The Sexual Ethics of Liberation Theology: The Catholic Women's Counter-Conference at Puebla (1979)

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This paper explores the women's counter-conference organized by Mujeres para el Diálogo (Women in Dialogue) in response to the exclusion of women from the topics discussed at the 1979 Conference of Latin American Bishops (CELAM III) in Puebla, Mexico. Upon return to the United States, North American attendees translated and published the speeches given exclusively by Latin American women at the conference. The publication was to serve as a "companion piece" to the official proceedings of CELAM III for American audiences. By examining this publication and its contents, I argue that the women at the counter-conference imagined a sexual ethics by and for Latin American women. They offered a sophisticated critique of the birth control pill and population politics that reflected the dangers that faced Latin American women specifically. Because Mujeres para el dialógo placed Latin American women at the center of their theology of liberation, they rejected the pill as an answer to world hunger and poverty.