Written Out: How Sexuality Is Used to Attack Women's Organizing

REVISED AND UPDATED A Report of the and the International Gay and Lesbian Center for Women’s Human Rights Commission Global Leadership written out how sexuality is used to attack women’s organizing Written and researched by Cynthia Rothschild Edited and with contributions by Scott Long and Susana T. Fried A revised publication of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and the Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL) International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission table of contents The mission of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) is to secure the full enjoyment of the human rights of all people and communities subject to discrimination or abuse on the basis of sexual orientation or expression, gender identity or expression, and/or HIV sta- Preface to 2005 Edition . .1 tus. A US-based non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO), IGLHRC effects this mission Introduction . .3 through advocacy, documentation, coalition building, public education, and technical assistance. I “How Can There Be Names For What Does Not Exist?” . .25 International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission The Target: Women’s Organizing, Women’s Bodies . .25 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor Sexual Rights . .35 New York, New York 10118 USA Tel: 212-216-1814 Basics of Baiting: Internationalizing Intolerance . .41 Fax: 212-216-1876 The Effects: Internalizing Fear . .53 [email protected] http://www.iglhrc.org II Women Make Cookies: Discrediting of Women Leaders . .65 III “We Would Have a Hard Time Going Home”: Fear of Sexuality in the International Sphere” . .83 Center for Women’s Global Leadership The Center for Women’s Global Leadership (Global Center) develops and facilitates women’s leader- Beijing: The Right Wing Takes on Human Rights . .84 ship for women’s human rights and social justice worldwide. The Global Center’s programs promote Fear of Gender, Fear of Sexuality, Fear of Justice . .97 the leadership of women and advance feminist perspectives in policy-making processes in local, “Do they have their eyes shut?” Recent Stories of national and international arenas. Sexuality-Baiting Within the UN . .106 Center for Women’s Global Leadership IV Standing Up, Talking Back: The Impact on Local Organizing . .121 Douglass College, Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey Costa Rica: “We really believed we were free” . .123 160 Ryders Lane New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8555 USA Costa Rica Update 2005 . .128 Tel: 1-732-932-8782 India: “What is the need to show it?” . .132 Fax: 1-732-932-1180 India Update 2005 . .142 [email protected] Poland: “An unexpected side effect of democracy” . .147 http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu Poland Update 2005 . .157 Namibia: “The more out we are, the more public support we get” . .161 ©2005 International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and Namibia Update 2005 . .172 Center for Women’s Global Leadership V Conclusion and Recommendations . .175 Printed in the United States of America International Law and the Targeting of Women’s Sexuality . .175 All rights reserved Recommendations for the International Community, ISBN: 0-9711412-3-1 States and Civil Society . .180 Acknowledgements . .186 Book and cover design: Mary Ellen Muzio Printed by GM Printing, New York, NY PREFACE 1 preface WRITTEN OUT: HOW SEXUALITY IS USED TO ATTACK WOMEN’ S ORGANIZING was originally published in 2000 and was launched at a public event in New York on the final night of Beijing +5, the United Nations’ five-year review of the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995). Since its publication, this report has been used by women throughout the world in both community and academic settings as a tool for understanding and discussing a seemingly univer- sal dynamic for most women who dare to assert their leadership and perspectives as public advocates: the disparagement and silencing of their identities and political visions through sexuality-based attacks. In this time, women’s advocacy efforts have grown stronger and regional and global networks dedicated to women’s human rights, social justice and gender equality have proliferated. Yet, in 2005, the global political climate presents as many challenges as it does oppor- tunities for women’s organizing. Among the barriers to women’s ability to exercise and enjoy their human rights is the phenomenon of “lesbian-baiting” and “sexuality-baiting.” Such baiting is a tool used to discredit not only individual women and the groups with which they work, but also their political visions and goals. Women’s human rights defenders, as well as others, are at particular risk of being targeted, in many instances, not just because of the work they do, but also because of who they are or are imagined to be. The unabated prevalence of this experience compelled us to revise and republish Written Out. The Beijing +10 session (the 10th anniversary