Gays, women, science and politics: HIV and visibility of lesbian women in Brazil

• In Event: New Perspectives on HIV/AIDS in Latin America

Abstract

The socio-political visibility of lesbian women in Brazil has historically been connected with both the LGBTI movement and Women’s Movement. On the one hand, this overlapping involvement may be seen to have multiplied the political routes available to these women – with lesbian women’s civil rights being brought forward through discourses emanating in and from both movements.

At the same time, lesbian women have to a considerable extent also been sidelined in both of these contexts. Although always taking part in both movements, tensions and differences of interests have often pushed them into the background. By being considered at no risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), homosexual women failed to gain the attention and opportunities that the AIDS crisis afforded gay men. Similarly, their association with the women’s movement clearly contributed to muffle many of their health issues, since governmental policies towards women have traditionally been concerned with women’s reproductive role.

Notwithstanding this, recent findings of vulnerability for STI transmission among lesbian women seem to suggest that health issues may nonetheless represent an opportunity for enhancing visibility in the political landscape in Brazil. Based on ethnographic methods, we explore how the discourse of vulnerability is negotiated, shaping women’s experiences and meanings of female homosexuality in the Brazilian context.

Author

• Carolina Borges Rau Steuernagel