Gender-Based Violence and anti-Genderism in the 20th and 21st Centuries: Lessons from Latin America

Jadwiga Pieper-Mooney, University of Arizona

This study traces the changing manifestations of gender-based violence in specific Latin American countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru. I connect the changing realities to the surge of anti-genderism, here defined as the active rejection of gender as a social construction, distinctly different from biological sex. Anti-genderism has shaped new political realities in which not only legislators but also civil-society organizations demand legal changes that undermine gender equality and human rights, including sexual and reproductive rights. Aptly expressed by a Brazilian feminist who asserts that “before, we fought to gain rights; now, we fight against them being taken away” (Molyneux et al. 2021, 19), the changed realities also inspired new activist strategies. I explore both the evidence of gender-based violence that has increased as a result of growing anti-genderism, as well as the responses by activists who defend gender equality and human rights.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 239. Gender and Health