst of the conservative restoration that has swept Brazil in 2016, on November 29th, the First Chamber of the Brazilian Supreme Court – in which five of the eleven judges have a seat – has issued, an unexpected decision arguing in favor of decriminalization of abortion

By Mara Vivero. In this text I will present some elements on gender ideology, its antecedents and contemporary uses and secondly I will refer to the Colombian case, as one of the cases in which the term “gender ideology” has been used as part of a conservative rhetorical strategy to the constant interfaces between religious and political sectors that oppose the changes that have occurred in society in terms of gender and sexuality.

Women have a lot of interesting stories. So many cool, sad, sexy, funny and strange stories. Stories that inspire and stories that make you shake

At a time in which electoral processes are undermining democracy not only in Brazil, but also in many other countries, electoral results can give in sight to many questions regarding the foundations of the democratic process.

In September 2016, psychologist and blogger Letícia Bahia and photographer Julia Rodrigues launched the campaign Mamilo Livre (Free Nipple), featuring print portraits of both men and women with bare chests, aiming to challenge objectification of women’s breasts and advocate individual sovereignty over one’s body. As the campaign encouraged people to print photos from the campaign’s website and post them in public spaces, the posters were seen in many Brazilian cities.

The 32nd São Paulo Bienal, which ends in December, features works by 81 artists from 33 countries, among which 46 are women. This strong presence

Does Ethiopia have an organized feminist movement? Yes. But its performance has been mixed. Unless deliberate, consciously sustained and strategic steps are taken at the level of institution building, resource allocation and leadership, gender equality may take another 100 years to be achieved. A strong women’s movement is indispensable to catalyze change.

In fact, “gender ideology” is an invention of the right. It’s a hodgepodge of disparate ideas developed by a diverse group of thinkers over the past 50 years, linked mainly in the minds of its opponents. It doesn’t really exist beyond its creators’ manifestos and protest banners, but it’s already helped them score some very real victories.

Kerala is an enigma. With its high social indices of literacy, sex ratio and low female infanticides, it projects the image of a progressive state, one way ahead of the others. But ask the women who actually live there and they will have a different story to tell.

The question of whether and how authoritarian regimes may use gender politics to preserve their rule has attracted insufficient academic attention so far. Research on state feminism shows that non‐democratic regimes often enact women‐friendly policies for the purpose of maintaining power. However, this finding has not been linked to the broader research on authoritarian resilience.

During the peace plebiscite campaign, opposition to the so-called gender ideology became pivotal in uniting the extreme right, various Christian organizations and some sectors behind

This workshop will bring together key scholars working across different disciplines in order to examine how gender is constructed in new wars and the consequences and/or advantages of new gender relations. It seeks to bring together emerging work on the formation, contestation and transformation of gender relations in new wars.

Here is the latest edition (Vol. 9 (IV) July- August 2016) of our bi-monthly newsletter – covering significant UN updates, international events, national judgments and policy related developments relating to gender, sexuality and culture that took place in the months of July and August.

Originally published at Kaos GL The book Situation of LGBTI Rights in Turkey and Recommendations including the articles of six experts major in different disciplines

Last month a large number of events took place across the globe to mark September 28th as the Global Day of Action for Access to

September 2016 began under the government of Michel Temer, whose intermediary presidency governed Brazil from May to August while awaiting the results of the impeachment

Originally posted by Srilatha Batliwala, Geetanjali Misra and Nafisa Ferdous at Open Demoracy on 03/10/2016. Available at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/to-build-feminist-futures-suspend-judgment/ As feminist thinkers and activists, we must

The UN Human Rights Council has nominated its first independent investigator aimed at protecting people in regard to sexual orientation and gender identity across the

Originally from Prostitution Policy Watch ——————- Once again, Rio de Janeiro has hosted a sporting mega-event, this time the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. And once

The session examined how the geopolitical shifts implied in the articulation of these global South countries in new blocs, especially the BRICS, has generated expectations that this emergence of “powers from the South” would eventually open up space for new platforms for the political work on sexuality, gender and human rights, that would not be caught by overlapping North-South tensions (or post-colonial effects) that perennially cross these fields of debate.

Women’s Health and Equal Rights Initiative (WHER) has launched its first issue of Empower newsletter, aimed at promoting a deeper conceptual understanding of gender and

The new issue of GLQ Journal, by Duke University Press, brings the theme “The child now” and features Paul Amar’s article “The Street, the Sponge,

It also seemed to me that the general mood of pessimism came from the fact that most of the meeting’s participants were not digital natives, not exactly the ”globalized children”. This meant – again, with notable exceptions – that we still saw activism and policy advocacy

Talking about migration would be talking about what happens with the crossing of boundaries. Boundaries of culture and climate, and boundaries of visibility, where a change in semantics can come to render what was invisible visible (an accent, perhaps a way of dressing, one’s values and ideas, the experience of being surveilled as an alien), while also allowing the migrant certain new freedoms to be invisible (anonymity where ‘nobody knows your name’, and certain kinds of agency one may not have enjoyed back home).

The study findings point to the need for a nuanced understanding of gender among medical educators and students. The introduction of gender could pave the way for an opening up of medicine to delve deeper into how signifiers such as class, caste, gender etc. have a bearing on health. The medical curriculum and training must undergo fundamental changes to integrate gender so as to ensure the creation of a gender-sensitive and socially-relevant medical force in the country.

China’s interactions with the global South have been the subject of much attention and study from both inside and outside the country. Yet issues of gender and sexuality have been largely ignored.

Visioning Feminist Futures: Opening Plenary at the 13th AWID Forum – Awid Building Alliances to End Gender-Based Violence at Work – Awid Glass ceilings and

The defining event of the 32nd Session of the Human Rights Council was the passing of the resolution appointing an Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.

From sex to race, classification is a tool of oppression. Particularly examining abuse directed at Caster Semenya, this article looks ahead this week’s AWID International Forum’s theme ‘Bodily Integrity and Freedoms’.

In August, the Rio Olympic Games provided a privileged stage for the critical observing of gender and sexuality performances. Several SPW partners positively and generously

Guest-edited by Tactical Tech, the 2016 AFC bulletin includes contributions from 16 sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and tech activists, researchers, and writers, who explore the relationships and interdependencies influencing the promises of being online: voice, visibility, and power; and look at the possibilities offered by technologies to SRHR work, amidst challenges related to access, the corporatisation of the internet, collusion between governments and technology companies, censorship, violations of privacy, sexism, and violence, amongst others.

The Prostitution Policy Watch is preparing a report on the effects of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games on sex work in the city. The survey

by Laura Molinari Alonso and Jimena de Garay The 2016 Olympics have been portrayed as the women’s Games. In fact, 2016 has seen the highest

by Leonardo Peçanha The Rio Olympic Games were a landmark in regard to gay and lesbian athletes openly disclosing their sexual orientation. This visibility and

Since August 5th, as in an extended Carnival, ordinary life in Brazil, particularly in Rio, was suspended.  At their end the Olympic Games 2016 have

  The  most commented sport modalities of the Rio Olympics were the gender relations obstacle course competition, racism target shooting and out-of-closet leaping by Fernando Seffner[1]

During  August, 2016, as the Olympic Games evolved, Brazilian and world screens were flooded with young, beautiful,  enhanced, fit, ‘efficient’ bodies that happily competed and

Counting money on a bed is taboo in my family. Growing up, I never fully understood why but I suspected it was another one of our countless every day South American customs that ensured we were in right relationship with the spirit world.

As the women’s 800m approaches, headlines about Caster Semenya proliferate — once again, seven years after she won the World Championship in the 800m and became a news headline, we have been saturated with “debates” about her presence on the track. This year, these stories unfold in striking contrast with those celebrating other athletes who dominate their events.

Although sexual and reproductive health services have become more available in humanitarian settings over the last decade, safe abortion services are still rarely provided. The authors’ observations suggest that four reasons are typically given for this gap: ‘There’s no need’; ‘Abortion is too complicated to provide in crises’; ‘Donors don’t fund abortion services’; and ‘Abortion is illegal’.

Please note that this post contains distressing images. It intersperses quotations about intersex infants and children with quotations about the bodies of public figures. Body

The Independent Women’s Forum has leveraged its “non-partisan” brand to become an aggressive player in Republican politics. Read the full article on The Nation.

On 16 August, the Supreme Court of Justice of Tucumán in Argentina finally ordered that “Belén”, the young woman unjustly convicted of homicide after having had a miscarriage, should be released from prison, in the face of growing criticism by dozens of feminist, human rights, political and social organizations and the UN Human Rights Committee.

UN agencies supporting women’s rights have been asked today to send “a strong signal” to governments around the world by passing a resolution at this year’s UN General Assembly in September to make International Safe Abortion Day an official UN day. An Open Letter was sent to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the heads of UN Women, UN Development Programme, World Health Organization, UN Population Fund, UN Children’s Fund, UNAIDS, and UNESCO today.

Burkini beach row puts French values to test – BBC Cannes ‘burkini’ ban: What do Muslim women think? – BBC Rights group to take action after Cannes

Originally by Human Rights Watch, posted on 10/08/2016. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/08/11/indonesia-lgbt-crisis-exposed-official-bias (Jakarta) – The Indonesian government stoked an unprecedented attack on the security and rights

Originally by Human Rights Watch, posted on 15/08/2016. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/08/15/sri-lanka-challenging-gender-norms-brings-abuse  (New York) – Transgender people and others who do not conform to social expectations about

NAZ Pakistan is committed to working with youth who identify as sexual and gender minorities. As a first step to establish a baseline, the technical

The IACHR just launched the English version of the report “Violence Against LGBTI Persons”.  In this Report, the Commission focuses on violence against LGBT persons

This book sets out the ethical arguments for a woman’s right to choose. Drawing on the traditions of sociological thinking and moral philosophy, it maintains that there is a strong moral case for recognizing autonomy in personal decision-making about reproductive intentions. More than this, it argues that to prevent a woman from making her own choice to continue or end her pregnancy is to undermine the essence of her humanity.

