Sexuality, Health and Human Rights surveys the rapid changes taking place at the start of the twenty-first century in the social, cultural, political and economic domains and their impact on sexuality, health and human rights.

This new introduction to the sociology of gender and sexuality provides fresh insight into our rapidly changing attitudes towards sex and our understanding of masculine and feminine identities, relating the study of gender and sexuality to recent research and theory, and wider social concerns throughout the world.

Offers a complete empirical account of US government programs, policies, and interventions outside the United States on behalf of the human rights of LGBTQ people. Around the world, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people continue to be threatened, attacked, arrested, tortured, and sometimes executed just for being sexual or gender minorities. Since the final months of the Clinton administration, agencies and officials of the US government have been engaging in programs and projects whose stated purposes are to serve goals of justice and equity for LGBTQ people outside the United States. Because We Are Human gives readers an inside look at US sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) human rights assistance programs. Cynthia Burack explores settings where indigenous and transnational human rights advocates meet to fund and strategize SOGI human rights movements. This book also examines key arguments against these programs, policies, and interventions that originate on both the conservative right and the progressive academic left. Burack ultimately recommends support for a US commitment to SOGI human rights and programs that serve the needs of LGBTQ people. “Thorough and thought-provoking In Because We Are Human, Cynthia Burack’s insights help to shape a smart, comprehensive picture of US involvement in the global fight for LGBTQ rights.” — Foreword Reviews

This volume examines the role of law as a tool for advancing women’s rights and gender equity in local, national, and global contexts. Many feminist scholars note a marked failure of law to achieve goals connected to women’s rights and gender equality. Despite its limitations, law provides aspirational norms that can be mobilized to hold institutions accountable and to provide material benefit to those excluded from systems of power. In conversation with each other, the chapters in this volume help to advance understanding of both the limitations and the potential of law as a tool for advancing democratic participation, rights, and justice around issues related to gender and sexuality. Contributors acknowledge, to varying degrees, that law has important symbolism and may be used as a lever to mobilize change. At the same time, some offer cautionary notes about the potential downside risks and unintended consequences of relying upon law in pursuit of women’s rights and gender equity. Collectively, the chapters in this volume explore the disjuncture between the promise and expectation of legal reform and the lived experience of those laws by people intended as the beneficiaries of legal change. This book was originally published as a special issue of Global Discourse.

This innovative and thought-provoking Research Handbook explores not only current debates in the area of gender, sexuality and the law but also points the way for future socio-legal research and scholarship. It presents wide-ranging insights and debates from across the globe, including Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Australia, with contributions from leading scholars and activists alongside exciting emergent voices.

Despite legal and social advances in the past two decades, sexual and gender minorities continue to face widespread discrimination and violence in many countries. This discrimination and violence lead to exclusion, which adversely impacts their lives, as well as the communities and economies in which they live. A major barrier to addressing this stigma and sexual orientation and gender identity(SOGI)-based exclusion is the lack of SOGI-specific data. Robust, quantitative data on di‚fferential development experiences and outcomes of sexual and gender minorities--especially those in developing countries--is extremely thin. This paucity of data jeopardizes the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and countries' commitment to the principle of 'leaving no one behind' in the eff‚ort to end poverty and inequality. 'Equality of Opportunity for Sexual and Gender Minorities' assesses the unique challenges that sexual and gender minorities face in six important areas: (i) Criminalization and SOGI (ii) Access to education (iii) Access to the labor market (iv) Access to public services and social protection (v) Civil and political inclusion (vi) Protection from hate crimes. This report cov‚ers numerous policy recommendations to prevent and eliminate discriminatory practices in all of the areas covered. It also seeks to inflŽuence legislative changes and support research on institutions and regulations that can ultimately lead to poverty reduction and shared prosperity. At the same time, it acknowledges that the mere existence of inclusive laws and regulations does not ensure that sexual and gender minorities are free from discrimination--the enforcement of those laws is crucial. This publication, the first in a series of studies, will be expanded from the 16 countries included here to a wider set of countries for more in-depth quantitative analysis and to identify possible correlations with socioeconomic outcomes. It will seek to deepen knowledge, facilitate peer learning of good practices, and encourage reforms to increase the inclusion of sexual and gender minorities.

Behind the Iron Curtain, the politics of sexuality and gender were, in many ways, more progressive than the West. While Polish citizens undoubtedly suffered under the oppressive totalitarianism of socialism, abortion was legal, clear laws protected victims of rape, and it was relatively easy to legally change one's gender. In Gender, Pleasure, and Violence, Agnieszka Kościańska reveals that sexologists—experts such as physicians, therapists, and educators—not only treated patients but also held sex education classes at school, published regular columns in the press, and authored highly popular sex manuals that sold millions of copies. Yet strict gender roles within the home meant that true equality was never fully within reach. Drawing on interviews, participant observation, and archival work, Kościańska shares how professions like sexologists defined the notions of sexual pleasure and sexual violence under these sweeping cultural changes. By tracing the study of sexual human behavior as it was developed and professionalized in Poland since the 1960s, Gender, Pleasure, and Violence explores how the collapse of socialism brought both restrictions in gender rights and new opportunities.