Russia’s anti-gay laws: the politics and consequences of a moral panic

The issue of LGBT rights in Russia first properly came to mainstream international attention in March 2012, when the St Petersburg Duma passed a law prohibiting “public acts aimed at the propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexualism and transgenderism amongst minors“. The law provoked an international outcry, including calls for tourists to boycott St Petersburg, sister-cities to consider cut off ties with Russia’s “window on Europe”, and condemnation from the EU, with the European Parliament passing a resolution noting that it was “gravely concerned by developments which restrict freedom of expression and assembly on the basis of misconceptions about homosexuality and transgenderism” and calling on Russia and other countries considering the adoption of similar legislation to “demonstrate, and ensure respect for, the principle of non-discrimination”.

Putting “traditional values” into practice : the rise and contestation of anti-homopropaganda laws in Russia

This article explores how “traditional values” are being used by the Russian government to refute the claim that “LGBT rights are human rights” and justify the introduction of anti-homopropaganda laws, and how members of the Russian LGBT community have sought to contest it. Centrally, it traces the development of a discourse that refutes the essentialization of sexual identity and, in doing so, seeks to challenge the focus on individual identity-based rights of contemporary human rights norms. This discursive shift has meant that opponents of the legislation have had to develop contestation strategies that collectively seek to present an alternative interpretation of “traditional values.” The article concludes by considering the implications of the Russian case for human rights norms and for the notion of universal human rights more widely, arguing that it represents a serious challenge to the viability of identity-based LGBT rights claims as a basis on which to advance observance of fundamental human rights due to their homonormativity.

The gay subject in business and its discursive formation: an exploration on power, knowledge and sexuality

Issues related to the reality of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals are being incorporated into institutional and social discourses, and show the challenges that must be overcome towards citizenship. The inclusion of gay rights in the domain of institutions like the United Nations and the Brazilian Secretariat of Human Rights are a response to broader movements that places the gay subject as an important topic of debate in the social-political sphere. In this scenario, some institutions deserve close attention from researchers related to gay issues, the business environment being a good example. In this domain, diversity has become an important topic of debate between scholars, where the question of sexual identity in most cases does not appear. The literature that actually focuses on the theme is explored through approaches that are not able to break with universalisms and a normatized vocabulary. Therefore, this research explores discursive structures related to sexuality and examines the meanings construed throughout these structures as described by gay individuals working in business. Furthermore, it investigates patterns of discursive normative structures and consequential challenges faced by gay people in the working environment, and also complements the current debate both in the socio-political sphere and in academic reality on LGBT challenges. The Foucauldian notions of discourse, knowledge and power, and the main concepts of queer theory are incorporated to the analysis, as well as concepts related to the politics of post-colonial sexuality, subordination, and hegemonic forces, together with role of reflexivity in modernity and its impacts on secularized mental structures. The research design takes a phenomenological approach and bases its knowledge claim on a participatory perspective, where the sample chosen for data collection consisted of gay individuals working in the business environment, aiming at generate categories of meanings through the description of their experiences.

Aproximação, intercâmbio e entendimento entre os seres humanos? Reflexões sobre o Miss Brasil Gay como patrimônio imaterial da cidade de Juiz de Fora

O objetivo do presente trabalho é analisar o Concurso Miss Brasil Gay, realizado anualmente na cidade de Juiz de Fora desde o ano de 1976, e que busca eleger a mais bela transformista do país. O foco do trabalho é o fato do evento ter sido tombado como patrimônio imaterial da cidade no ano de 2004, pelo Decreto do Executivo 09275 / 2007 assinado pelo prefeito, Alberto Bejani. Para tanto, irei definir o conceito de patrimônio imaterial, assim como apresentar a trajetória de desenvolvimento desse conceito. Em seguida, apresentarei as principais características do concurso, assim como as justificativas para o seu tombamento. Por fim, correlacionarei a patrimonialização do evento com o atual estado das políticas públicas brasileiras em relação aos indivíduos gays, lésbicas, bissexuais e transexuais. Para a coleta de informações foram utilizados documentos tanto nacionais quanto internacionais referentes ao conceito de patrimônio imaterial, assim como sua gestão. Sobre o evento em si utilizei principalmente o seu site na internet, reportagens e a tese de mestrado defendida por um dos seus organizadores.