Originally posted at the RHM (Reproductive Health Matters)Journal in 2016:  The forthcoming issue of RHM, which is produced in partnership with CREA, and co-edited with

While the international media were busy highlighting the Stanford rape and Brazil gang-rape cases, another gang-rape, followed by murder, of a 14 year-old girl named Yuyun happened in Indonesia. It was an atrocity as severe, despite the lack of international coverage.

The Women’s Legal Centre has published their report on Police Abuse of Sex Workers in South Africa. Their report shows that 414 sex workers reported various types of violence perpetrated by police between 2011 and 2015. Of those, 13 were sexually assaulted, 71 were physically assaulted, 152 were verbally assaulted, 192 were harassed, and 254 experienced some other form of abuse.

Ending AIDS by 2030 is redundant rhetoric. It is meaningless without investment in community participation. Code red for action.

Women, girls and femme-presenting people are more than flamenco dancers and brides. And thanks to a a new update by Apple and a freshly-approved emoji proposal from Google, they may finally

The most recent issue of differences, “Transatlantic Gender Crossings,” edited by Anne Emmanuelle Berger and Éric Fassin, addresses French and US feminism, gender, and queer

Originally posted by Caroline Reilly at Bitch Media on 21/07/2016.  by Caroline Reilly Published on July 21, 2016 at 11:21am We explored this topic—in part—because

The “Save the Women” Civic Committee has tabled a draft law in the Sejm, lower house of the Polish parliament, liberalizing the anti-abortion legislation in force in Poland since 1993. The draft law allows abortion on request until the 12th week of pregnancy, and improves access to contraception and sexuality education, After that abortion would be permissible along the same rules as those in effect today.

Trans organisations signing this letter, and the activist networks they represent, celebrate the Resolution [on Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and

France is the 1st ever country to be reprimanded for IGM by 3 different UN treaty bodies, having previously been reprimanded by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in February 2016, and by the Committee against Torture (CAT) in May.

There’s a global push to remove “gender identity disorder” from the list of mental illnesses. But many transgender people in Japan aren’t on board with the idea. J. Lester Feder reports from Osaka.

The Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK) is the national umbrella body for SOGIE organizations representing various lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex voices

A Pride event in Uganda has been broken up by police as at least two LGBT+ activists are arrested. Pride Uganda tweeted that the small gathering in Kampala had been raided by police, as prominent LGBT+ activist Frank Mugisha also tweeted that he had been arrested.

From the start of the coup attempt by military officials on Friday through to the government’s crackdown in response, women’s voices have been almost entirely absent. Images

The Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice has launched the report We Are Real: The Growing Movement Advancing the Human Rights of Intersex People.  Available in English,

  Between July 12th and 15th, right before the Durban International AIDS Conference, SPW organized a seminar in Umhlanga, the Northern District of the City.

Originally posted by Susana T. Freid at Open Demoracy on 22/07/2016. Available at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/crosstalk-linking-across-areas-of-criminalization/  In a moment of global attacks on civil society, an intersectional

The on-going political conservative trends that has brought us the Brazilian “soft coup”, BREXIT and the candidacy of Donald Trump has also resulted in an increase in reactionary politics across the political spectrum, even among “radicals” and “progressives”. In Brazil, this has been recently manifest in attacks against

The problem is ‘criminal law’ by Sonia Corrêa Using media and legal services for the defense of LGBT rights in Mexico   by Alejandro Brito Crosstalk:

Gabriel Hoosain Khan, an LGBT activist from South Africa muses about the distance of UN bodies in Geneva from the realities of the world that we (or at least some of us) live in or know about. He says – “In Geneva it might be possible

by Maria Eugenia Matricardi Translation: Matheus Opa, reviewed by Sonia Corrêa A white butterfly flies over the humid foam that floats next to the waterfall.

Maria Eugenia Matricardi is a visual artist and a Doctorate student in Contemporary Poetics at the University of Brasília – UnB.  She lives in the

Resurj, a global alliance of feminists advocating for sexual, reproductive and gender justice from across the globe, met in New York on April 16-17 2016

In discussions around why young Syrian men join armed groups (such as ISIS or Jabhat al-Nusra) in Syria, it often boils down to two main theories: that of sectarianism, the ancient, seemingly perpetual divide between Sunni and Shia Muslims, or that of Islam being a ‘religion of violence’.

Originally posted by ЛГБТ Аман түүх at lgbtamantuukh on 04/07/2016. Available at: https://lgbtamantuukh.wordpress.com/2016/07/04/welcome-to-the-lgbt-oral-histories-of-mongolia-project/  Sponsored by the LGBT Centre (Mongolia)’s Youth Leadership Program, Batchimeg S. and

Originally posted by Melissa Fischer at Open Democracy on 20/07/2016. Available at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/performing-beyond-gendered-zombie-economy/ Contemporary performance can provide a way of understanding as well as re-imagining

The June 2017 issue of Health and Human Rights includes a special section on the intersections between abortion and human rights, and in particular the use of legal mobilization

Source: Dangerous Minds Sex, Satan and the single girl: Bewitching vintage occult-themed ‘men’s interest’ magazines Black Magic magazine, Volume three, Number two. The rise of

The proposal launched in May by the LAC 5 countries for the creation of a Special Mandate on Human Rights and Sexual Orientation and Gender

Maria Teresa was Colombian actress who became a visual art performer. She died of cancer in 2008. Her art directly dialogued  with the impacts of

Against the backdrop of the EU referendum campaign, London-based Romanian women sex workers are using EU law to challenge the police and fight for their rights.

 Under Operation Nexus, the Met are monitoring Romanian sex workers, rounding them up and ordering them to leave the country because they claim that sex work doesn’t count as legitimate employment.

On March 2016, we relaunched our Spanish website that (among other things) provides access to the Spanish translation of Queering the Public Sphere in Mexico

In June, 2016, as the impeachment of Dilma Roussef followed its course, it became increasingly evident that one of the strongest motivations of the power maneuvering that led to the April parliamentary coup was the interest of many of those supporting this move to strangle the ongoing investigations on corruption.

Victorian sexuality is often considered synonymous with prudishness, conjuring images of covered up piano legs and dark ankle-length skirts. Historian Matthew Green uncovers a quite different scene in the sordid story of Holywell St, 19th-century London’s epicentre of erotica and smut.

On June 30th the Human Rights Council, after a complex and difficult negotiation has voted a resolution that establishes the mandate of and Independent Expert

Source: http://www.genderjustice.org.za/news-item/applications-mati-2016-now-open/

In what was described as a dramatic milestone by human rights activists working on the promotion and protection of human rights on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity, members of the United Nations at the 32 session of the Human Rights Council voted a resolution that provides a new mandate for an independent expert that will be responsible for reporting violence suffered by people on the grounds of their real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity, globally.

Originally posted at GATE’s website on 04/07/20216. Available at: http://gate.ngo/gate-statement-on-the-un-sogi-mandate/  On June 30, 2016, the United Nations Human Rights Council approved a historic resolution creating

Originally posted at https://lgbt-ep.eu/press-releases/un-body-votes-for-independent-expert-on-lgbt-discrimination/ In a 23 against 18 vote (6 abstentions)*, the United Nations Human Rights council voted in favour of a resolution condemning

A Development Agenda for Sexual and Gender Minorities, by Andrew Park, International Program Director, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law is grounded in current research literature regarding important development outcomes for sexual and gender minorities, such as health, employment, family formation, education and civil participation.

The past three decades brought important developments to the area of women’s access to abortion, especially with the advent of medical abortion methods. However, the

With Assisted Reproductive Technologies, science has managed to use technology to prise apart previous associations between reproduction and sex. With gender, class and queer theory, the social sciences have prised apart previous associations between gender and sex. We have found that knowledge through science, like knowledge of sexuality, can’t be pinned down to absolutes. “The more you know, the more you know you don’t know,” said Aristotle. While science may value the systematic and objective, it cannot escape the baffling convolutions of lived experience. How does life influence knowledge, and knowledge influence life?

On July 13-15th, Sexuality Policy Watch (SPW) is organizing, in Durban, South Africa, the seminar/workshop ‘SexPolitics: Mapping Key Trends and Tensions in the Early 21st

The ‘natural’ separation of men and women in these spaces arose less than 200 years ago, as part of a pervasive ideology of separation and dominance.

In a defining vote, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on “Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation, and gender identity”, to mandate the appointment of an Independent Expert on the subject.

The person appointed to this new role will be responsible for monitoring “violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”

In this issue, we are proud to feature a collection of innovative and rigorous contributions. Two exceptional articles tackle archives as a historical and conceptual

This issue of East Asia Forum Quarterly brings together prominent scholars of gender studies from various countries and disciplines to explore the diversity and complexity of issues of gender and sexuality in contemporary Asia. The essays touch on major developments that have caused shifts in gender relations. They illustrate the tensions between structural violence against women and women’s own agency in coping with male-dominant social arrangements.

“Do you live with your husband, too?” the second-year medical student asked, innocently enough. It was our first visit with this patient, a healthy middle-aged African American woman. We were just chatting, trying to get to know her, and I had picked up on little clues in our conversation that had already led me to conclude that there was no husband in the picture. The medical student, though, didn’t seem to have picked up on this and, I thought, was trying to get at her sexual history by asking, instead, about her husband.

