Social Hospitality: Lésbicas Negras' Ethical Negotiations and Gynecologyin Salvador-Bahia. 

Presentation by Nessete Falu 

Brazil is undertaking a significant healthcare reform project designed to eradicate discriminatory practices against the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Travesti, and Transsexual population that serve to undermine their health and welfare. However, many black lesbians, or lésbicas negras’ are concerned that Brazil’s entrenched structural racism, homophobia, and gender inequality represent triple barriers to the improvement of their well-being and access to healthcare. I understand through my anthropological and ethical analysis that their negotiations within the gynecological context aim to forge a “hospitable” medical environment toward their sexuality. This paper argues that many lésbicas negras’ pursuit of what they believe is their human right to reveal their sexuality and integrate it into accessing quality gynecological care and health education from their physicians is informed by their ethical obligation to confront the wide social issue of prejudice, or “preconceito.” I will discuss how lésbicas negras’ strivings for social hospitality demonstrate the complicated relationships across sexual health, sexuality, racial formations, social well-being, citizenship, public discourses, and freedom.