The Neoconservative Thread in Latin America. The Instrumentalization of Gender Ideology in Contemporary Democracies

Abstract

Faced with the advance of sexual and reproductive rights, a conservative moral reaction has emerged that, transcending the frontiers between the religious and the secular, establishes new political forms in Latin America. One of the main elements of this reaction is the consolidation of the turn gender ideology as a diagnosis and threat, used to mobilize religious beliefs and institutions in defense of values such as life, family and freedom. The purpose of this article is to consider the instrumentalizations of gender ideology as an analytical window to identify the main public dimensions of neoconservatism in the countries of the region. The fight against gender ideology is consolidated as one of the most visible facets of moral politicization and, through its observation, the articles considers different aspects of the articulation between religious conservatism and contemporary politics.