Sex and Dissent

Four electrifying and hopeful accounts of feminist uprising that have swept through Latin America and Spain in the wake of #MeToo—and what we can learn from these protest cultures in a fraught moment for democracy in the US

As women’s rights have faced alarming rollbacks in the United States over the past decade, mass feminist movements beyond our borders have achieved historic victories. Award-winning journalist Meaghan Beatley takes us to the frontlines to tell inspiring stories of resistance and political imagination that will be a vital roadmap in the years to come. 

In Argentina, a national reckoning over abortion—sparked, in part, by an unholy alliance with a popular gossip show—ignited a nationwide movement that led to the legalization of abortion. Across the Andes, young feminists in Chile fueled a constitutional rewrite to confront deep structural inequality. In Spain, a high-profile sexual assault case cracked open a fierce public debate, redefining the meaning of consent. And in Mexico, balaclava-clad student protesters occupied a government building to force the epidemic of femicide into the national spotlight.

The product of a decade of immersive reporting, Beatley captures the urgency and creativity of these movements and the women who led a motley crew of former guerrilla fighters, student occupiers, and mothers standing down narco violence. At once intimate and politically electric, Sex and Dissent reframes the global struggle for equality—and offers a model for building power, solidarity, and radical democratic change.Advance Praise for Sex and Dissent

“Meaghan Beatley's Sex and Dissent is a revelatory account of recent feminist protest and activism in four Spanish-speaking countries, where the courage and actions of the women who spoke up, spoke out, and changed laws shines through in incisive investigative reporting and prose that gets to the beating heart of the matter. At a time of great backlash and regression, North American women should indeed look to Latin America for a new way forward—one that recognizes the sickness of systems in creating and extending gendered violence.”
—Sarah Weinman, author of Without Consent

"Sex and Dissent is a clear-eyed, rigorous, and consistently fascinating exploration of feminist movements, spanning both intimate portraits of activists and sweeping accounts of transformative social movements. This book gave me heart in this exceedingly difficult political moment—there’s so much to learn from, and be inspired by, here."
—Rachel Monroe, author of Savage Appetites

“Written in elegant, celebratory prose and grounded in meticulous reporting, this book vividly brings Latin American feminist movements to life. It is high time for these stories of struggles and breakthroughs to travel North and inspire US audiences or anyone who cares about democracy.”
—Mariane Pearl, author of A Mighty HeartMeaghan Beatley is a French and U.S. journalist covering feminist movements across Latin America and Spain. Her reporting has appeared in Time, The Guardian, The Atlantic, The Nation, and Foreign Policy. Formerly an editor in Chile and Argentina, she has reported from seven countries and won the One World Media Award for Best Feature. She is fluent in French, English, and Spanish, and her work bridges languages, cultures, and continents.