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      Sexual and reproductive rights under attack: the advance of political and moral conservatism in Brazil

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          Abstract

          This article discusses political setbacks related to sexual and reproductive health and rights that have occurred in Brazil in the last 5 years (2014–2018) resulting from the significant role played by Christian (Evangelical and Catholic) parliamentarians in the legislative branch. Political initiatives aimed at prohibiting the affirmation of sexual and reproductive rights, while also curtailing debate about sexuality and gender in schools and universities, have raised “moral panic” within some elements of Brazilian society. The discursive strategies used around so-called “gender ideology” stimulated the formation of civil organisations which promote morality based on right-wing political positions. For this study, we looked at official documents and bibliographic material to examine how issues related to abortion rights, health care in cases of sexual violence, the prevention of sexually transmitted infections and homosexual citizenship are currently being suppressed, compromising the defence and advancement of the sexual and reproductive rights of women and the LGBTI+ population. The results point to the steady weakening of public policies that had become law in the 1980s, a time of Brazilian re-democratisation after two decades of military dictatorship. A wide range of civil, political and social rights, which saw significant growth and consolidation over the last 20 years, were rolled back after the resurgence of the extreme right wing in the federal legislature, culminating in the election of the current president in October 2018. However, social movements have increased in strength in the last few decades, especially the black feminist and LGBTI+ rights movements. These movements continue to provide political resistance, striving to affirm and protect all sexual and reproductive rights achieved to date.

          Résumé

          Cet article évoque les reculs politiques qu'a connus le Brésil ces cinq dernières années (2014–2018), en raison du rôle considérable joué par les parlementaires chrétiens (évangéliques et catholiques) dans le pouvoir législatif. Plusieurs initiatives politiques destinées à interdire l'affirmation des droits sexuels et reproductifs, tout en restreignant le débat sur la sexualité et le genre dans les écoles et les universités, ont causé une « panique morale » dans la société brésilienne. Les stratégies du discours utilisées autour de l'idéologie dite « de genre » ont stimulé la formation d'organisations civiles qui encouragent la moralité sur la base de positions politiques de droite. Pour cette étude, nous avons examiné des documents officiels et du matériel bibliographique pour déterminer comment les questions relatives aux droits à l'avortement, aux soins de santé en cas de violence sexuelle, à la prévention d'infections sexuellement transmissibles et à la citoyenneté des homosexuels sont réprimées, ce qui compromet la défense des droits sexuels et reproductifs des femmes et de la population LGBTI+. Les résultats révèlent un affaiblissement chronique des politiques publiques qui sont entrées dans le droit au cours des années 80, une période de redémocratisation du Brésil après deux décennies de dictature militaire. Un vaste éventail de droits civils, politiques et sociaux qui s'étaient nettement étendus et renforcés au cours des vingt dernières années, ont reculé après la résurgence de l'extrême droite au parlement fédéral ayant culminé avec l'élection du président actuel en octobre 2018. Néanmoins, les mouvements sociaux consolidés ces dernières décennies, tout spécialement le féminisme Noir et les mouvements des droits des LGBTI+, restent des groupes de résistance politique s'efforçant d'affirmer et de maintenir tous les droits sexuels et reproductifs obtenus à ce jour.

          Resumen

          Este artículo discute los retrocesos políticos que han ocurrido en Brasil en los últimos cinco años (2014–2018) como resultado del rol significativo desempeñado por parlamentarios cristianos (evangélicos y católicos) en el poder legislativo. Varias iniciativas políticas con la finalidad de prohibir la afirmación de los derechos sexuales y reproductivos, y a la vez limitar el debate sobre sexualidad y género en las escuelas y universidades, han causado “pánico moral” en la sociedad brasileña. Las estrategias discursivas aplicadas en torno a la llamada “ideología de género” estimularon la formación de organizaciones civiles que promueven moralidad basándose en posturas políticas derechistas. Para este estudio, revisamos documentos oficiales y material bibliográfico para examinar cómo se suprimen los asuntos relacionados con el derecho al aborto, servicios de salud en casos de violencia sexual, prevención de infecciones de transmisión sexual y ciudadanía homosexual, por lo cual se compromete la defensa de los derechos sexuales y reproductivos de las mujeres y la población LGBTI+. Los resultados indican una continua debilitación de las políticas públicas aprobadas como ley en la década de los ochenta, época de re-democratización brasileña tras dos décadas de dictadura militar. En los últimos veinte años, hubo considerable crecimiento y consolidación de una amplia gama de derechos civiles, políticos y sociales que habían sufrido retrocesos después del resurgimiento de la extrema derecha en la legislatura federal, que culminó en la elección del presidente actual en octubre de 2018. Sin embargo, los movimientos sociales fortalecidos en las últimas décadas, en particular los movimientos por los derechos de feministas negras y LGBTI+, persisten como grupos de resistencia política que luchan por afirmar y preservar todos los derechos sexuales y reproductivos logrados hasta la fecha.