The Passport Administration at Cairo International Airport banned this morning feminist activist and woman human rights defender (WHRD) Mozn Hassan from traveling during completion of her departure procedures from Cairo to Beirut, and she was informed verbally that the travel ban had been issued by the Egyptian General Prosecutor based on the request of the investigative judge.

GPP and Funders for LGBTQ Issues have partnered to release a new Global LGBTI Resources Report, the most comprehensive report to date on the state

We are delighted to request your help in developing a ‘story’ about your movement – the story of its history, vision, strategies, and achievements for

On 13 June over 150 feminist activists mourned the murder and erasure of artist Ana Mendieta. We were there for our sisters who did not survive.

Solidarity with the LGBTQI community – Frida Mourning Orlando’s Loss from Kabul – Open Society India vigils in memory of Orlando shooting victims – Orinam

Early reports suggest that Mateen pledged allegiance to “Islamic State” while launching his shooting spree. We will know more in the days to come. I am grateful to those who are righteously rushing in to defend Muslims from the inevitable backlash and deplorable discrimination in the shell-shocked wake of this massacre. However, I would also ask them not to do so by downplaying the harsh realities of Islamist political ideology and the way it purveys hatred against many groups, including gays.

The mass shooting at the Pulse, the nightclub in Orlando, took over the media screens and pages on the third week of June 2016.  The

As the Brazilian crisis continues unfolding it gets increasingly intricate with gender and sexuality politics. Read Sonia Corrêa and Fábio Grotz report on what happened

At the UN Human Rights Council the LAC Group 5 – formed by Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay – announced the decision to submit

Originally posted at the SRI’s website on 2016. Available at: https://www.sexualrightsinitative.org/2016/hrc/sri-calls-for-political-and-legal-framing-that-recognizes-full-range-of-sexual-rights/  The Sexual Rights Initiative (SRI) is a coalition of organizations from Canada, Poland, India,

It is not exactly to keep track of the Brazilian political development these days. On May 11th, the Brazilian Senate confirmed the admissibility of the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, which had been approved by the House on April 17th.

The fourth issue of Kohl: a Journal for Body and Gender Research is calling for papers to be published in December 2016. In addition to

Two different protests, two different countries, but the same continent and the same cause: violence against women in “macho” Latin America.

New double issue of Brasiliana, edited by Paul Amar, is out. It addresses the politics of violence and securitization in Rio de Janeiro. Click here

In Indonesia, where abortion is illegal, many women undergo unsafe abortions putting their lives at risk. Other times, they are forced by doctors to engage in sexual intercourse in exchange for an abortion.

To the development community on International Day of Action for Women’s Health: don’t curtail our rights by legitimising conservative religious ideologies.

Mainstream activism engaging with the politics of gender and sexual-identity tends more often than not to be labelled LGBT, homosexual, gay or queer activism. This

In June 2011, the South African government, with support from Brazil and Norway, led in the adoption of a historic resolution on sexual orientation and

This essay looks at the complex relationship between the personal and the political in queer/LGBTIA+ organizing in Africa. It considers how current modes of organizing impact the connection between professional activism and grassroots participation and explores some of the consequences of these two intersecting factors for activist praxis.

DAWN is happy to make available these Regional Advocacy Tools on sexual and reproductive health and rights that have been part of our contribution to feminist mobilization for the 20th year review of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). We engaged in this important review process at regional and global levels, through analysis and advocacy, and working with partners and colleagues in civil society and governments.

On the eve of the giant annual anti-abortion protest on Parliament Hill, the Justin Trudeau government has quietly removed a restriction that prevented federal foreign aid dollars being used for abortion services in other countries.

Jack Drescher and colleagues (March, 2016)1 highlight two controversies surrounding gender incongruent children below puberty. One controversy concerns how one helps these children.

Originally from TGEU’s website, posted on 17/05/2016. Available at: https://tgeu.org/idahot2016statement/ On this International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT) [1], with a special focus on

The Sex Worker Zine Project features work that was produced by 24 men, women and transgender participants who live and sell sex in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa. The project involved collaboration with the Sisonke Sex Worker Movement and the MoVE Project.

In this interview with STATUS/الوضع host Katty Alhayek, journalist and author Rafia Zakaria discusses her articles on ISIS and women, and the challenges that she faces when sharing her perspective on these issues with a wider audience.

This anthology is the first time that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) migrants and refugees in South Africa have shared their stories and

Originally posted on 13/05/2016 on the INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR WOMEN’S RIGHT TO SAFE ABORTION’s website. Available at: https://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/news/ansirh-in-their-own-words-experiences-of-women-denied-abortions/  Even in countries with legal abortion, many

Feminism and trans activism don’t have to be mutually exclusive, argue the contributors to “Trans/Feminisms,” the most recent issue of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly.

Malta is for now the EU’s last country where abortion is banned in all cases. While some are beginning to call for a public debate on women’s reproductive rights, the topic of abortion remains a highly sensitive issue in the archipelago.

As the world federation of LGBTI organisations, we strongly believe that gender diversity is not – and should never be – a pathology.

A new wave of deadly attacks against human rights and secular activists is at play in Bangladesh. In final April, two LGBT activists were hacked

Belén’s troubling abortion case in Tucumán, Argentina, demonstrates how institutions meant to care for and protect us instead regularly violate our rights—including the right to health, confidentiality, and due process.

Since our reports of early 2015, SPW has always linked developments in the abortion debate to the on-going Brazilian political and economic crisis. On April 17th, 2016, this crisis reached an initial point of culmination when the House of Representatives voted for and approved the admissibility of the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff.

Cindy Sherman is an internationally recognized North American photograph and  artist. Her  extensive works  thematize  gender impersonations.  Sherman photographs herself impersonating  a  wide variety of

Luana Barbosa dos Reis Santos was brutally killed by Brazilian cops in the city of Ribeirão Preto (São Paulo) in early April. She was taking

SPW shares an unnamed letter written by  Bangladesh activist after the murders of LGBT activists in the Asian country in the past weeks. The letter

As underlined by Michel Foucault in his writings, in modern times, children and adolescent sexualities have been under close and systematic surveillance. While in the

Originally from: https://lgbt-ep.eu/press-releases/european-parliament-speaks-out-against-online-homo-and-transphobic-hate-speech/ In a report adopted yesterday, the European Parliament expresses its concern over online homo- and transphobic hate speech, and calls for strong

The stories in this book are based upon the writings of intersex participants at the First Intersex National Meeting in Nepal, held on 8-9 February 2016 in Kathmandu. The meeting took place with support from the UNDP as part of the “Being LGBTI in Asia” program.

rganization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration (ORAM), a leading international non-profit organization devoted to advocating on behalf of the world’s most vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers, has released a first-of-its-kind glossary of terminology to assist humanitarian professionals to communicate with people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.

Source: http://endabortionstigma.org/en/Blog/2016/March/QualitativeSynthesis.aspx We are excited to share “Abortion Stigma Around the Globe”: A Qualitative Synthesis. After a review of literature and available resources, we discovered

In an interview a few years back, Canadian feminist and pro-choice activist Joyce Arthur drew a convincing parallel between the movement for women’s right to access safe and legal abortion and sex workers’ movements for their rights and decriminalisation of sex work.

The longstanding provider-patient confidentiality relationship is quietly eroding as an alarming number of medical staff across Latin America are reporting women and girls to the

The Observatory on the Universality of Rights (OURs) aims to monitor, analyze, and share information on initiatives that misuse religion, culture, and tradition to undermine

Across the globe, religion plays a critical role in shaping attitudes about gender norms and sexuality, which in turn have a profound effect on people’s everyday lives. A new Faith, Gender & Sexuality Toolkit launched today seeks to build knowledge and provide crucial support for faith communities and leaders working to promote social justice in relation to gender and sexuality.

Read New Yorker‘s article, authored by James Carroll, on Pope Francis’s latest apostolic exhortation, “Amoris Laetitia” (“The Joy of Love”).

We have the great pleasure to inform that our Spanish page has been re-launched. In this opportunity Alejandra Sardá from Akahatá has written an update

The world is talking about tax this week, so here’s another tax story for you. Asana Abugre has a small shop in Accra, Ghana where she makes and sells batiks and tie-dyed textiles. Asana pays her taxes regularly. Women like her, working in markets across the city, sometimes pay up to 37% of their income in tax.

In an article written for SPW, Alejandra Sardá-Chandiramani, from Akahatá, analyzes the sexual politics scenario after the 2015 elections. In her own words: The open

During 2015, as previously reported by SPW, Brazilian abortion politics continued to evolve under pressures created by the unsettled intersection of regressive policy trends (which have been gaining strength since the mid 2000’s) and the macro-political crisis which has overtaken the Brazilian res publica.

Moving Walls is an annual documentary photography exhibition produced by the Open Society Foundations Documentary Photography Project. This year exhibitions presents Shahria Sharmin’s portrait series on

This tool contains practical advice on implementing HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) programmes with transgender people. It is based on recommendations in the Consolidated guidelines on HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care for key populations, published in 2014 by the World Health Organization.

Arabic media training position is a 12- month, part-time staff position, with the possibility of renewal of contract for another year and/or increase in work hours. The position is responsible for leading OutRight’s Arabic media sensitivity program, which aims at reaching out to Arabic media outlets and journalists to provide them with a better understanding around sexual orientation, gender identity, and LGBTI rights violations in the Middle East and North Africa.

Today the Equal Rights Trust has published volume sixteen of its biannual Equal Rights Review, an interdisciplinary journal offering analysis, insight and ideas to those promoting equality. This issue has a special focus on intersectionality.

