Sexuality

The Remaking of Social Contracts: Feminists in a Fierce New World

Citation:

Sen, Gita, and Marina Durano, eds. 2014. The Remaking of Social Contracts: Feminists in a Fierce New World. Zed Books. 

Authors: Gita Sen, Marina Durano

Abstract:

Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) argues that social contracts must be recreated if they are to fulfil the promise of human rights. In The Remaking of Social Contracts, leading thinkers and activists address a wide range of concerns - global economic governance, militarism, ecological tipping points, the nation state, movement-building, sexuality and reproduction, and religious fundamentalism. These themes are of wide-ranging importance for the survival and well-being of us all, and reflect the many dimensions and inter-connectedness of our lives. Using feminist lenses, the book puts forward a holistic and radical understanding of the synergies, tensions and contradictions between social movements and global, regional and local power structures and processes, and it points to other alternatives and possibilities for this fierce new world.

Table of Contents

  1. Front Cover
  2. About the Editors
  3. About DAWN
  4. Title
  5. Copyright
  6. Contents
  7. Foreword (Josefa Franscisco)
  8. Part I: Introductory Overview (Gita Sen & Marina Durano)
  9. Part II: Governing Globalization: Critiquing the Reproduction of Inequality
  10. Chapter 1: Financialization, Distribution and Inequality (Stephanie Seguino)
  11. Chapter 2: New Poles of Accumulation and Realignment of Power in the Twenty-first Century (Yao Graham & Hibist Wendemu Kassa)
  12. Chapter 3 The Modern Business of War (Oscar Ugarteche)
  13. Chapter 4: The Convergences and Divergences of Human Rights and Political Economy (Aldo Caliari)
  14. Part III: Political Ecology and Climate Justice: Tackling Sustainability and Climate Change
  15. Chapter 5: Climate Non-negotiables (Anita Nayar)
  16. Chapter 6: Geoengineering: A Gender Issue? (Diana Bronson)
  17. Chapter 7: Land Grabs, Food Security and Climate Justice: A Focus on Sub-Saharan Africa (Zo Randriamaro)
  18. Part IV: Secularism and Biopolitics: Confronting Fundamentalism and Deciphering Biopolitics
  19. Chapter 8: Negotiating Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights at the UN: A Long and Winding Road (Alexandra Garita & Francoise Girad)
  20. Chapter 9: The Making of a Secular Contract (Fatou Sow & Magaly Pazello)
  21. Chapter 10: Sexuality as a Weapon of Biopolitics: Rethinking Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill (Rosalind P. Petchesky)
  22. Part V: Frontier Challenges: Building Nation-States and Social Movements
  23. Chapter 11: The State of States (Claire Slatter)
  24. Chapter 12: Religious Fundamentalism and Secular Governance (Amrita Chhachhi)
  25. Chapter 13: Reframing Peace and Security for Women (Kumudini Samuel)
  26. Chapter 14: Feminist Activisms for New Global Contracts amidst Civil Indignation (Josefa Franscisco & Peggy Antrobus)
  27. Contributors
  28. Index
  29. Back Cover

 

Annotation:

Summary:

In The Remaking of Social Contracts, leading thinkers and activists address a wide range of concerns - global economic governance, militarism, ecological tipping points, the nation state, movement-building, sexuality and reproduction, and religious fundamentalism. These themes are of wide-ranging importance for the survival and well-being of us all, and reflect the many dimensions and inter-connectedness of our lives.

Using feminist lenses, the book puts forward a holistic and radical understanding of the synergies, tensions and contradictions between social movements and global, regional and local power.

Topics: Economies, Gendered Power Relations, Governance, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Religion, Sexuality

Year: 2014

The ‘Comfort Women’ Issue and the Embedded Culture of Sexual Violence in Contemporary Japan

Citation:

Kazue, Muta. 2016. “The ‘Comfort Women’ Issue and the Embedded Culture of Sexual Violence in Contemporary Japan.” Current Sociology 64 (4): 620–36. 

