Seeking Rights from the Left

<div><i>Seeking Rights from the Left</i> offers a unique comparative assessment of left-leaning Latin American governments by examining their engagement with feminist women's and LGBT movements and issues. Focusing on the Pink Tide in eight national cases-Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Ecuador Nicaragua Uruguay and Venezuela-the contributors evaluate how the Left addressed gender- and sexuality-based rights through the state. Most of these governments improved the basic conditions of poor women and their families. Many significantly advanced women's representation in national legislatures. Some legalized same-sex relationships and enabled their citizens to claim their own gender identity. They also opened opportunities for feminist and LGBT movements to press forward their demands. But at the same time these governments have largely relied on heteropatriarchal relations of power ignoring or rejecting the more challenging elements of a social agenda and engaging in strategic trade-offs among gender and sexual rights. Moreover the comparative examination of such rights arenas reveals that the Left's more general political and economic projects have been profoundly if at times unintentionally informed by traditional understandings of gender and sexuality.<br><br>Contributors: Sonia E. Alvarez María Constanza Diaz Rachel Elfenbein Elisabeth Jay Friedman Niki Johnson Victoria Keller Edurne Larracoechea Bohigas Amy Lind Marlise Matos Shawnna Mullenax Ana Laura Rodríguez Gustá Diego Sempol Constanza Tabbush Gwynn Thomas Catalina Trebisacce Annie Wilkinson </div>