Originally posted on 31/03/2016 at GATE. Available at: http://gate.ngo/2016/03/31/gate-statement-on-the-international-trans-day-of-visibility-2016/ Today, March 31st, Global Action for Trans* Equality (GATE) calls for collective and critical reflection as

Originally posted at Transrespect on 31/03/2016. Available at: https://transrespect.org/en/tdov-2016-tmm-update/ On occasion of the International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDoV) [1] held on the 31st of

On Wednesday, I became illegal in my home state. I can’t go home to see my mother or my sister or my uncle or my friends from high school. I can’t go back to my favorite restaurant. Because the systematic eradication of transgender people from North Carolina is now the law of the land.

Queer Wars explores the growing international polarization over sexual rights, and the creative responses from social movements and activists, some of whom face murder, imprisonment or rape because of their perceived sexuality or gender expression.

“Area Impossible: The Geopolitics of Queer Studies” is the latest issue of GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. Edited by Anjali Arondekar and Geeta Patel, “Area Impossible” stages a much-needed conversation between two often-segregated fields: queer studies and area studies.

Dozens of transgender women, including asylum seekers who have come to the United States seeking protection from abuse in their home countries, are locked up in jails or prison-like immigration detention centers across the country at any point in time, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Many have been subjected to sexual assault and ill-treatment in detention, while others are held in indefinite solitary confinement.

The World Psychiatric Association (WPA) recognises the universality of same-sex expression, across cultures. It holds the position that a same-sex sexual orientation per se does not imply objective psychological dysfunction or impairment in judgement, stability, or vocational capabilities.

Originally published by Amnesty International on 18/03/2016. Available at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2016/03/norway-historic-breakthrough-for-transgender-rights/ Key legal reforms proposed by the Norwegian Ministry of Health today mark an important breakthrough

In recent weeks, the Egyptian authorities have summoned human rights workers for questioning, banned them from travel and attempted to freeze their personal funds and

Originally posted at SIGNS. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society invites submissions for a special issue titled “Displacement,” slated for publication in spring

Marina” got pregnant at the age of 20 when she was living in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Abortion is illegal in the country, except in rare circumstances, but she knew she had to terminate. “I was young and ambitious,” said the now-31-year-old, who describes herself as upper middle-class. “I had so many career and travel plans. I couldn’t just become a mother at that point.”

Originally posted on Open Democracy by Susana T Fried and Alice Welbourn on 29/02/2016. Available at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/confinement-of-eve-resolving-ebola-zika-and-hiv-with-women-s-bodi/ There are parallels between three major newsworthy viruses,

The Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice is proud to announce a new call for proposals for the second cycle of the Intersex Human Rights Fund,

Originally posted on QZ on 15/03/2016. Available at: https://qz.com/africa/639763/nigerian-lawmakers-voted-down-a-women-equality-bill-citing-the-bible-and-sharia-law Nigerian lawmakers on Tuesday (Mar.15), voted against a gender and equal opportunities bill (pdf). The bill,

Every month RESURJ – a global alliance of feminists – members share and reflect on some news highlights affecting sexual and reproductive, environmental and economic

The State has a responsibility for protecting the LGBTI community from violence, a UN expert said on Wednesday, adding that he hopes that the Supreme Court of India makes an “enlightened” and “progressive” decision on the matter.

Originally published on IDS. Available at: https://www.ids.ac.uk/news/connecting-perspectives-on-women-s-empowerment Worldwide, women continue to contribute to social, economic, cultural and political achievement. And we have much to celebrate

GENEVA (8 March 2016) – The right to sexual and reproductive health is not only an integral part of the general right to health but fundamentally linked to the enjoyment of many other human rights, including the rights to education, work and equality, as well as the rights to life, privacy and freedom from torture, and individual autonomy, UN experts have said in an authoritative new legal commentary.

Article available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/296683386_Gender_incongruence_of_childhood_in_the_ICD-11_Controversies_proposal_and_rationale As part of the development of the eleventh revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), WHO appointed a Working Group

In February, there were good news to report from both Haiti and Europe. In the case of Haiti, the Penal Code reform is underway and

This Collection offers multiple routes to sexuality and gender justice and numerous suggestions of what sexuality and gender justice could be in a plurality of contexts. It also suggests that there are many potential pitfalls and barriers to justice or progress. What this Collection highlights, however, is that by listening carefully to each other and by paying careful attention to the needs of those working on the ground, we give ourselves the best chances of success, individually and collectively.

Among the first of its kind, this book is composed of works by writers from different parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, including first and second-generation Africans

The human rights of LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) people have reached centre stage. Curative petitions have been referred to a Constitution Bench with observations by Chief Justice of India (CJI) T.S. Thakur that “the issues sought to be raised are of considerable importance and public interest …”.

In late November, 2015, the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (IFCS/UFRJ) hosted a one week course

Cheryl Donegan is a prolific feminist performer and visual artist, whose work is currently being exposed at the New Museum in New York . Donegan’s

The book, by Andrew Park, is about the American political context, so the audience is mostly in the US.  It advocates using international human development

Originally posted on The Nation. Available at: https://www.thenation.com/article/visible-and-invisible-women-pairing-picasso-mfa/ Sleeping Nude (Marie-Thérèse Walter), 1932, Pablo Picasso, private collection. The woman’s body is the unspoken subject of

The article examines the issue of gender inequity in the exercise of the right of access to information by exploring the legislative framework underpinning the right for women, detailing the value of information for women, describing the principal obstacles that propagate information asymmetries, and exploring potential responses to advance a more universal right to information.

Originally published on IDS’s website. Available at: https://www.ids.ac.uk/news/new-ids-research-reveals-impact-of-militarism-on-violence-against-women-in-gaza This year’s 16 Days Against Gender-based Violence campaign focuses specifically on the relationship between militarism and the

With a growing number of older people in the world, it is time for Reproductive Health Matters to look more closely at the sexual and reproductive health of people in this different stage of life.

 Employment discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people is a prevalent but silent issue in Thailand, said experts at a national level meeting to discuss issues related to discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression (SOGIE) or intersex status.

Sex is complex. Humans are simultaneously more similar in their sex development, and more diverse, than is commonly appreciated or understood. Females and males are

The country’s Ministry of Health recommended last week that women should avoid becoming pregnant until 2018. But local feminist groups say this guidance doesn’t reflect the needs of Salvadoran women, especially where reproductive health is concerned.

On Jan. 18, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) launched a continental campaign for the decriminalization of abortion in Africa to bring attention to unsafe abortion which significantly threatens women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The North American black artist Nona Faustini has recently developed a remarkable photography project. She staged a series of nude photographs in urban locations across

In searching for English written information on the Brazilian photographer Ana Lira, we have accidentally found the remarkable work of another artist-designer whose art also

This article is based on some of the research that I have conducted over the past two years on women’s activism in Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan, from independence until the Arab uprisings. I collected over one hundred personal narratives from middle class women activists of different generations.

AWID is an international, feminist, membership organisation committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development and women’s human rights.

Women were at the forefront of the pro-democracy protests in Libya in 2011, which, after escalating into civil war, culminated in the ousting of dictator Muammar Gaddafi. But in the years that have followed, as state institutions have crumbled and insecurity prevails, women have struggled to have their voices heard.

Are you a women’s human rights defender?  Do you want to increase your understanding of women’s human rights, and learn how to use the UN

A new report published by the Equal Rights Trust exposes the extent of discrimination and inequality experienced by groups including women; persons with disabilities; lesbian, gay and bisexual persons; and persons living with HIV in Solomon Islands.

The first openly LGBT person elected to Guatemala’s Congress took office last week. Sandra Morán, a lesbian woman who is a member of Convergencia, a left-leaning political movement that advocates on behalf of indigenous Guatemalans and other underrepresented groups in the Central American country, was sworn in on Jan. 14.

The issue 46 of Reproductive Health Matters focuses on the theme “Sexuality, sexual rights and sexual politics” and brings articles offering “a wide range of

The Organisation Soleterre – Strategie di Pace ONLUS, in collaboration with East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP), has produced a publication

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

This tribute is to Fatema Mernissi: mentor, insightful teacher, organic intellectual, incisive feminist, powerful voice, charismatic presence, craftswoman, generous host, and friend.

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,

Butler’s insight into the lives and deaths of transgender women in 2015 penetrates beyond the surface details of their deaths. Her perspective illustrates a startling reality about the real cause of violence against trans women, and the fatal importance of an intersectional approach to the liberation of transgender people.

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.

The 13th AWID International Forum (Bahia, Brazil) will be a historic global gathering of women’s rights and social justice activists and movements. Click here for registration.

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.

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

Ana Mendieta was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1948, and died in 1985. Her early death, in 1985, in New York, triggered was highly controversial,

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

October and November 2015 will be marked in the Brazilian calendar as a colorful time of feminist occupations. Feminist bodies, voices, lemmas, writings, images have invaded the streets, social networks, the male writers op-ed spaces in the mainstream press. Feminist voices of all ages and social strata arose everywhere to make clear that we have had enough.

In the end of October, seven million young people had to sit and think about the persistence of violence against women in Brazil. This was the essay theme of the National High School Exam (ENEM) — a Brazilian standardized test that is mandatory to compete for a place in the country’s public universities.

Originally published by TGEU at http://tgeu.org/how-many-trans-people-need-to-die-for-europe-to-take-action/ Every year on November 20, the trans community remembers and mourns those trans people who lost their lives to

Originally published at Verso Books on 16/11/2015. Available at: https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/news/2337-mourning-becomes-the-law-judith-butler-from-paris Letter from Judith Butler, Paris, Saturday 14th November I am in Paris and passed near

AWID, as IM-Defensoras Steering Group member, has launched the Second Regional Report on the Situation of WHRDs in Mexico and Central America, which includes and compares

Originally published on The Guardian on 02/11/2015. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/nov/02/myanmar-womens-fight-against-verbal-taboo-symbolises-wider-rights-battle Lack of sex education for women perpetuates gender inequality in Myanmar but activists addressing such

The data which has been collected from 190 countries worldwide is separated into 81 maps, to allow website visitors to take a closer look, and compare country situations for the following topics: ‘Legal Situation’, ‘Health Care Situation’, ‘Social Situation’.