Author: Muta Kazue

Abstract:

For over two decades, survivors of Japanese military sexual slavery during the Asia-Pacific War, euphemistically called comfort women (ianfu), have been demanding the Japanese government take responsibility for past atrocities to restore their dignity. They have yet to obtain a satisfactory response; indeed, their demands have frequently been met with verbal attacks from the right-wing, including influential politicians. This article seeks to identify and explain some of the reasons why the problem has remained a highly controversial, but stubbornly unresolved issue. It begins by offering a brief history of the issue and then maps out the contemporary controversy. It shows that right-wing attacks should be understood as stemming from a systemic and deeply embedded bifurcation of women in Japanese society that allows the adoration of some women to comfortably coexist with misogyny, powerful rape myths, and a porn culture. These deeply permeate many areas of society, including its courts.

Keywords: Japan, Korea, comfort women, comfort women issue, Conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence, conflict-related sexual violence, conflict-related sexual violence against women, South Korea

Topics: Gender-Based Violence, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, SV against Women, Sexuality Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: Japan, South Korea

Year: 2016

Rethinking Gender and Nature from a Material(Ist) Perspective: Feminist Economics, Queer Ecologies and Resource Politics

Citation:

Bauhardt, Christine. 2013. “Rethinking Gender and Nature from a Material(ist) Perspective: Feminist Economics, Queer Ecologies and Resource Politics.” European Journal of Women’s Studies 20 (4): 361–75.

Author: Christine Bauhardt

Abstract:

After the cultural turn, it has become necessary to reconsider society’s relations to nature. This article provides a theoretically sound basis for feminist interventions in global environmental policies drawing on feminist economics and queer ecologies to theorize material(ist) perspectives on gender and nature. This is the starting point for rethinking social and gender relations to nature from the resource politics approach. Beyond the feminization of environmental responsibility this approach aims at an understanding of human life embedded in material and discursive processes – without putting the potential (re)productivity of the female body on the ideological pedestal of heterosexual maternity.

Keywords: ecological crisis, environmental policies, gender and sustainability, nature cultures, social relations to nature

Topics: Environment, Feminisms, Gender, Sexuality

Year: 2013

Toward a Queer Ecofeminism

Citation:

Gaard, Greta. 1997. “Toward a Queer Ecofeminism.” Hypatia 12 (1): 114-37.

Author: Greta Gaard

Abstract:

Although many ecofeminists acknowledge heterosexism as a problem, a systematic exploration of the potential intersections of ecofeminist and queer theories has yet to be made. By interrogating social constructions of the "natural," the various uses of Christianity as a logic of domination, and the rhetoric of colonialism, this essay finds those theoretical intersections and argues for the importance of developing a queer ecofeminism.

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, LGBTQ, Sexuality Regions: Americas Countries: United States of America

Year: 1997

Gender and Mobility: A Critical Introduction

Citation:

Penttinen, Elina, and Anitta Kynsilehto. 2017. Gender and Mobility: A Critical Introduction. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Authors: Elina Penttinen, Anitta Kynsilehto

Annotation:

Summary:
Our world is characterized by mobility. The number of refugees on the global scale has increased considerably. Meanwhile border control measures and legal avenues for mobility have been severely curbed, and the political climate has become all the more violent against racialized and gendered “Others”. Business elites traverse the fast-track lines to financial hubs and tourists discover new destinations. Ageing societies need people from abroad to perform care work. Domestic workers carve out nearer and further paths to reach employment, often leaving their family members behind in need of care. This book examines global mobilities from gendered perspectives, asking how gender together with race/ethnicity, social class, nationality and sexuality shape globally mobile lives. By developing analysis that cuts through economic structures, policies and individuals enacting agency, the book demonstrates how intersectional feminist analysis helps to comprehend uneven mobilities. Through multidisciplinary angle the book draws examples from different parts of the world and refuses to provide easy answers. Calling for students, scholars and general readers alike, the book invites the reader to imagine and relate to the world in manifold ways. (Summary from Google Books)

Topics: Class, Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Economies, Care Economies, Gender, Gender Analysis, Intersectionality, Race, Sexuality

Year: 2017

Decolonization and Afro-Feminism

Citation:

Tamale, Sylvia. 2020. Decolonization and Afro-Feminism. Ottawa: Daraja Press.

