Public health vs rights based approaches
Sexuality, human rights and demographic thinking: connections and disjunctions in a changing world
Erotic justice: a new agenda for realising sexual rights in the twenty-first century
Authors:
S. Correa; R. Parker; National Sexuality Resource Centre: San Francisco State University; Caliber: Journals of the University of California Press
Publisher:
Sexuality Research and Social Policy: Journal of NSRC, 2004
This article from the journal Sexuality Research and Social Policy examines the changing debate on ethics and demography (the study of human population), in particular its shift in emphasis from the public good to individual rights, including those relating to sexuality. The authors link this to the emergence of global social movements involving feminist, gay and lesbian organisations as well as HIV and AIDS-related initiatives. They review the evolution of the global debate linking sexuality and human rights, and analyse the impact of these changes on international sexual and reproductive rights negotiations and on the sexuality research agenda.
The authors conclude that traditional demography has been replaced with a more politically engaged form of enquiry focused on social justice. Issues of power, gender equality and sexual oppression have become central to sexuality research, and the study of sexual health has become inextricably linked to the defence of sexual rights. However, they identify one area that has not been systematically debated and addressed: the measurement of rights. They call for statistics to be produced which relate specifically to the realisation of sexual rights. They argue that cross-sectoral indicators spanning social, cultural, economic, political and civil rights perspectives are essential to gain the necessary support for an agenda of “erotic justice”.