Every defendant in the Salvadoran criminal system is guaranteed three fundamental rights by the state. First, every person accused of a crime will be presume innocent until proven guilty, in accordance with the law. Second, in cases of doubt, the judge must find in favour of the defendant.

Originally published in 2015 at: http://gsrc-mena.org/kohl/call-for-papers/ We are pleased to invite submissions for the third issue of Kohl: a Journal for Body and Gender Research,

Originally published by IDS on 22/10/2015. Available at: https://www.ids.ac.uk/news/crucial-new-insights-on-sexuality-and-the-sustainable-development-goals 22 October 2015 If the global commitment to eradicate inequality for all people is truly unequivocal,

Originally published on: http://www.rhmjournal.org.uk/journal/call-papers/ Reproductive Rights Matters – volume 24   number 47   may/june 2016  In this issue of the journal, we are hoping to

Originally published on ASTRAEA’s website. Available at: http://www.astraeafoundation.org/news/352/60/Astraea-Launches-the-World-s-First-Intersex-Human-Rights-Fund/d,home-news New York, New York, Oct 25, 2015 In a world where intersex activism has been resourced on

The legal status of trans* individuals in India was discussed quite extensively in the 2014 case of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) judgment by the Supreme Court of India.

Originally published on Equal Rights Trust on 2015. Available at: http://www.equalrightstrust.org/news/call-papers-16th-equal-rights-review-special-focus-intersectionality-promoting-equality The Equal Rights Trust is accepting papers for the sixteenth edition of its Equal

Sexual Rights Initiative presents an overview from the 30th session of the UN Human Rights Council. It includes resolutions, panels and discussions, statements and parallel

Helena Almeida is a Portuguese artist born in Lisbon in 1934. Her work is mostly composed by black and white photographic self-portraits in which she consciously

Originally published on Daily IO on 30/09/2015. Available at: http://www.dailyo.in/politics/modi-us-visit-mark-zuckerberg-silicon-valley-facebook-digital-india-democracy-vhp-rss-branding/story/1/6529.html Shiv Visvanathan @ShivVisvanathan   If Facebook has face value, Modi’s interview with Mark Zuckerberg at

The Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality is happy to announce its call for applications to its Social Change Program. The Program aims to develop the

DAWN is excited to announce the forthcoming 5th DAWN Training Institute (DTI) for young feminists working for gender, economic, political and ecological justice. The DTI

Originally published on The BMJ. Available at: http://www.bmj.com/content/women%E2%80%99s-children%E2%80%99s-and-adolescents%E2%80%99-health-0 The year 2015 marks a defining moment for the health of women, children, and adolescents. It is

Preamble This Agenda is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. It also seeks to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom. We recognise

Research and Policy Associate Location: Global | Organization: AIDS-Free World | Deadline: 11 September 2015 You will be responsible for producing written materials on pertinent

The Brazilian academic institution and civil society organizations listed below offered a contribution to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Report on the impact

The Young Feminist Fund is the only youth-led fund focused exclusively on supporting global young feminist activism to advance social justice movements and agendas. FRIDA

Originally published on DailyIO on 09/08/2015. Available at: https://www.dailyo.in/politics/narendra-modi-porn-ban-yoga-baba-ramdev-homosexuality-valentines-day-5557 Shiv Visvanathan @ShivVisvanathan   Narendra Modi’s economic and technological policies might have limited impact despite the

In July the hottest topic to be reported on is, undoubtedly, the global controversy that emerged when Amnesty International made public a draft policy defining

Human Rights Committee Open Hearing on Article 6 – The Right to Life to develop a General Comment Geneva, 14 July 2015 HERE ARE SOME OF THE

AWID Women Human Rights Defenders – Program Coordinator This position is primarily responsible for implementation of the WHRD strategy toward AWID’s 2016 International Forum, as

by Juan Marco Vaggione Since his inauguration as the new pontiff, Bergoglio has generated new complexities for those of us who think that it is

In the first week of June 2015, two articles have reached us that spoke to the unabated tensions – and perhaps unresolvable – tensions between those streams of feminism that deny the validity and ‘authenticity’ of female transgender identities and experiences.

One political event to be noted as relevant from a gender and sexuality perspective was the electoral defeat of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on

Capturing voices and experiences from around the world, Women and Girls Rising – Progress and resistance around the world, edited by Ellen Chesler and Terry McGovern,

Originally published on http://trans-fusion.blogspot.com.br/2015/06/terfs-of-times.html   This week’s Sunday Review section of the New York Times has as its headline article an opinion piece by feminist

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

Originally published on Jadaliyya in 2015. Available at: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/21613/new-texts-out-now_kenneth-m.-cuno-modernizing-marr Kenneth M. Cuno, Modernizing Marriage: Family, Ideology, and Law in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Egypt. Syracuse: Syracuse

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

Originally published on Al Jazeera on 10/06/2015. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/program/people-power/2015/6/10/canadas-lost-women An investigation into the abuse and exploitation of aboriginal women in Canada and the authorities’

SPW recommend the study Transgender Men Who Experienced Pregnancy After Female-to-Male Gender Transitioning, aimed at conducting a cross-sectional study of trans- gender men who had

Check the English version of the very first issue of Kohl: a Journal for Body and Gender Research. Kohl serves as an alternative platform of knowledge production. It tackles feminisms,

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.

Originally published on Aljazeera on June/2015. Available at: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/06/rules-clothing-label-discrimination-case-150601141831931.html Supreme Court rules in favour of Muslim woman who said clothing label denied her a job

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has launched the report Discrimination and violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.

The new design responds to what readers, writers and the team identified as necessary and desired changes in the look and feel. The primary objective

Originally published on Rewire on 28/05/2015. Available at: http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/05/28/taking-action-combat-state-sanctioned-violence-women-worldwide/ by Leila Hessini, Ipas / Global Fund for Women and Beatriz Galli May 28, 2015 –

Written by Fernando D’Elio of Akahata (with input from Neha Sood of Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights) as part of the 2015 ILGA

In Biopolitics at the Crossroads of Sexuality and Disaster: The Case of Haiti, Rosalind Petchesky begins her reflections by sharing a definition of intersectionality: “An

Check Journal of Gender Studies‘ call for paper for its special edition “Gendering happiness: the power of pleasure”, which will be published in early 2017.

The deadline for applying to the 2016 AWID forum has been postponned to July 3rd, 2015. To submit a proposal to organise a session click

On April 24th, 2015, the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights granted the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL) formal observer status. There are many

by the SPW team In the statement, that appraises the decision of the African Court on Human and People’s Rights in granting observer status the

The era of market reform has created a burgeoning Chinese middle class that craves not only increased consumption of goods and the freedom of self-expression,

                 Applications are due on or before 30 April 2015. Applications will be evaluated and participants will be

Organizations of the International Sexual and Reproductive Rights Coalition (ISRRC) launched a statement highlighting that, despite progress achieved toward gender equality and the realization of

Originally published on Rewire on 10/03/2015. Available at: http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/03/10/women-deserve-know-hiv-prevention-medication/ by Anna Forbes and Manju Chatani and Dázon Dixon Diallo March 10, 2015 – 1:05 pm In

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

In late 2009, the World Economic Forum (WEF) launched its new report on the Global Gender Gap Index, which gained immediate visibility in both global

April – In a landmark decision, Indian Supreme Court allowed transgender people to identify as a third gender and directed the central and state governments

Among the main events in November, we highlight the Men Engage Symposium, held in Delhi, in which SPW was present with the participation of our

Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society invites submissions for a special issue titled “Pleasure and Danger: Sexual Freedom and Feminism in the Twenty-First

“By now you have probably already heard of the harem of Tunisian sex-warrior slaves heading to Syria in order to give up their young bodies to the appetites of deprived rebels to fulfill jihad al-Nikkah — “Sexual Jihad” — and are coming back to the country with bellies full of Jihadi babies. Unfortunately for what seems to be that blind spot people have when it comes to stories on Muslims and sex, there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of Tunisian female warriors going to fight a holy sex war.”

Read Jadaliyya’s article Sexual Violence, Women’s Bodies, and Israeli Settler Colonialism, which reflects on the violence against Palestinian women

Gloria Careaga, member of SPW Steering Committee, and our working partner akshay khana spoke at the Men Engage Symposium, held in Delhi.

The new issue of SUR – International Journal on Human Rights celebrates its 10th anniversary with 55 articles on the challenges and sucesses of the

SPW recommends Aziza Ahmed’s article – published on Columbia Journal of Gender and law – “Rugged vaginas” and “vulnerable rectums”: the sexual identity, epidemiology, and

By Marianne Thamm Three years ago South Africa and Brazil co-sponsored a historic resolution encouraging the UN to discuss discrimination and violence based on sexual

SPW recommends the report written by activists and funders aimed at supporting better coordination and collaboration on trans and intersex funding. Download it here.

