Not So Strange Bedfellows: Sexuality and international development

Abstract

Susie Jolly in conversation with three activists whose work relates to sexuality, Henry Armas (GRUPAL, The Working Group for Participation, Peru), Pinar Ilkkaracan (Women for Women's Human Rights, Turkey), Veronica Magar (CARE, Asia Region) explores the links between sexual rights and international development. The conversations are based on the discussion she facilitated at a panel on sexual rights and development, with the aim of exploring development – sexuality connections and the possibilities for more positive and empowering approaches to sexuality. Development (2006) 49, 77–80. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1100208

Bodies Gone Awry

“…The invisibility of sexuality in development discourse has been noticed elsewhere (Jolly 2006). Indeed, it has been pointed out that sexuality is not a peripheral issue, but a central one in human livelihoods, and the control exercised by persons on their sexuality and the bodily integrity they enjoy significantly shapes their well-being and survival skills in ways yet unrecognised in mainstream development discourse.…”

“…This article contributes to the ongoing efforts to interrogate masculinist protectionism, which has indeed risen all the more into prominence as women turn sexually assertive, and efforts to articulate counter-heteronormative politics begin to surface (Menon 2007). The invisibility of sexuality in development discourse has been noticed elsewhere (Jolly 2006). Indeed, it has been pointed out that sexuality is not a peripheral issue, but a central one in human livelihoods, and the control exercised by persons on their sexuality and the bodily integrity they enjoy significantly shapes their well-being and survival skills in ways yet unrecognised in mainstream development discourse.…”

Queering international development: the “pleasure principle” in the participatory video The Lucky One

“…They constitute and consolidate the post-war Bretton Woods system and a word order dominated by the Washington Consensus. These international donors, together with the NGOs and people involved in these projects, constitute the global "development industry" (Susie Jolly 2006;Andrea Cornwall, Sonia Correa and Susie Jolly 2008;and Cornwall and Jolly 2009). Whilst the charitable and humanitarian aspect of the development industry is well known, the economic, political, and even ideological aspects of the industry often go unacknowledged.…”

Introduction: Sexualities

“…But much remains to be done. Sex and sexuality continue to be widely seen by policymakers in governments and development institutions as topics that are irrelevant to development, and relegated to a private rather than a public sphere (Jolly 2006). Sexuality is still widely treated as a private matter, like intimate partner violence (IPV) and domestic violence.…”

“…International development has always engaged with issues around sexuality, as evidenced by programmes of population control, disease and violence including HIV and AIDS (Jolly 2006;Cornwall and Jolly 2009). But in these programmes, aspects of sexuality have typically been addressed in a negative way often focused on specific public health problems such as reducing maternal mortality, rather than on the relation between sexuality and poverty (Oosterhoff, Waldman and Olerenshaw 2014).…”