Feminist and Trans* movements at the crossroads: mutual learning and productive conflicts

Abstract

The rights of transgender people in Spain are the result of complex negotiations that have taken place in our recent history, concerning democratic freedom, sexual and reproductive rights, as well as identity-based social movements that emerged during the democratic transition. In record time, those once considered to be socially dangerous slackers and delinquents became travestites, transsexuals and later on, activists and subjects of rights. Following this development of the intelligible political subject, we focus on the crossroads of the feminist and trans* movements, which facilitates a critical approach to the role of the State and legislation, as well as the medicine in order to guarantee rights for trans* people. In order to do so, we have interviewed relevant activists, reviewed social movements’ literature and posed some bold hypothesis, tested with our protagonists.