SPW recommends the article Proposed declassification of disease categories related to sexual orientation in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11),

In August, the Sexuality Policy Watch (SPW) published the outcomes from the three Regional Dialogues organized in Asia (2009), Latin America (2009) and Africa (2010)

BRIDGE – development and gender has launched the guide Supporting social movements to advance women’s rights and gender justice – an approach for donors. Read

The World Health Organization has published its proposals on trans health in the ICD-11 Beta Draft, in which for the first time in history it

In 2013, Sexuality Policy Watch began a new line of work aimed at critically examining how sexuality, gender and human rights  can be located in

In 2013, Sexuality Policy Watch began a new line of work aimed at critically examining how sexuality, gender and human rights are located in the

At the VI Summit of President of BRICS We, the networks and the feminist movements of the global South, that gathered in Fortaleza, 14-16 July

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has produced a guide to adress the needs of transgender and gender non-conforming employees. It settles some important issues

Press Release 24th July 2014 For Immediate Release Transgender Group in Kenya wins Historic Court Battle Nairobi, Kenya, 24 July, 2014. – In a historic

Every morning we wake up to an updated butcher’s bill: one hundred, two hundred, four hundred, six hundred Palestinians killed by Israel’s war apparatus as of

Read the joint statement delivered at the 13th session of the Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals on behalf of 58 countries, focusing

Sonia Corrêa and SPW partners in the “Emerging Powers, Sexuality and Human Rights Project” — akshay khana, Cai Yiping, Laura Waisbich — – attended the

The SPW report, “Bracting Sexuality: Human Rights and Sexual Orientation”, written by Ignacio Saiz, analyzes the recognition of rights relating to sexual orientation within the

Sonia Corrêa and Rosalind Petchesky, members of SPW Steering Committee participated at the Orientations and Identities: Sexuality and Human Rights on the Global Stage Conference organized by

Corinne Lennox and Matthew Waites, from Institute of Commonwealth Studies (University of London), are the editors of the free online book Human Rights, Sexual Orientation

The Cranky Sociologists website publishes an article arguing, according to a global map of gender murders, that homicides are gendered social fact. Here.

Danish parliamentarians passed a law which makes it the first European country where a requirement for ‘Gender Identity Disorder’ diagnosis or any psychological assessment/opinion is

LGBTTTI Coalition celebrates tha approval of the seventh resolution on human rigths, sexual orientation and gender identity and expression at the OAS 44th General Assembly.

Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) has announced the online publishing of Women’s Charters and Declarations: Building Another World written by Rashida Manjoo, the UN’s

Buttlerflies is an awarwed video directed by Vagner Almeida documenting the lives of young gay men and travesties in the poor outskirts of Rio de

On May 28th, Sonia Corrêa, SPW co-chair, spoke at the panel on Human Rights at the Global Stage, organized by the City of West Hollywood.

S.H.E social, health and empowerment feminist collective of Transgender and Intersex Women of Africa has launched its first newsletter, which brings news about trans activism

Africa Regional Sexuality Resource Centre has published ICPD Beyond 2014 Global Report, which is the culmination of a landmark UN review of progress, gaps, challenges and emerging

Read the final publication of the EROTICS: sex, rights and the Internet project here.

Click here to read it.

The Guardian brings information on the dissemination of rape as a practice used by Egyptian police against arrested dissidents. Read more.

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of India allowed a transgender people to identify as a third gender and directed the central and state

Mother Jones brings an article about women’s role in Rwanda, two decades after the genocide that killed 800.000 people. Today, women represent two-thirds of the

Governments at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) ignored evidence of and regional support for key elements of sustainable development in

Click here to read the statement delivered in the 58th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW58) which defends sexual rights, sexual

Dear friends, Around the World During January and February 2014, SPW has watched the development of anti-homosexuality bills in Nigeria and Uganda, as well as

SPW recommends Sexualities january edition. It brings articles about gender and sexuality boundaries on evangelical websites; medicalization of women sexuality as well as other interesting

This new issue of The Scholar & Feminist Online, edited by Elizabeth Bernstein and Janet R. Jakobsen, forges new ground by weaving together issues of

During the year of 2013, sexual and reproductive rights were threatened by state decisions in various places around the world. At the year’s end, three

Read article “Does Pope Francis Have a Woman Problem?”, from the Daily Beast, which points that pope Francis is undoubtedly forward-thinking—except for when it comes

Read “Decoding India’s Proposed Online Porn Ban – I”, that reportes the day-long “Connect Your Rights!” meeting held in Mumbai in November 2013. The meeting

Reality Check brings Adele M. Stan’s article about how Pope Francis “when it comes to inequality of the sexes, enthusiastically embraces Rome’s status quo, using

Between 29 November and 1 December 2013, the Third International Intersex Forum, supported by ILGA and ILGA-Europe, took place in Valletta, Malta. This event brought

With great pleasure SPW brings attention to the Human Rights Watch post article by Anna Kirey, who has participated in our Buenos Aires training on

IDS Sexuality and Development November Newsletter is on the web and brings discussions about heteronormativity and patriarchy as well as other issues. Learn more.

In article on The Guardian, Annmarie Chiarini tells how her ex-boyfriend put nude photos of her on the web and how she reacted. The case

In a case that has the potential to break the binary gender norms of male and female in law and administrative practices in India, the

Read RH Reality Check’s article “Anatomy of the War on Women: How the Koch Brothers Are Funding the Anti-Choice Agenda”, where the author criticizes that

Read New Statesman’s article about a German law that lets a birth certificate to be left blank in cases where the child is neither male

SPW recommends reading the blog “The adventures of cosmic yoruba and her flying machines”, which brings reflections on sexuality in pre-colonial Nigeria. Click here.

Read article on The Guardian about how a movement that started out as a critique of capitalist exploitation ended up contributing key ideas to its

The Global Action for Trans Equality (GATE) published a statement on the October 19 reaffirming the devasting effects of the patologization of trans identities. Click

“If a person does not fit in a neatly packaged place within the straight-gay binary, some people won’t believe them, a fact that led me

The Constitutional Court of South Africa decided that two sections of the Criminal Law Amendment Act are unconstitutional. The measeures were intended to criminalise consensual

The Kuwait Ministry of Health has proposed tightening genetic tests for immigrant workers in order to prevent transgender migrants from entering the GCC job market.

Read The Independen’s news about medical tests that will be conducted by Gulf states to stop homosexual to enter their countries. Click here.

Organizations, associations and activists defending the human and civil law of  trans people denounce generalized extreme violence and murders and impunity that trans people suffer

Read article about the situation of trans people in South Africa and the obstacles that they face regarding the identification country system. Here.

Read the report of the 24th session of the Human Rights Council which concluded last week. Among the issues discussed, gender integration was one of

DAWN’s new website is now accessible. It brings a better search engine and a new media section. Click here to access it.

Read Huffington Post’s article about USA iniciative “Safe from the Start”, designed to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in conflict and crisis and build

“The Gikuyu of Kenya, who had very rigid codes of sexual convention, thought the public displays of affection among Europeans were unspeakably vulgar. Ironically, however,

Read women’s rights lawyer Flavia Agnes’ article about the fate of the woman raped and killed in India last year. “And so she lives on

The Netherlands Fellowship Programmes (NFP) promote capacity building within organisations in 50 countries by providing training and education through fellowships for professionals. The NFP is

Almost one in four men surveyed in six Asian countries admit to having raped their partners at least once, according to a UN report. Researcher

Read the article “The Queer Art of Whistle Blowing”, about the place that gender is occupying in the context of the “Manning case”. Click here.

Read the article “Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, the New Dissidents?” about United States machinery that satisfies certain tendencies that are in the genetic code

Read feminist Zillah Eisenstein’s article about the Manning case. “Manning has initiated a rare moment of opportunity that makes mainstream silence a bit more difficult”.

A new research in the Lancet Global Health, a medical journal, indicates that more than one in ten men surveyed in six Asian countries said

Although mature and vibrant, Latin American scholarship on sexuality still remains largely invisible to a global readership. In this collection of articles translated from Portuguese

Brazil: Sexual assaults in Rio de Janeiro have cast a light on class differences in the city and have raised fears for women’s safety ahead of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics. Read more.

Read “Bradley Manning, Bayard Rustin, and the perversion of Pride”, an article by Scott Long on A paper bird blog.

United Nations has just released a video stating that LGBT rights are human rights, starring Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and the High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.Watch it now.

With the recent release of the US State Department’s Human Rights Reports for 2012, the Council for Global Equality has compiled information from the reports on areas ranging from police/state violence to transgender and lesbian-specific incidents. Download the compendium here.

The International Journal of Middle East Studies just launched a special issue about Queer Affects in its Volume 45 of May, 2013. Copies may be requested here.

Show your support to the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia by changing your profile picture on social networks. Click here for some suggestions.

May 17th is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO). In 2013, some 100 countries have reported activities to be held in remembrance of the Day and of the victims of homophobia and transphobia. We selected some of the amazing initiatives, which you can see here and get inspired to take part in this movement.

Brazil: From April 2nd to 5th, 2013 activists from more than 20 Latin American countries met in Brasilia, Brazil, to discuss the terms and contents of a new resolution on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity, to be presented at the UN Human Rights Council next June. Read more.

From March 18th to 22th, 2013 Sexuality Policy Watch organized the Sexuality and change – a new training program, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, gathering participants from Angola, Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon, China, Egypt, India, Mexico, Philippines, Senegal, South Africa, Trinidad & Tobago, United States and Venezuela. This was the first training program offered by SPW and this initiative prompted participants to examine how theory, research and policy can shape meaningful social change. Read more.

Read “The Inter-American Human Rights System is under threat: Implications for the Sexuality and Human Rights Agenda”, written by Marcelo Ferreyra, Latin America and Caribbean Coordinator at Global Initiative for Sexuality and Human Rights – Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights, for the SPW Newsletter N. 12.

Scott Long published at the blog A paper bird the article Resources for the unbelievers, on aid conditionality and LGBT rights. A series of contents regarding aid conditionality and LGBT rights is presented in this article, including some contents produced by some partners for the SPW Newsletter n.11. Read more.

Global: Read the IDAHO Committee team balance about the global mobilization worldwide celebrating the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, on May 17th. According to IDAHO Commmittee, new countries joining celebrations for the first time.

