‘Judicial Masculinities’, Grassroots Epistemologies and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) is often celebrated as a progressive institution for advancing gender justice in Latin America and the Caribbean. Landmark rulings on femicide, reproductive rights, and LGBTIQ+ equality have marked new ground for the region. Nonetheless, these achievements coexist with jurisprudential blind spots that stem from the masculinist logics embedded within law itself. This paper argues that while the Court condemns gender-based violence, it often reproduces hegemonic masculinities by privileging state-centred, paternalistic frameworks and limiting recognition of structural harms. Using cases such as González et al. (“Cotton Field”) v. Mexico, Atala Riffo v. Chile, and Beatriz v. El Salvador, the paper traces how the Court acknowledges extreme and individualised violence but marginalises systemic harms rooted in militarism, extractivism, and heteronormativity. These silences contrast sharply with the epistemologies emerging from grassroots feminist and queer activism in the region, such as the Ni Una Menos movement, Afro-descendant women’s mobilisations against environmental racism, and trans collectives demanding recognition of systemic exclusion. By placing these activist frameworks in dialogue with Court jurisprudence, the paper develops the concept of “judicial masculinities”: the persistence of masculinist logics that shape what counts as a violation and who counts as a victim. At the same time, it highlights how grassroots movements challenge and destabilise these masculinities, offering more expansive understandings of violence and justice. This analysis re-situates the IACtHR not only as a site of progressive rulings but also as a contested arena where masculinities are both reproduced and resisted. In doing so, it underscores the importance of recognising Latin American feminist and queer movements as knowledge producers whose epistemologies can push regional human rights law toward more transformative futures.