TAG: political economy

Sexual Politics in January 2017

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 of the Trump administration. Though buried beneath the impact of outrageous closure of borders and decisions about trade agreements – which are subject to contradictory interpretations — gender and sexuality […]

The Trumping of global sexual politics: a preliminary assessment

In the first two weeks of his administration Donald Trump has opened a can of worms spreading around draconian and regressive conservative policy measures to close borders, to retreat from international agreements including in relation to trade and also to signal towards more aggressive military interventions “if required”. As predicted by the tone of the […]

Sexual Politics Round-up in 2016

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 virus epidemics stormed the headlines, as Brazilian babies affected by Zika congenital syndrome prompted a global alarm. Even though Zika had been previously detected in other countries, the Brazilian epidemic […]

All in for #Decrim!

Sexuality Policy Watch (SPW) and the Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association (ABIA) strongly support the All in for #Decrim campaign as part of the global activism surrounding the International Day Against Violence Against Sex Workers on December 17th.

Reflections on Authoring the Chapter on Young Women for the 2016 Arab Human Development Report

After a long delay, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has finally published its latest Arab Human Development Report, ADHR 2016: Youth and the Prospects for Development in a Changing Reality. In this text, we would like to share our misgivings with the final product—more specifically the chapter we were involved with as authors, as […]

Sexual Politics in late October and November 2016

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 media, SPW has developed a preliminary view on what this may imply for sexual politics in the US and beyond and compiled a series of articles written by a wide […]

Reform of abortion law in Uruguay: Context, process and lessons learned

Authored by Susan Wood, Lilián Abracinskas, Sonia Corrêa and Mario Pecheny, this article – based on a descriptive study of the context and political processes for abortion reform – aims at identifying the strategies and facilitating factors that led to the legal reform and the limitations of the law, as well as to view the […]

Brazilian Supreme Court decision re-ignites the abortion rights debates

In the midst of the conservative restoration that swept Brazil in 2016, the First Chamber of the Brazilian Supreme Court, where five of the eleven judges have a seat, issued on November 29 an unexpected decision, which argues in favor of the decriminalization of abortion until the twelve week of pregnancy. Though the decision is […]

UN: Victory for LGBT Rights

A close vote on November 21, 2016, by a United Nations General Assembly committee affirming that the newly appointed UN expert to address violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity should continue his work is a victory for human rights, Human Rights Watch said today.

Trump’s victory: a preliminary cartography

From the SPW perspective, Trump arrival to power is just another chapter in a chain of conservative restorations sweeping world politics in recent years of which the demise of the Arab spring in vortex of wars and dictatorship followed by the 2014 election of the BJP in India can be eventually considered the starting points.

Gender Politics and Authoritarian Regime

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.

Gender politics and plebiscite in Colombia: statement

During the peace plebisicite campaign, opposition to the so-called gender ideology became pivotal in uniting the extreme right, various Christian organizations and some sectors behind the NO vote, who all perceived in this supposed ideology a deep threat to the Colombian family unit. Within these sectors of society, gender ideology has been seen as a […]