Author: Sylvia Tamale

Annotation:

Summary:
Why do so many Africans believe they cannot break the “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back” cycle?  Six decades after colonial flags were lowered and African countries gained formal independence, the continent struggles to free itself from the deep legacies of colonialism, imperialism and patriarchy.  Many intellectuals, politicians, feminists and other activists, eager to contribute to Africa’s liberation, have frustratingly, felt like they took the wrong path.  Analyzed through the eyes of Afro-feminism, this book revisits some of the fundamental preconditions needed for radical transformation.

The main focus of Decolonization and Afro-feminism is unlearning imperial power relations by relearning to “shake off” the colonial filters through which we view the world, including the instruments of law, education, religion, family and sexuality.  It re-envisions Pan-Africanism as a more inclusive decolonizing/decolonial movement that embraces Afro-feminist politics.  It also challenges the traditional human rights paradigm and its concomitant idea of “gender equality,” flagging instead, the African philosophy of Ubuntu as a serious alternative for reinvigorating African notions of social justice. (Summary from original source)

 

Table of Contents:

Introduction

1. The Basics of Decolonization and Decolonial Futures

2. Feminists and the Struggle for Africa’s Decolonial Reconstruction

3. Challenging the Coloniality of Sex, Gender and Sexuality

4. Legal Pluralism and Decolonial Feminismn

5. Repositioning the Dominant Discourses on Rights and Social Justice

6. Rethinking the African Academy

7. Decolonizing Family Law: The Case of Uganda

8. Towards Feminist Pan-Africanism and Pan-African Feminism

Epilogue: Decolonizing Africa in the Age of Big Data

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Education, Feminisms, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Patriarchy, Religion, Sexuality Regions: Africa

Year: 2020

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Canada’s ‘Feminist’ International Assistance

Citation:

Aylward, Erin, and Stephen Brown. 2020. “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Canada’s ‘Feminist’ International Assistance.” International Journal: Canada’s Journal of Global Policy Analysis 75 (3): 313–28.

Authors: Erin Aylward, Stephen Brown

Abstract:

Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP), launched in June 2017, marks the first time that sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) have been mentioned in an overarching Canadian aid policy. The inclusion of SOGI in the policy document sent an important signal to domestic and international development partners on the need to consider these sources of discrimination and marginalization. This article asks two basic research questions. First, what is the place of SOGI in Canada’s “feminist” international assistance? Second, what additional steps does Canada’s development program need to take to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people in the Global South? Based on an analysis of official documents and secondary sources, we argue that FIAP itself sends only a weak signal about the importance of SOGI-related concerns, but Canadian foreign aid has expanded its understanding of LGBTI issues and has begun to commit dedicated resources to addressing them. Nonetheless, the initial programming (2017–2019) was channelled in an ad hoc manner and through one, major stand-alone commitment, rather than through a broader framework that would guide SOGI’s integration into Canadian programs over the long term. If serious about addressing LGBTI rights more systematically, the Canadian government needs to expand its definition of what SOGI entails and move beyond niche programming to recognize the cross cutting dimension of LGBTI rights in foreign aid, especially in the area of sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Keywords: foreign aid, sexual orientation, gender identity, LGBTI, Canada, feminism

Topics: Development, Feminisms, Feminist Foreign Policy, Gender, Health, Reproductive Health, LGBTQ, Rights, Reproductive Rights, Sexuality Regions: Americas, North America Countries: Canada

Year: 2020

Seeing Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in International Security

Citation:

Sjoberg, Laura. 2015. “Seeing Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in International Security.” International Journal: Canada’s Journal of Global Policy Analysis 70 (3): 434–53.

Author: Laura Sjoberg

Abstract:

This essay examines the roles that sex, gender, and sexuality can play in the study of international security. It makes the argument that ‘‘hard’’ security pressing questions like wars, genocides, and terrorist attacks and issues of gender, sex, and sexuality are linked. It begins by providing information about the recent and ongoing conflict in Libya as a case study. Then, it explores some of the questions that feminist and queer scholars have asked about international security in turn: where are the ‘‘women’’ in global politics? Where is ‘‘gender’’ and what does it matter? How do gender dynamics influence war and conflict? Do issues of sex and sexuality matter to war and conflict? If so, how? What tools are available to study these questions and produce answers in any given political situation?

Keywords: sex, gender, sexuality, security, war, Libya

Topics: Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Security, Sexuality Regions: Africa, MENA, North Africa Countries: Libya

Year: 2015

Queering Explanatory Frameworks for Wartime Sexual Violence against Men

Citation:

Schulz, Philipp, and Heleen Touquet. 2020. “Queering Explanatory Frameworks for Wartime Sexual Violence against Men.” International Affairs 96 (5): 1169–87.

