Social Movements and Sexual Citizenship in Southern Europe Ana Cristina Santos Palgrave Macmillan (2013)

This book explores the relationship between social movements, sexual citizenship and change in the context of Southern Europe. Providing a comparative analysis about LGBT issues in Italy, Spain and Portugal, it discusses how activism can generate political, legal and cultural change in post-dictatorial, Catholic and EU-focused countries.

The significance of Portugal regarding sexual citizenship stems from the impressive pace at which LGBT rights were granted after the emergence of a LGBT movement. In some respects, Portugal led the way for LGBT rights in Europe. Offering a close engagement with sociological analysis of Spanish and Italian contemporary LGBT politics, this case study provides an opportunity to rethink collective action and sexual citizenship, contributing to timely theoretical and political debates.

Based on extensive fieldwork and original qualitative analysis, the book suggests the notion of 'syncretic activism' as a third way of approaching the debate between assimilationism and radicalism. The notion of syncretic activism offers a synthesis of transformative, transgressive and deconstructionist approaches to identity within diversity politics. These findings have direct implications in the understanding and political potential of collective action, highlighting the complex interplay between aims, strategies and outcomes of LGBT activism in Southern Europe.