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          MORALIDADES, RACIONALIDADES E POLÍTICAS SEXUAIS NO BRASIL CONTEMPORÂNEO

          Resumo Neste artigo, discuto a hipótese de que a emergência da noção de direitos sexuais e a crescente utilização da linguagem dos direitos humanos para consolidar uma ampla agenda de reivindicações relativas aos prazeres, aos corpos e às práticas sexuais significam mais que o mero reconhecimento de que essa dimensão da experiência humana foi alvo da ingerência autoritária do Estado no passado, e de que precisa agora de proteção especial. Tendo como referência a já significativa literatura etnográfica brasileira sobre práticas, valores, identidades e intervenções públicas relativas à sexualidade, tomo a emergência da noção de direitos sexuais como aspecto central de um processo mais amplo de transformação que acontece no nível das políticas sexuais e que incide sobre o próprio dispositivo da sexualidade. Fruto da relação dinâmica entre diferentes atores sociais (ativistas, gestores públicos, políticos, juristas, pesquisadores etc.), tais direitos são aqui considerados como símbolo da emergência histórica de um "novo" regime secular da sexualidade, acompanhado por um estilo de regulação moral que lhe é próprio.
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            Disentangling and Locating the “Global Right”: Anti-Gender Campaigns in Europe

            This article examines the development of campaigns against “gender ideology” in Europe, leading to the emergence of a specific family of mobilizations that we call anti-gender campaigns. These campaigns, started in the mid-1990s as a Catholic project in reaction to the results of the UN conferences of Cairo and Bejing, but developed significantly in several European countries after crucial encounters with right-wing populism. While recognizing the importance of these crossovers, we contend the interpretation that mobilizations against “gender ideology” and right-wing populism are the two faces of the same coin, and we plead for a more complex understanding of the ways in which distinct—and sometimes competing—projects can converge in specific settings. We argue that research on the “Global Right Wing” should therefore disentangle the various components of this phenomenon, and locate them in concrete settings. We show that this research strategy allows us to better grasp the specificities of each project and the ways in which they interact. Opening our eyes on crucial developments in contemporary Europe, this strategy also prevents researchers from falling into the trap of a global and unqualified backlash against everything achieved in terms of gender and sexuality in the last decades.
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              La "cultura de la vida": desplazamientos estratégicos del activismo católico conservador frente a los derechos sexuales y reproductivos

              El artículo considera las principales dimensiones del activismo católico conservador sobre la sexualidad a partir del análisis de la Encíclica Evangelium Vitae (1995). El análisis se focaliza en tres dimensiones: la oposición entre cultura de la vida y cultura de la muerte como el enmarque político; los desplazamientos del activismo católico conservador para intervenir en los principales debates públicos; las principales estrategias propuestas para evitar la sanción o la vigencia de los derechos sexuales y reproductivos. A través de estos ejes, se contribuye a la comprensión de las rearticulaciones en las formas de intervención de la Iglesia Católica como una parte constitutiva de la política sexual contemporánea.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Sex Reprod Health Matters
                Sex Reprod Health Matters
                Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters
                Taylor & Francis
                2641-0397
                14 October 2019
                2019
                : 27
                : 2 , The impact of politics on sexual and reproductive health
                : 76-86
                Affiliations
                [a ]Senior Associate Professor, Public Health Institute, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro , Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
                [b ]Associate Professor, Public Health Faculty, São Paulo University , São Paulo, Brazil
                Author notes
                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3682-6985
                https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3025-2404
                Article
                1669338
                10.1080/26410397.2019.1669338
                7887911
                31609191
                5aee7bbe-53d7-4f75-883f-642670e594c9
                © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

                This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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                sexual and reproductive rights,sexual and reproductive health,political conservatism,gender,sexuality,feminist movement,lgbti+ movement,brazil

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