XVII Congress of the Brazilian Studies Association

Rethinking Law and Gender in Contemporary Brazil: Queer Culture and Sexual Rights in the 20th Century

• In Event: Fight(s) for Citizenship Rights in Brazil: Race and Gender I

Abstract

The Brazil of the late 19th century was a changing context. After the dictatorial period, the democratic opening led to the emergence of organized movements and institutions for the mobilization in favor of sexual rights. From then on, the gender issues would receive different treatment, occupying the public space. In recent years, Queer theory has enabled a rereading of this scenario, bringing important questions about the role of Law itself and fostering the development of more inclusive norms. Based on the work of Brazilians such as Guacira Lopes Louro, this study aims to present counterpoints supported by Queer theory in Brazil, through a legal system with profoundly exclusionary bases. It is also intends to bring a balance of the sexual rights that were being claimed by vulnerable groups in the period immediately before the Brazilian Constitution of 1988. The new Constitution favored formal equality and gave scope for principled interpretations in the Court decisions favorable to the understanding of gender as a valid category of analysis, to the detriment of sex. Above all, this work is an invitation to rethink the narrative of the period and include relevant actors and not usually be addressed to the process of democratization of rights.

Author

• Thais Duarte Zappelini, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign