Looking for sex in all the wrong places* *This article is based on a longer study that was developed in collaboration with Sexuality Policy Watch, with funding provided by the Ford Foundation. For an extended discussion of the issues examined in this article, see “Looking for sex in all the wrong places

The silencing of sexuality in the World Bank's public discourse”, which is available as part of the e-book, SexPolitics: Reports from the Front Lines , edited by Richard Parker, Rosalind Petchesky, and Robert Sember, 2007. This e-book includes a series of case studies, as well as a crosscutting analysis, focused on the politics of sexual health and rights in eight countries and two institutional contexts. SexPolitics can be found online at

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21189259
AutoresK R Camarg (Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, autor de correspondencia), R A Mattos (Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro)
Año2008
Volumen3
Númerosup2
Páginas92-104
Fecha de publicación2008-07-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaGlobal Public Health (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1744-1692 • E-ISSN: 1744-1706
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17441690801980896
PMID19288355
OpenAlexW1606330773
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas11

The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of how issues on sexuality are captured by the World Bank's economic rationality, producing a sanitised discourse which, through its silences, further contributes to a normalised view of sexuality. Given the Bank's authority to determine what kinds of health and development programmes are established in the developing world, it is in a unique position to influence approaches to issues of gender and sexuality. An analysis of the Bank's documents reveals, however, that rather than addressing these fundamental components of some of the most pressing health emergencies of our time, its economic rationality and technocratic viewpoint has effectively silenced and sanitised the discourse on sexuality, thereby limiting what sexuality and gender-related issues can be tackled in the context of Bank sponsored programmes, and constraining efforts to advance fundamental sexual rights. Nevertheless, unexpected and paradoxical results may arise from that process, which, thus, does not necessarily lead to the furthering of a comprehensive conservative agenda

Human sexuality · Limiting · Political science · Politics · Population · Rationality · Reproductive health · Sociology · Technocracy · Gender Studies · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Law · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Sex work and related issues