“I will not be free while any woman is a prisoner, even if her chains are different from mine.” — Audre Lorde
In various social spheres, the male body has always been considered the standard. Medicine is no different. Women have never been the focus of scientific research. The use of medications, the performance of procedures, and even the treatment and prevention of diseases are not the same for men and women, especially when they are intersected by other intersectionalities such as gender identity, sexuality, race, and class.
Birth control campaigns, for example, were carried out in the 1990s as a form of mass sterilization of Black and peripheral women, in an attempt to sanitize the Brazilian population, a scenario that is repeated even today, also with Indigenous women and women experiencing homelessness. In addition, Brazilian medicine takes white bodies as a reference, neglecting the specificities and needs of Black people.
Health care for lesbian, bisexual, transgender women, and travestis can also be inattentive and discriminatory, putting their lives at risk, especially in the identification and prevention of sexually transmitted infections and cancer. According to the Descriptive Report of the 1st stage of the I National LesboCensus (2021-2022), conducted by the Brazilian League of Lesbians (LBL) and Coturno Vênus, more than 70% of respondents reported fear or shame about discussing their sexuality during health visits, and nearly 25% have already experienced discrimination in a gynecological appointment.
In this way, Purple March — a national campaign to raise awareness about the prevention and fight against cervical cancer — emerges as a reinforcement for care that needs to be specific and targeted, especially for the female sex. Cervical cancer is caused by HPV infection which, if it does not receive the necessary treatment, can cause lesions and progress to cancer and infertility. In people of the male sex the infection usually does not cause such serious problems. According to the National Cancer Institute (INCA), it is estimated that there are more than 19 mil new cases of cervical cancer per year, making it the third most common cancer among women.
Prevention is carried out through condom use and the HPV vaccine, available in the Unified Health System for girls, boys, and adolescents aged 9 to 14, immunosuppressed people, and victims of sexual abuse. The Pap smear also plays an essential role in HPV prevention and should be performed by all women and people with a uterus who have already had sexual activity starting at age 25, every three years. Vaccination, however, does not cover all women, being restricted to a still very small portion of the population, and those left out need to cover costs that reach 3 mil reais. Protective tools for lesbian sex also leave much to be desired, as they are not adapted to the reality of women with vulvas, leaving them more vulnerable to STI transmission.
Therefore, 8M and Purple March remind us that women’s rights are still not guaranteed and that the struggle needs to be collective for effective changes to occur. The fight against femicide, lesbocide, LBTphobia, racism, sexual and domestic violence, for reproductive autonomy and the protection of children, in addition to access to quality health care and employment, are issues that remain contested and urgently need our attention.
In February of this year, the Federal Government relaunched the National Pact Brazil Against Femicide, created in 2023. The campaign brings together the three branches, Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary, to expand violence prevention, strengthen the protection of victims, and promote the accountability of aggressors. The initiative is extremely important for combating violence, disseminating information about reporting methods, and contributing institutionally to the relevance of feminist agendas in creating public policies that are truly effective for women’s lives.
