Gender, neoconservatism and democracy - by Flávia Biroli, Maria das Dores Campos Machado, Juan Marco Vaggione

The result of a transnational investigation carried out during 2018 and 2019 and a fruitful dialogue involving the two authors and the author, this work analyzes the relationships between gender, religion, rights and democracy in Latin America. With the end of the so-called “red wave” in the region, the increase in the role of conservative Catholics and evangelicals in politics is significant, with a strong reaction to gender equality policies, LGBTQI rights and reproductive health. Flávia Biroli, Maria das Dores Campos Machado and Juan Marco Vaggione highlight the use, by conservative agents, of expressions such as “gender ideology”, “radical feminism” and “cultural Marxism” to justify norms that promote exclusions, vetoes of critical perspectives and the end of important public policies for women and minorities, eroding democracy in the region from within. As if the consequences for women and LGBTQI populations were not enough, in many countries the denial of these rights is accompanied by policies that transform social movements into enemies and, through different strategies, seek to subtract legitimacy from social justice agendas. In an effort to understand current patterns of reaction to the genre, the book develops a theoretical framework in which the concept of neoconservatism has special relevance. The dispute between moralities, analyzed throughout the three chapters that make up the work, includes new patterns of action and mobilization of frameworks, which open up opportunities for far-right leaders and call democratic values ​​into question