‘Missing the point’: A conversation with Sonia Corrêa about the emergence and complexities of anti-gender politics at the intersections of human rights and health

ABSTRACT

Reproductive and sexual health policies have long mobilised religious and political forces. In this interview conducted in September of 2021, Brazilian feminist activist and researcher Sonia Corrêa guides us through a genealogy of anti-gender politics showing how they have been grounded in carefully crafted discourses about rights and gender that hinge on interpretations of the ‘original’ intent as ascribed in ‘founding’ documents such as the bible. In her overview of the transnational connections and ramifications of anti-gender politics, Corrêa provides a critical analysis of their geopolitical connections and the disastrous effects they’ve had on sexual, reproductive and social rights. In highlighting the problems with naming anti-gender politics as ‘anti-rights’ and dismissing the strength and complexity of the forces behind them, Corrêa alerts us to the depth of their roots and urgent need for a shift in strategy to fight them

KEYWORDS:

• Gender ideology
• anti-gender politics
• human rights
• anti-rights
• sexual rights

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Sonia Corrêa for her time and revision of the interview, which contributed greatly to improving and deepening the already profound arguments. Thank you to Nicolle Mac Williams for her assistance with the transcription and review of the interview.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 For more about Sexuality Policy Watch, see: https://sxpolitics.org/.

2 The interview was complemented by a text published by Corrêa in Portuguese in 2018, titled: A ‘política do gênero’ um comentário genealógico. cadernos pagu (53), 2018:e185301.

3 https://2017-2021.state.gov/report-of-the-commission-on-unalienable-rights/index.html.

4 As mentioned in the Introduction, a striking example of this occurred after the interview, when the US Supreme Court overturned Roe Vs. Wade in June 2022. The majority opinion recovers XVII century British and colonial America juridical arguments to affirm that the right to abortion does not exist under the US constitution. For more on this, see the Sexuality Policy Watch publication: https://sxpolitics.org/roe-vs-wade-overturned-us-supreme-court-ends-constitucional-rights-to-abortion/22513.

5 For recent analyses, see Hinson (2022).