Anti-trans policies in Latin America: political attacks against the use of gender-inclusive language in Brazil and Argentina

• Grant number: 24/13978-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: January 01, 2025
• End date: February 28, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Other specific Sociologies
• Principal Investigator: Maria Filomena Gregori
• Grantee: Inaê Iabel Barbosa
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Strategies for the preservation or restoration of sexual and gender norms, termed "anti-gender policies," are a fundamental component of the rightward shift experienced by Latin America in recent years. Among these, there has been a more specific and recent proliferation of "anti-trans policies," which primarily target the use of gender-inclusive language as a major front of action. This has generated various mobilizations and disputes in Latin American countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and Peru. Such actions represent a contemporary and controversial phenomenon that merits systematic scrutiny. Among the Latin American countries mobilized against the use of gender-inclusive language, Brazil and Argentina play a significant geopolitical role in the transnational neoconservative shift and exhibit a notable anti-gender history. However, they are differently positioned regarding sexual, reproductive, and gender rights-evidenced by the absence of gender identity legislation and the criminalization of abortion in Brazil, whereas Argentina has the Ley de Identidad de Género and the Ley de Interrupción Voluntaria del Embarazo. Thus, this research aims to investigate whether and how a common political grammar opposed to gender-inclusive language is being (re)produced in Brazil and Argentina. The goal is to explore the emergence of an anti-trans discursive field and reflect on transnational neoconservative flows. To achieve this, an ethnography of documents and digital content is proposed for analyzing legislative proposals and other documents aimed at prohibiting the use of gender-inclusive language in Brazil and Argentina, as well as social media posts by key agents driving these political actions in these countries.