Argentina: On May 9, 2012 the Senate passed the first ever gender identity law in the country. With 55 votes in favor, 1 abstention and no votes against the law passed is for now the most progressive disposition on transgender people rights in the world. Read the note published by GATE and more.

Argentina: On April 24, 2012 the Senate Committees on General Legislation and on Population and Development signed in Buenos Aires an agreement that authorizes the discussion on the Gender Identity Law at the Argentine Senate to proceed. Read more.

Starting with the issue No. 11, SPW Newsletters no longer provide detailed links to posted material, as they will have already been circulated through the announcements of new website postings. The newsletter will mainly focus on one or two pieces of substantive analysis addressing one key debate and, eventually, one key event that we consider to be have been critical in the global sexual politics landscape in the period immediately preceding the publication. Partners and collaborators are invited to share their views on these topics and the Newsletter No 11 is devoted to two key topics: the ongoing debate around the validity of aid conditionality as an instrument to protect LGBT rights and the current state of affairs of abortion reform in Uruguay. Good reading!

Hakima Abbas, the Executive Director of Fahamu Network for Social Justice, wrote for the SPW Newsletter n. 11 the article “Aid, resistance and Queer power”, on the effects of the aid conditionality to the LGBTIQ issues in Africa.

Read the article Aid conditionality and respect for LGBT people rights, written by Luis Abolafia Anguita, from Fundación Triángulo, a Spanish LGBT organization wich works with development cooperation. The article debates the threats, reactions and effects of the recent initiative to reduce the development aid to countries that criminalize homosexuality.

Read the interview with Radhika Balakrishnan, the Executive Director and a Professor at the Center for Women’s Global Leadership, about aid conditionalities to developing countries and its impacts on national human rights agenda.

Global: To mark the International Women’s Day and to highlight backs and forwards in terms of women’s current condition, SPW has gathered a series of articles, studies, news and arts in a special bulletin.

Global: On March 7, 2012 the Human Rights Council in Geneva held the first-ever formal UN inter-governmental debate on violence and discrimination against LGBT people. 

The panel was moderated by the Ambassador of South Africa and featured panelists from Brazil, Pakistan, Sweden and the USA. Read more.

ARC International is co-hosting with the ICJ an NGO roundtable to raise awareness of sexual orientation and gender identity issues on next Monday, 5 March, at the 19th Session of the UN Human Rights Council. Titled “LGBT Issues for the Curious: (Almost) Everything you Wanted to Know about Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity but were too Diplomatic to Ask”, the roundtable affords an opportunity for LGBT human rights defenders from all regions to share their perspectives with diplomats. Read more.

Brazil: Cleides Amorim, a professor at the Federal University of Tocantins, was one of over a dozen LGBT Brazilians murdered in just the first two weeks of 2012. AllOut started a national campaign aimed at Federal Government, inspired in a protest letter from a group of professors of Brazilian universities. Read more.

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.

In the The Equal Rights Review (Volume Seven), it is debated human rights violations. Some people are at higher risk of having their rights violated. When the higher risk is associated with more or less stable personal characteristics such as gender, religion, race, disability, sexual orientation, etc., and materialises in a less favourable treatment or a particular disadvantage, the result may amount to discrimination: a violation of the fundamental right to equality.

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.

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

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?

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

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).

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.

In the Volume Six of The Equal Rights Review, The Equal Rights Trust searches for answers to questions like: If equality is understood as a fundamental human right and a basic principle of social justice (this is how it is described in the ERT mission statement), what does it mean in respect to health? How is health equality thinkable? While there is a wealth of literature in political theory, health care policy, economics, social medicine and medical law addressing the central issues of relevance to health equality, an equality and human rights law approach is underdeveloped.

The Sexuality Policy Watch is hosting the Inter-Regional Dialogue on Sexuality and Politics prior to its Advisory Group regular meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on September 26-29, 2011.

Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Justice: A Comparative Law Casebook, by the International Commission of Jurists is the first book of its kind. It collects and analyzes judicial decisions from more than 100 courts around the world. The Casebook showcases the role of international and comparative law in litigation seeking to vindicate the human rights of LGBT individuals. It is organized into fourteen chapters, each consisting of an introduction to the main legal issues and arguments followed by detailed case summaries.

Read the “Reflecting on 2011: incomplete notes on how sexual politics intersect with a shifting landscape”, by Sonia Corrêa, published in the Newsletter n.10.

APC launches the final reports of the EroTICs: Sexuality and the Internet – an exploratory research, with the full research findings from Brazil, India, Lebanon, South Africa and United States, that delve into the complexities of policy and legislative trends on internet content regulation, map key actors and processes, and document how sexuality figures as a central theme in this debate. Read more.

The UN resolution on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity is available in all 6 UN languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

EU: On 30 June 2011, the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights held a hearing on LGBTI rights in the world. Read more.

The Sexuality Policy Watch (SPW) is participating at the VIII International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society (IASSCS) Conference, in Madrid, Spain, from 6th to 9th July 2011, organizing the session Regional dynamics in Sexuality and politics: common threads and differences (July 8th) and participating in the panel Electronic Sociability, Gender, Sexuality and Internet Regulation (July 9th), organized by APC-WNSP. Read more.

Argentina: Read the press release written by AMMAR – Sex Workers Argentina repudiating the Presidential Decree that prohibits publicity that promotes sex services.

Global: Read the article published by ARC International on the 17th session of the Human Rights Council (May 30 to June 17 2011).

The EroTICs: Sexuality and the Internet – an exploratory research, lauched by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), looks at how the internet plays host to critical information about sex education, health, fighting sex discrimination and defining one’s own sexuality. It debunks the commonly-held view that sexuality online is just about pornography. The EroTICs project took place between June 2008 and June 2011 and was funded by The Ford Foundation. Sexuality Policy Watch (SPW) and the Latin American Center on Sexuality and Human Rights (CLAM) developed the Brazilian EroTICs research.

From May 30 to June 17, 2011, the “17th session of the UN Human Rights Council” took place in Geneva, Switzerland. Invited by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), Marina Maria, SPW’s communication and project assistant, participated in the panel Internet rights are human rights, organized by APC on June 3, to present some outcomes from the research “EroTICs: Sex, rights and the internet – An exploratory research study”.

GENERAL REMARKS BY BRAZIL, L.9/Rev.1 Human Rights Council 17th Regular Session Agenda Item 8 Decisions L.9/Rev.1 Geneva, 17 June 2011 GENERAL REMARKS BY BRAZIL Thank you

The following is a rough English translation of the statement read in Arabic by the Saudi Arabia representative at the HRC session in Geneva: Your

United Nations: Human Rights Council passes first-ever Resolution on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in a historic decision. Read more.

Global: Women from Toronto started to organize the Slut Walk against all expressions of sexist violence as a response to a policeman statement that “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized”. Brazil, UK, US, Australia and India joined the movement. Read more.

Global: The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) was celebrated on May 17th 2011 with hundreds of events taking place all around the world and on every continent. Read more.

The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) launched State-sponsored Homophobia – A world survey of laws criminalising same-sex sexual acts between consenting adults, a research by Eddie Bruce-Jones & Lucas Paoli Itaborahy, Birkbeck College School of London, United Kingdom, which was updated in May 2011.

Sylvia Tamale launched the book African Sexualities – A Reader, a groundbreaking volume which provide a critical mapping of African sexualities, informing readers about the plurality and complexities of sexualities on the continent. Click here to read more.

The Queer Bangkok – 21st Century Markets, Media, and Rights, edited by Peter A. Jackson, traces Bangkok’s emergence as a central focus of an expanding regional network linking gay, lesbian, and transgender communities. Read more.

Read Where have India’s baby girls gone?, published recently by The Economist presenting the data from the 2011 Indian census, which shows that there are now 914 girls aged 0-6 years old for every 1,000 boys of the same age.

This document, organized by Amnesty International, identifies how the crimes of rape and sexual violence must, as a requirement of its own statute and a matter of international human rights law, be interpreted and applied with equality between men and women by the International Criminal Court (the Court). The Court has yet to rule on this matter in its jurisprudence. Such incorporation of human rights law and standards in the prosecution of rape and sexual violence should be undertaken by other international courts, as well as national courts, in order to discharge states’ duties under treaty and customary law.

Lesbian Group Kontra and Iskorak – Group for Promotion and Protection of Different Sexual Orientations have just released the 2010 Annual Report on the Status of Human Rights and Gender Minorities in Croatia. Read the publication.

Global: Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights has received $1 million over five years from the Community-University Research Alliances program of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Read more.

USA: Read the statement by the White House’s Press Secretary on Ending Violence Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.

Watch the series of interviews made by Rachel Maddow with David Bahati, the parliamentarian who proposed the so called “kill the gays” bill in Uganda.

UN – Joint statement on ending acts of violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation & gender identity 1. We recall the

Global: Read and follow up on the joint declaration on sexual orientation and gender identity, read by Colombia on behalf of 85 member countries during the UN Human Rights Council 16th session.

Read Are Women’s Rights on Obama’s Agenda in Latin America?, an article by Luisa Cabal and Lilian Sepúlveda on RH Reality Check.

Read the short report “The Body and the State: How the State Controls and Protects the Body”, written by Rafael de la Dehesa about the 23rd Social Research Conference, held on February 10-12, 2011 at the New School University, New York City. The text brings a brief description of some of the speeches and presentations at the Conference.

As part of the EroTICs: Sexuality and the Internet – an exploratory research project, SPW and CLAM have prepared an Executive Summary for the Brazilian chapter of the research, that is available at the last issue of the electronic magazine genderIT.org.

