Limits of Liberation

Using a sexual ethical analysis of poor women's living conditions, this text traces the emergence of a demanding form of Latin American feminist liberation theology. Traditional liberation theology's notion of praxis is exposed as limited due to its essentialist notion of "poor" and its neglect of issues pertaining to poor women's reproductive rights (as in L.Boff and E. Dussel). Classical feminist theologies are fraught with their own essentialist notions ("women's experience"). Liberation theology's claim to be "defending the life of the poor" and its theoretical core concept of "praxis", are seriously deficient if they are silent about poor women's suffering: widespread maternal mortality, high rates of botched, illegal abortions, and an overall lack of reproductive rights. The book nurtures a Latin American feminist liberation theology that addresses the suffering and death of these millions of women.