9. Conflicts among Social Justice Movements with Common Concerns

Abstract

This chapter examines the conflicts among social justice movements with common concerns, including the intersex movement. Women, gays, lesbians, transsexuals, and people with an intersex condition differ in their experiences, including the harms they endure from society. Homophobia, transphobia, and sexism, however, are interconected as part of an overall cultural system of patriarchy, heterosexism, and rigid binary sex and gender norms. This chapter considers whether the intersex movement could advance its goals by developing legal arguments in conjunction with other social justice movements. It begins with an overview of the history of the development of social justice movements that focus on discrimination based on sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability. It then discusses the intersex movement's actions related to forming alliances with feminist and LGBT movements, and highlights the problems that have arisen among the intersex, gay/lesbian/bisexual, transsexual, and feminist movements.