review of the Beijing 2 WRITTEN OUT INTRODUCTION 3 Declaration and Platform for Action by the UN Commission on the Status of Women), provided the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and the Center for Women’s Global Leadership with a significant opportunity to update this research in order to further the conversation started in the Beijing +5 forum five years ago. We again highlight stories of various forms of sexuality-baiting, with an added emphasis on telling the stories of women whose political organizing takes shape beyond advocacy on sexuality itself. We note that sexuality-baiting is used as a means to stifle political and personal expression whenever women’s agendas or identities are positioned by those who brand them as “too threatening” to a state, an ideology or a tradition. Much of the original remains as it was published in 2000. Where possible, we have revised relevant parts, and we have added short updates to the country case studies of Costa Rica, India, Poland and Namibia. We have added three new introduction chapters: the first addresses the current political climate as it affects and elicits sexuality-baiting, and features new case material that speaks to the experiences of women human rights defenders who, at least in part, focus on sexuality in their work. This chapter explores, among other things, the current wars on ter- ror, threats to funding and self-censorship for fear of baiting. The second section the original version of this report was introduced during the looks at baiting experiences of women in positions of public leadership— proceedings for Beijing +5, the UN’s five-year review of the Fourth World whether in some form of political office or as advocates in non-governmental set- Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995. The launch of Written Out: tings—where their areas of focus are not explicitly related to sexuality. It is in this How Sexuality is Used to Attack Women’s Organizing took place in a room section where we argue that sexuality-baiting is a tactic used to discredit women crowded with women who were frustrated and exhausted from the previous two who organize in relation to myriad issues and not only on women’s issues or sex- weeks of long meetings, difficult lobbying, contentious debates and stalled nego- uality, per se. The third new section explores sexuality-baiting within UN fora tiations. For the duration of Beijing +5 proceedings, sexual and reproductive during and since Beijing +5, and depicts a range of perpetrators and targets of rights issues, as in Beijing, had proven to be lightning rods of controversy, spark- discrediting. ing the ire of conservative government delegations and representatives of extrem- Our commitment in this report is to share women’s narratives of lesbian- ist non-governmental organizations alike. baiting and sexuality-baiting in an effort to show the breadth of disruptive or While feminists and sexual rights advocates attended the UN session in large oppositional tactics and the similarities across regions, cultures and movements. numbers, so too did their opponents. Women’s human rights advocates vocally We believe these accounts must still be conveyed and that the methods used to addressed and fought for women’s rights to equal inheritance, freedom from gen- devalue women’s political advocacy must be exposed. We tell these stories to der-based violence, access to quality and affordable health care, services and sup- highlight women’s experience and to honor the courageous resistance to baiting port related to HIV/AIDS, and the adoption of laws banning unequal treatment that takes place around the world. of women. Sexual and reproductive health and rights groups lobbied for sexuality education and health care services anchored in women’s experiences of their bodies and their sexualities. Although there was (and is) no one definition of sexual rights upon which all advocates agreed, related advocacy rested on a number of shared principles that included: the right of each human being to experience her/his sexuality freely, fully, and consensually, and an understanding of sexuality as a realm of experience encompassing sexual orientation, gender identity, 4 WRITTEN OUT INTRODUCTION 5 sexual and gender expression, desire, pleasure and sexual practices (see Chapter And yet, even with the acknowledgment of struggle, the predominant feeling 1 for a more detailed discussion of sexuality and rights). in the room was far from one of defeat. Rather, the mood of many present was While the right to bodily autonomy and the right to control one’s own sexu- one of fatigued exhilaration. During Beijing +5, women had defended Beijing’s ality were foundational to sexual rights agendas at Beijing +5, they served as well Platform for Action and had staved off a concerted right-wing organizing effort as a rallying cry for conservative opposition, bent on defending institutions of to limit and roll back previous commitments by governments to advancing traditional male authority.

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