Egypt: In the recent mobilizations for freedom and democracy in the country, the force of organisations consisting of women and youth was decisive. Read the articles Why Egypt’s progressives win, by Paul Amar, Imperial Feminism, Islamophobia, and the Egyptian Revolution, by Nadine Naber, analyzing this Egyptian context, and more.

Read Laura Agustin’s article Sex, Lies and Videotaping, about BBC World Debate programme on Human Trafficking, at the Naked Anthropologist on Migration, Trafficking and Sex blog.

Mexico: Susana Chavez, a human rights activist best known for her poetry and actions to help raise awareness of the violence towards women, was murdered in Ciudad Juarez, a gritty border metropolis that has become Mexico’s most violent city. Read more.

Read the article “Operating logic”, written by Mauro Ï Cabral, on medical interventions or mutilation in intersex people.

The issue Struggle for Equality – Sexual orientation, gender identity and human rights in Africa of the publication Perspectives – Political analysis and commentary from Africa, supported by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, gathers articles that despite the myriad of challenges and hostile environmen, show that there is an ongoing engagement and growing movement towards equality for LGBTI people throughout the continent. Read the publication.

Cuba: Read the statement of SOCUMES and CENESEX on the Cuban vote at the Third Committee of UN General Assembly in support of the amendment which removed the explicitly mention of “sexual orientation” at the periodic resolution condemning the extrajudicial, arbitrary or summary executions.

Africa: The African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights denied observer status to the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL). CAL and other lesbian feminist activists rapidly reacted. Read more.

Click here to read a great editorial piece in which the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay denounces homophobia and calls for concerted action to better protect individuals from violence and discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Venezuela: The postulation of a transexual lesbian feminist woman, activist of human rights, to become a Judge for the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice Venezuela causes call to mind in Venezuela. Read more.

On October 5th and 6th, a group of 18 researchers and activists from various countries in Africa, representing diverse communities engaged with sexual rights debates

ARC International (www.arc-international.net) is releasing an “Activist’s Guide to The Yogyakarta Principles”, a tool for those who are working to create change and build on the momentum that has already begun around the Yogyakarta Principles.

Spain: A controversial exhibition titled “Invisible: transgressive nature” (in Spanish, Invisibles: Naturalezas transgresoras) organized by Decide-T at the University of Alicante, Spain, presented Trans Barbie dolls.

Since the African Regional Dialogue on Sexuality and Geopolitics will take place next week in Lagos, Nigeria, we have selected a series of articles related to sexuality and gender issues in Africa, published in the last months for the SPW’s newsletter n.9. See below.

Read “Internet and sexuality from IGF 2010”, written by Marina Maria, project assistant of the Sexuality Policy Watch. In this article, Marina describres her experience participating in the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2010, that took place in Vilnius, Lithuania, from September 14-17, analysing some aspects on gender and sexuality issues debated during this meeting.

SPW has just concluded the Brazilian stage of the EroTICs: sexuality and the internet – an exploratory research project, sponsored by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). Soon, a final report presenting the observations, analysis, and findings of the study will be published, in which it was tried to map and analyze recent initiatives and debates concerning internet regulation.

If you would like to be kept updated with information from the MDG Summit on sexuality issues, visit IPPF’s MDG Blog – Sex and the Summit.

> Visit the IFG 2010 website > Read “Internet Governance Issues on Sexuality and Women’s Rights” at GenderIT.org > Follow @apc_news live streaming on Twitter.com

In 2010, June 19th, Judith Butler refused the Civil Courage Award of the Christopher Street Day Parade in Berlin, Germany, at the award ceremony, arguing that the parade had become too commercial, and was ignoring the problems of racism and the double discrimination suffered by homosexual or transsexual migrants. Read more.

Global: The United Nations General Assembly voted unanimously on July, 2nd to create a new entity to accelerate progress in meeting the needs of women and girls worldwide, establishing the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women — the new gender equality entity at the UN.

> Judith Butler refuses Berlin Pride Civil Courage Prize 2010 (No Homonationalism) > Judith Butler 1 – Homonationalism 0 (Bully Bloggers) > Judith Buter turns

By Rosalind Petchesky and Sonia Corrêa* Judith Butler’s refusal to receive the Berlin Christopher Street Day (Gay Pride) Civil Courage Prize echoed ideas we have

Read here the synthesis of presentations and some highlights of the African Dialogue and be informed about the main issues debated during the meeting. >

Find here the compilation of the African Regional Dialogue that combines the final report with the Synthesis by Dr. Oka Obono, Sociology Department University of

Here you can find a brief note on the African Dialogue, and the list of participants. See also some pictures of the meeting. > Read

Lagos – Nigeria – October, 2010 Originally planned for early 2010, the African Regional Dialogue on Sexuality and Geopolitics took place from October 4th to

IDAHO: The International Day Against Homophobia, held on May 17 every year, is a rallying event offering an opportunity for people to get together and reach out to one another. Fondation Émergence promotes the International Day Against Homophobia and encourages organisations and individuals to highlight this event in their environment. Get involved.

Europe: The Secretary General of the Council of Europe welcomes the decision of the Committee of Ministers on Wednesday 31 March, 2010 to adopt a recommendation to member states on measures to combat discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

CONTENTS I. SPW ACTIVITIES / EDITORIAL Since late September 2009, the SPW executive team has been engaged in a wide variety of activities. First and

In this issue of SPW’s newsletter, we unfortunately highlight an event that recently occurred in South Africa, not in favor of, but against initiatives that

See news on the Human Rights Council.

2.7 Genital mutilation Since 2003, February 6th has been recognized as the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation. Surveying the Web in

2.6 Human Rights violations Turkey: Multiple Murders of transgender people highlight inadequate state protection Jamaica: British Honorary Consul John Terry murdered in his bedroom. The

2.5 Sexuality and religion Vatican: Read the article The Great Catholic Cover-up, by Christopher Hitchens, a columnist for Vanity Fair and the Roger S. Mertz

2.4 Laws, policies and politics Australia: Australia recognises ‘non-specified’ gender. Read more. USA: A restriction on abortion coverage was added to the health care bill

2.2 The same sex marriage debate > Mexico: Mexico City backs gay marriage in Latin American first (contents available in English and Spanish) > Argentina:

The EroTICS Brazilian case study: A short article synthesizing the findings of this first level of investigation was written by SPW and Clam and will soon published by Gender IT.

As a result of the Latin American Regional Dialogue on Sexuality and Geopolitics, the participants have written a statement to join efforts with the international campaign Stop TransPathologization 2012.

Australia: On March 8th, 2010, Australia may have made gender history, as the New South Wales government lays claim to being the first in the world to recognise an individual’s sex as officially “not specified”.

Due to the larger representation of trans people in this edition of ILGA-LAC, there was a greater exchange of experiences, and more effective integration amongst

Planned preparatory meetings on the 26th and 27th of January 2010, preceded the main event, with themes directly related to the defence of LGBT rights.

As well as examples of achievements regarding public policy and LGBTI citizenship in Latin America, the conference also promoted the exchange of experiences about different

Brazil: 5th ILGA-LAC Conference brings together more than 400 LGBT activists in Curitiba, Brazil.

MANIFESTE LA TRANSEXUALITÉ N’EST PAS UNE MALADIE! POUR LA SUPPRESSION DE LA TRANSEXUALITÉ DU DSM ET DU CID! Nous, participants du Dialogue Latino-américain sur Sexualité

In this issue, you find information on what SPW has been involved since October, 2009. First and foremost, we made further progress on preparation for the Dialogue on Sexuality and Geopolitics and the African Regional Dialogue will held in the last week September, 2010. Following the recommendation of the Latin American Regional Dialogue, we have added our voices to a global campaign that has been underway since May 2009 by developing, together with partners, a statement calling for the de-pathologization of transexuality. In the session “Around the world”, we highlight on the one hand the regressive legislation proposed in Uganda, which aims to further criminalize “homosexual” behavior, and on the other hand you find information on the same sex marriage legislation recently approved in the Federal District of Mexico. Read also about other regional highlights, and recent sexuality/sexual rights advocacy, like the 54th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). See what projects and events connect art and sexuality and browse listings of upcoming events, scholarships, job opportunities and publications.

By Mauro ï Cabral (1) 1. Each year, during this week, I write a text that can be short or long, as well as more

France: In February 2010, France became the first country in the world to remove transsexuality from its official list of mental disorders.

Transexuality is not a disease Calling for the elimination of transexuality from the DSM and ICD We, as participants of the Latin American Regional Dialogue

Malawi: Human rights groups in Malawi have leapt to the defense of two gay men who were arrested after marrying in the country’s first public same-sex ceremony. The men were charged in court. Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, pleaded not guilty before a court in Blantyre to charges of indecency.

Mexico: In 2009, December 21, the Mexican capital became the first in Latin America to allow same-sex marriage with a groundbreaking law which could set a precedent for gay rights across the region.

In a much anticipated decision in the General Assembly (GA), governments agreed in September to move ahead with the process of creating a stronger, more

Second panel — Science and Sexual Politics Afternoon – August 24, 2009 In the panel that followed, these points were further examined from rather distinct

Second session—Science and Sexual Politics Afternoon – August 24, 2009 The overview paper presented in the afternoon section, Science, Gender and Sexuality, was written by

Hillary Clinton received the Four Freedoms Award from the Roosevelt Foundation on September 11. She gave her acceptance speech and announced a Security Council Resolution

The Pink Chaddi Campaign in India has recruited more than 21 thousand people. Read more about the campaign here.

Nigeria: Same Gender Marriage (Prohibition) Bill violates Constitution

This session would aim to peel away the layers of meaning that exist between the personal and political. It would cover religion, culture, class, sexualities,

Short film “The power of ‘body movements’” Interviewing Angela Collet, Aline Valentim and Valentina Homem During the 11th AWID International Forum, in the workshop The

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