Authors: Philipp Schulz, Heleen Touquet

Abstract:

In this article we argue that prevalent explanatory frameworks of sexual violence against men primarily pursue one line of inquiry, explaining its occurrence as exclusively strategic and systematic, based on heteronormative and homophobic assumptions about violence, gender and sexualities. Feminist IR scholarship has significantly complexified our understanding of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), documenting its multiple forms and causes across time and space—thereby moving beyond the persistent opportunism-strategy dichotomy and critically engaging with the dominant ‘rape as a weapon of war’ narrative. Drawing on empirical material from Sri Lanka and northern Uganda we queer the current explanatory frameworks, analyzing multiple instances of CRSV against men that both simultaneously seem to confirm and defy categorizations as opportunistic or strategic, while being situated in broader and systematic warfare dynamics and unequal power-relationships. Our empirical material shows that relying on crude categorizations such as the opportunism–strategy binary is unproductive and essentialist, as it tends to mask over the complexities and messiness of deeply gendered power relationships during times of war. Binary strategy/opportunism categorizations also imply broader unintended political consequences, including the further marginalization of sexual violence acts that fall outside the dominant scripts or binary frameworks—such as sexual violence against men with opportunistic underpinnings.

Topics: Conflict, Gender, Men, Gendered Power Relations, Male Victims, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Men, Sexuality Regions: Africa, East Africa, Asia, South Asia Countries: Sri Lanka, Uganda

Year: 2020

What Is Sexual about Conflict-Related Sexual Violence? Stories from Men and Women Survivors

Citation:

Dolan, Chris, Maria Eriksson Baaz, and Maria Stern. 2020. “What Is Sexual about Conflict-Related Sexual Violence? Stories from Men and Women Survivors.” International Affairs 96 (5): 1151–68.

Authors: Chris Dolan, Maria Eriksson Baaz, Maria Stern

Abstract:

Despite the prominent attention that the problem of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has recently garnered globally, we still know far too little about what is sexual about sexual violence, according to whom, as well as why and how this matters in our efforts to prevent and redress its harms. A growing theoretical, political, legal and ethical imperative to ask questions about the sexual part of sexual violence across both war and peace is nonetheless emerging. This article therefore turns to the accounts of male and female survivors of CRSV at the at the Refugee Law Project (RLP) in Kampala, Uganda. In our reading of their accounts, we explore how the participants understand the possible imbrication of the perpetrator's sexual desire and pleasure with the violence they inflicted, as well as how they deem such intermeshing impossible or deeply problematic in and to the gendered frames that govern how they think about the distinctions between violence and sex, as well as themselves as sexual, social, embodied subjects. Read together, these conflicted and conflicting testimonies offer a vantage point from which to rethink some of the reductive truisms that persist in dominant policy-friendly accounts of wartime sexual violence—namely that such violence is about power and not about ‘sex’. The participants’ accounts thus urge us, as scholars and policy advocates, to resist reducing the multi-layered experiences of victim/survivors of sexual violence to fit into the palatable narratives of victimhood that prevail in humanitarian, juridical and policy spaces.

Topics: Conflict, Gender, Gendered Discourses, Sexual Violence, SV against Men, SV against Women, Sexuality, Violence Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Uganda

Year: 2020

Pages

© 2024 CONSORTIUM ON GENDER, SECURITY & HUMAN RIGHTSLEGAL STATEMENT All photographs used on this site, and any materials posted on it, are the property of their respective owners, and are used by permission. Photographs: The images used on the site may not be downloaded, used, or reproduced in any way without the permission of the owner of the image. Materials: Visitors to the site are welcome to peruse the materials posted for their own research or for educational purposes. These materials, whether the property of the Consortium or of another, may only be reproduced with the permission of the owner of the material. This website contains copyrighted materials. The Consortium believes that any use of copyrighted material on this site is both permissive and in accordance with the Fair Use doctrine of 17 U.S.C. § 107. If, however, you believe that your intellectual property rights have been violated, please contact the Consortium at info@genderandsecurity.org.

Subscribe to RSS - Sexuality