Femininos de montar - Uma etnografia sobre experiências de gênero entre drag queens

The paper presents a discussion about gender and body in the drag queens experience at Natal city (RN). From the different concepts that characterizes the identity processes on subjects who perform gender transformation (transvestites, transsexuals and female impersonators), the justification for studying the drag character is observed as a means to understand matters that are important when you take such a position. Therefore, there is a need for a linkage between the various concepts responsible for this definition, in addition to considering the historical and cultural process responsible for the creation of such categories, identities and stereotypes among these individuals. In this sense it will be possible to carry out a critical analysis on the different social loads present in each representation, and understand what is at stake in the attribution of classifications and terminologies that are applied to different expressions of metamorphosis. This ethnography considers the debate from a field research conducted at LGBT social establishments and other performance spaces of these people, verifying their dynamics in these places and investigating relationships between performers, personas and characters and also backstage scene in which they participate

Sobre o direito de ser normal: identidades normalizadas e a construção das políticas públicas de saúde para gays e lésbicas na cidade de São Paulo

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Diversidade sexual e ensino de ciências: buscando sentidos

Pós-graduação em Educação para a Ciência - FC

A moldura em análise

Considering that our practice is intended to deconstruct stigmas andstereotypes socially produced and institutionalized from normativities ofgender and sexuality, this work proposes a reflection on two issues which hascaused concerns: the secrecy and the ethics in relation to the patients whocome to us. This is because, most of these are LGBTs (lesbian, gay, bisexual,transvestite, transsexual and transgender), and that by being in a situation ofghettoization created by homophobia and resized by inner city context, aresubject to coexist and to relate, what makes be serviced by the same internshipproject or have friends or lovers in this. And, in this configuration, the group isquestioned by ethical dilemmas which imposes on the therapeutic relationship,forcing him to repositioning the respect of aesthetics, this is, the pictureframe setting, the treatment policy, the transference, the ethics and thesecrecy, forcing these concepts to the limit.

Homofobia familiar: abrindo o armário entre quatro paredes

Sexuality device authorizes families to become the guardians of its members’ sexuality, ensuring the exclusion of any kind of dissidence from heteronormativity by means of reinforcement of homophobia. This paper presents the analyses of female participants who are dissident of heteronormativity. They were accessed through snow-ball technique and were interviewed. After transcribing their interviews, the researcher produced narratives of their lives with were corroborated with the participants. Data were analyzed from a poststructuralist perspective. By then, we privileged the study of the manifestation of homophobia in the family, developing a genealogy of their detractors effects, but also highlighting modes of resistance to it. This locus of manifestation of homophobia, obscured by the intimacy of the private world, is still a fairly discussed topic in national studies and maximizes the damage caused by discrimination in macro social spaces. We pointed out, then, family as an important target of action for public policies which aim the protection of human and civil rights, as well as all kinds of violence and discrimination.

O movimento homossexual no Brasil: construção da identidade, eventos e visibilidade mediática

The lesbian and gay movement has organized itself in Brazil with the goal of creating and making its sexual identity stronger, as well as fighting for its rights and against any homophobic act. This paper analyses the homosexual movement and its relation to building its own identity, as a fighting force. We emphasize the relevance of the manifestation events, such as the LGBT pride parade and, in Bauru, the diversity parade, events that not only provide visibility to the topic, with the presence of the media, but also, represent the voice of these people who search for their citizenship rights.

À margem da lei: a criminalização da homofobia e seus reflexos políticos e sociais

Earlier this year, took office in Congress deputies and senators regarding the Legislature from 2015 to 2019. Most elected officials has been identified as more conservative character, which should change the work schedule in the Legislative Houses. In this context, this experimental project consists of a journalistic reporting that aims to analyze how this new composition can affect issues involving the agenda of the LGBT community, in particular, the bills criminalizing the practice of homophobia. The work aims to reach politically minded readers between 21 and 60 years, in order to educate them about the importance of this issue. Therefore, we performed the calculation of violence perpetrated against this population, studied the new profile of the Congress, analyzed how Judiciary acts front of legislative inertia and made interviews. The report compiles important data about the issue and provides, as a result, information reinforced by experts to potentially broaden the understanding of readers about the fact

Prevalência de infecções sexualmente transmissíveis e de alterações da microbiota vaginal e fatores associados em mulheres que fazem sexo com mulheres

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Rap et homosexualite: retranchement homophobe ou changement de cap?

