Compulsory sterilization in vulnerable women as a “public safety measure”: reflections on body control, gender and sexuality

Abstract

This article aims to understand how power relations over the female body are instrumentalized in the practice of compulsory sterilization of vulnerable women, as a Public Security policy. Therefore, through bibliographical research, the body and sexuality were investigated, in the historical perspective on gender; and analyze the judgments of the action “IV Vs Bolivia”, handed down by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the Public Civil Action, filed in the city of Mococa-SP, under the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of São Paulo. Finally, it was concluded that sexual and reproductive rights are constantly threatened or violated by those in power, using as an argument the protection of the family and the maintenance of morality and order. Consequently, debates are no longer considered as part of collective health and are allocated as police cases, which promotes imprisonment and loss of autonomy over the bodies of women, especially those who are in a vulnerable situation.