Transfeminist Crossroads

Abstract

Abstract This article provides an account of transfeminism as a grassroots political project rooted in material politics that has led to significant changes on transgender issues in Ecuadorian public policy over the past decade. Ecuadorian transfeminist activists firmly believe that feminist theory and practice are critical tools in the struggle for trans liberation, and that the social oppression of transgender people is intimately connected with the larger structures of patriarchy that feminisms seek to counteract. Their praxis has worked its way up from walking the streets with “working girls,” to drafting articles for the constitution based on the knowledge learned during nightly street patrols, and later garnering the necessary support for successful inclusion of these articles in the constitution. “Transfeminist Crossroads” follows the trajectory of the My Gender on My ID campaign to highlight the role of transfeminist activism in changing public opinion and pushing new legislation in one of the flagship countries of the Latin American “left turn.” The unfolding of this campaign demonstrates the dynamic flux and fluidity of state formation as transfeminist activists respond to President Rafael Correa's call for a “citizen revolution” and geopolitical forces reconfigure relationships between social conservatism, left populism, adaptive neoliberalism, and new regimes of state security.