With the advent of the law about same-sex marriage in France, the aim of this dissertation is to analyse the relationship between homosexuality and rap music in the country and to determine to which degree this musical genre can influence people on this matter. Islam has flavoured rap from its beginnings because the vast majority of rappers has a Muslim culture. It is true that, Islam goes beyond the mere disapproval of homosexuality affirming that it is a vile fornication punishable by death. This leads rappers to a rejection of homosexuality in their songs. And, thanks to mass media, these songs contributed to the spreading of the stigma of homophobia upon the “mainstream”. Nevertheless, since 2009, a growing crop of rappers began to support the LGBT community with their work. Rap songs became in this way the anthem of the LGBT campaigns, out from the classic mass media. The result of this dissertation is that rap can have a strong influence upon population and can help them change their mind upon certain subjects, as it was the case for the homosexual cause.

Gender und Genre in melodramatischen Literaturverfilmungen der Gegenwart - Far From Heaven, The Hours, A Single Man

Die Dissertation Gender und Genre in melodramatischen Literaturverfilmungen der Gegenwart untersucht das Medium Film anhand von Todd Haynes’ Far from Heaven (2002), Stephen Daldrys The Hours (2002) und Tom Fords A Single Man (2009) als Quelle des Wissens über gesellschaftlich-normierte Geschlechterrollen und sozialkonstruierte Genderkonzepte. Die Arbeit versteht sich als eine nachhaltige Schnittstellenforschung zwischen Gender-, Literatur-, Film- und Medienwissenschaften und zeigt die Öffnung der Germanistik für den medial geprägten Kulturwandel, welcher den deutschen bzw. den deutschsprachigen Kulturraum betrifft. Gender und Geschlecht destabilisieren die Gesellschaft und die „heterosexuelle Matrix“ durch das individuelle Suchen, Finden, Konstruieren und Anerkennen einer eigenen, individuellen Genderidentität. Dieser Prozess kann unter Zuhilfenahme des Erzählens von Geschlecht im Film verdeutlicht werden, denn die audiovisuelle Fiktion modelliert Wirklichkeitsvorstellungen und das Wirklichkeitsverständnis der Rezipienten. Wobei offen bleibt, ob die Fiktion die Realität oder die Realität die Fiktion imitiert. Denn es gibt nicht nur eine Wahrheit, sondern mehrere, vielleicht unzählige Bedeutungszuschreibungen. Die drei paradigmatischen Literaturverfilmungen wurden jeweils in Bezug zu ihren Literaturvorlagen von Virginia Woolf, Michael Cunningham und Christopher Isherwood gesetzt. Sie können als Beispiele für ein wissendes, postmodernes Pastiche des Themen-Clusters Diskriminierung/Homophobie/Homosexualität/„Rasse“ gelten. Alle drei Filme verhandeln durch gemeinsame, melodramatische Motive (Spiegel, Telefon, Krieg, Familie) die Darstellbarkeit von Emotionen, Begehren, Sehnsüchten, Einsamkeit und dem Verlust der Liebe. Durch Verbindungslinien zu den Melodramen von Douglas Sirk und mittels den Theorien von u.a. Judith Butler, Stanley Cavell, Carolin Emcke, Thomas Elsaesser, Sigmund Freud, Hermann Kappelhoff und Laura Mulvey wurde das Begriffspaar Genre und Gender her-ausgestellt und im zeitgenössischen Geschlechter-Diskurs verortet. Das im Verlauf der Arbeit erarbeitete Wissen zu Gender, Sexualität, Körper und Geschlecht wurde als ein Gender-Genre-Hybrid verstanden und im Genre des queeren bzw. homosexuellen Melodrams (gay melodrama) neu verortet. Die drei Filme sind als ein Wiederbelebungsversuch bzw. ein Erweiterungsversuch des melodramatischen Genres unter dem Genderaspekt anzusehen. Die Analyse und Dekonstruktion feststehender Begriffe im Kontext der Gender- und Gay Studies und dem Queer Cinema lösen produktive Krisen und damit emanzipierte Verfahren aus. Diese müssen immer wieder neu beschrieben werden, damit sie wahrgenommen und verstanden werden. Daher sind die drei melodramatischen Literaturverfilmungen ein fiktionales Dokumentationsmodell gesellschaftlicher Konflikte, welches anhand individueller Schicksale verdeutlicht wird.