TRIALOGUES is an interdisciplinary project exploring the biopolitics of kinship, gender, and reproduction in Brazil, Spain, and Portugal. It examines innovative legal processes and their political backlashes, offering theoretical insights for ongoing debates in gender and queer studies.
The project is structured around one main strand in Brazil, the primary focus, and two complementary strands in Spain and Portugal, enabled through secondments and short visits. Building on foundational works in moral and political philosophy, feminist scholarship, and queer theory, these strands generate empirically grounded discussions on emerging biopolitics, with particular attention to state mechanisms such as political institutions, social policies, and legislative and judicial frameworks shaping the regulation of non-monogamous relationships, gender identity, and third-party assisted reproduction.
Key findings reveal:
- The historical weight of monogamy is deeply rooted in the antagonism between Western public order frameworks and the racial "other" in post-colonial contexts, undermining efforts to achieve legal recognition for non-monogamous relationships.
- Synergies among "anti-gender" backlash, trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs), and trans-exclusionary liberal feminists (TELFs) result in state-centred gender identity frameworks that remain anchored in binary presumptions. These frameworks persist even in self-determination-based legislation, disproportionately affecting non-binary individuals and gender-variant minors.
- Inequalities in reproductive access are entrenched in monogamous and heteronormative assumptions, which persist even in progressive regulations of third-party assisted reproduction.
These findings contribute to theoretical and policy-oriented debates, providing tools to contest exclusionary frameworks and promote a critical understanding of public order across diverse socio-political contexts, while also identifying transformative potential through inclusive reforms and coalitional resistance.
