Open Access‘Once You Say the Word Gender, People Become Afraid’: The Consequences of the Gender Backlash in Education in Brasil
Author(s) -
Gisella Lopes Gomes Pinto Ferreira
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal for crime, justice and social democracy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.36
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 2202-7998
pISSN - 2202-8005
DOI - 10.5204/ijcjsd.2074
Subject(s) - backlash , context (archaeology) , politics , gender equality , phenomenon , gender violence , political science , work (physics) , gender studies , sociology , engineering , law , geography , mechanical engineering , archaeology , physics , quantum mechanics
Conservative religious, activist and political groups fuel gender backlash in many spaces. This paper explores this phenomenon and its effects on educational programs designed to prevent gender-based violence in Brasilian schools. It argues that this gender backlash in educative spaces violates fundamental rights, like the right to equality and protection against discrimination and violence, and ultimately contributes to the continuity and escalation of gender-based violence in Brasil. This context shapes advocacy work and the facilitators and participants of its programs. Primary prevention research is mainly conducted in the Global North. This article, guided by a southern feminist framework and informed by 14 interviews with Brasilian advocates engaged in youth gender-based violence prevention programs, addresses a significant knowledge deficit and offers new insights in working in challenging contexts. It suggests that the backlash is mostly directed at LGBTIQA+ cohorts due to the ongoing political attacks on these groups, but it has also undermined the capacity of educational prevention strategies for gender-based violence more widely.