Between Revolution and Dictatorship. Police Harassment and Violence Against Sex-gender Diversities in Chile, 1970-1990

Abstract

This article analyzes the normative and repressive context within Chilean society between the 1960s and 1990, before the Allende government until the end of the dictatorship. It argues that Pinochet’s regime did not create any new policy toward homosexuals and the rest of the sexually diverse population; most of the norms and repressive policies against them were implemented decades before. During the dictatorship, police harassment on the street, nightclubs, and cruising areas increased. Still, it was part of the gender policies that the military displayed to impose social order and proper heterosexual moral conduct onto the population. It was part of a national gender policy to restore order and discipline after the revolution.