How did an anti-gender movement develop in Brazil? A conversation with James N. Green.

This article explores the rise of an anti-gender movement in Brazil and its impact on gender studies and academic freedom. The movement gained momentum with the election of far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro, who targeted universities and promoted an ideology against gender studies. Despite these challenges, there has been resistance and scholarship production within universities. Brazilian universities have undergone significant changes in the past two decades, with the expansion of public universities and the implementation of quotas for marginalized groups. The controversy surrounding Judith Butler's talks served as a focal point for both the right and the left, with the right using it to mobilize their movement and the left using it to expose attacks against feminist, gender, and queer studies. While the far-right discourse has created a challenging climate for teaching and debating these topics, there is also a growing resistance and mobilization to defend gender studies. Brazil is a country with a strong tradition of fighting for democracy, but also extreme polarization. The movement represented by Bolsonaro is likely to reorganize, but there is a new generation of younger people who are expressing themselves and advocating for feminism and LGBTQIA+ rights. The resistance to ongoing assaults on gender studies and the visibility of these movements suggest that support for queer and gender studies is growing in Brazil. [Extracted from the article]