Núria Espona Zorita Teoria política feminista

NEW POLITICS AND FEMINISM TRNASFORMATIONS

CONCEPTUAL INTRODUCTION

The democratic revolution of modernity and the commitment of Feminism to the

defense of equality have promoted social changes and, to a great extent, the
elimination of many of the discriminations that impeded the moral autonomy of
women and the exercise of their freedom.

Consequently, we must rethink how we can remove sexist domination and the
obstacles that limit the achievement of equality and full and effective freedom for all
people. The starting point, as feminist theorists have pointed out, is the rediscovery
of women's history, our situation, our demands and our achievements because to
eradicate the subordination system that subjugates us, the first step is to become
aware of how it is produced and how it affects us to later define an action strategy.
For this reason, because it is part of the awareness-raising process, feminist thinking
must be kept in mind.

This research is articulated from the approaches of sociology, feminist theory and
the notion of intersectionality. The methodology used was documentary research
and critical discourse analysis of articles related to the subject, these are, inter alia,
Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens by Cathy Cohenm, Subjugated
Knowledges: An Introduction to Transgender Studies by Susan Stryker and Subjects
of Sex / Gender / Desire ”in Gender Trouble by Judith Butler.

On the other hand, in recent years, we have seen an increase in public policies
related to the LTBI community. In this context, this article proposes a
problematization of the legislative discourses around the state management of the
trans conflict, with the objective of analyzing what the new forms of integration of
sexual identities have been configured, and what implications they have these for the
international social and political scene.

TROUBLESOME

In recent decades, the LGBTI movements have made visible the multiple
manifestations of violence to which they have historically been exposed, which has
had an impact on the problem called “sexual diversity” being installed on the political
agenda. In many countries this has resulted in a series of public policy projects
aimed at protecting these identities, which are a manifestation of how the State has
expanded its reach to different spheres of life, going beyond what is understood as
public, to be inserted in the private sphere as a new space for political intervention.
Julieta Kirkwood (2010) calls this the socio-emotional turn of public policies, which
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imply a regulation in “how life has to be reproduced and under what conditions, and
how it has to be lived and protected”.

Under this socio-political scenario, she argued that there is a trans conflict that
develops on both sides. On the one hand, it is problematic for trans people to
function in a social and political-administrative structure that excludes and
marginalizes them from their intelligibility frameworks. And, on the other hand, it is a
conflictive notion for the same socio-sexual structure; these identities overflow and
stress the binary and classification of sex-gender, which means a threat to the
heterosexual matrix from which the sexuality is built.

It becomes essential to explore the process of how the deployment of these state
strategies generates transformations in those previously established categories,
what tensions are formed with this, and how this dispute is managed by the
institutions of power. For this, this research proposes a problematization of the
legislative discourses around the state management of the trans conflict, in order to
know what the new forms of integration of these dsexual identities have been and
how they have been configured. In that sense, and with the purpose of revealing
such relationships, various questions arose that we need to answer in this research:
what and how has been the deployment of state strategies to manage this conflict?
What are the feminist theories that appears in that context? What are the tensions
and transformations that we could see?

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

For the purposes of this research, it is essential to characterize the global socio-
political context, in order to identify what were the socio-historical conditions that
made possible the emergence of those trans legislative discourses in particular.

Feminism, as a social and theoretical movement, arises linked to the Enlightenment,

when a new political and social order is formed based on the primacy of the law and
the autonomy of human, and that recognizes human dignity and the rights that are to
it, inherent, but which excludes women and many other violated groups.

This first wave of feminist argumentation and activism 1 is closely linked to the Theory
of Human Rights. And it is that, in the first place, it should be noted that Feminism
1
From the point of view of theoretical feminism, in order to classify the feminist movements that have
historically emerged, reference has been made to feminist "waves." The first wave would correspond
to the movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, whose main goal was to
achieve equal rights for women, especially the right to vote. The second wave refers to the
resurgence of feminism from the 60s. Regarding this classification we can make two notes. On the
one hand, not all feminist theorists share that proposition. Thus, according to the Spanish philosopher
Amelia Valcárcel, among others, the first wave arises with enlightened feminism and not with suffrage,
as advocated mostly by the Anglo-Saxon bibliography and some Spanish feminists such as Carme
Castells (BELTRÁN, Elena and MAQUIEIRA, Virginia: “Introduction ”, In BELTRÁN, Elena and
MAQUIEIRA, Virginia (Eds.): Feminisms.
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was born in the called “time of rights”. It is in this intellectual and philosophical
context, which becomes progressively dominant in the Europe of the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries, when the rights of man appear, a concept that has been
fundamental in feminist thought, since for almost two hundred years, feminist
revindications have aimed to promote equal recognition of rights to all humans. And
precisely the feminist discourses, from their origins and throughout the 19th and 20th
centuries, demand that the individuality, freedom and equality of women and our
condition as autonomous and rational subjects of rights be recognized. Feminists
defend the application to women of enlightened egalitarian principles; this idea is
specified in the request for recognition of specific rights, such as the right to
education and work, marriage rights, and regarding the custody of children and the
right to vote.

The second wave appears with the suffragism movement. One of the central
arguments of this theory was the appeal to an ethical universalism that proclaimed
the universality of the moral attributes of all people. Justice and the principle of
equality appears as moral rights and, therefore, universal. Those principles were
reflected in the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments, published in 1848 after the
first Convention on the Rights of Women and considered the founding text of
American Feminism. In this Declaration, women proclaimed their independence from
the authority exercised by men and from a social and legal system that oppressed
them and approved a series of resolutions aimed at improving the civil, social and
religious rights of women2.

In this sense, Ana de Miguel argues that "in the 19th century, the century of the great
emancipatory social movements, feminism appeared, for the first time, as an
international social movement, with an autonomous theoretical and organizational
identity" that it seems to be an important place within the other great social
movements: socialism and anarchism.

After analyzing some feminist theories, on the other side, in 1954, Harry Benjamin
introduced the term “transsexualism” in his studies as the diagnosis attributed to
people who wished or lived in the gender role opposite to the sex assigned at birth.
This made it possible that, at the end of the sixties, certain foundations or clinics
began to be born where a significant number of sexual reassignment operations
began to be carried out.

On the other hand, in legal matters at the global level, we have been able to witness
during the last decade a boom in policies for the protection and recognition of sexual
identities marginalized from the political system, and in the elaboration of various
protocols and international agreements to ensure the dignified treatment of these
people, thanks to the impulse of the work of the LGBTI + movements, which have
evidenced the historical violation of human rights towards sexual dissidents.
2
Ibíd., p. 39 y 43 a 46.
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SEX AND GENDER

Already in the sixties the next wave of Feminism emerged, which raises new topics
of debate, new social values and a new form of self-perception of women. As Ana de
Miguel(2003) recalls, “they were years of intense political upheaval. The
contradictions of a system that has its legitimacy in the universality of its principles
but that in reality is sexist, racist, classist and imperialist, motivated the formation of
the so-called New Left and various radical social movements such as the anti-racist
movement, the student movement, the pacifist and, of course, feminist”.

Until the 80s approximately, this great impulse of Feminism was exposed into three
perspectives that mark different views on the situation of women: liberal feminism,
socialist feminism and radical feminism3.
The classification of feminist theory in three main perspectives (liberal, socialist and
radical feminism) is based on the work of Alison Jaggar Feminist Politics and Human
Nature, who in 1983 identified and characterized four tendencies (liberal, Marxist,
socialist and radical).

In recent decades, we can also identify other feminist perspectives, such as cultural
feminism, difference feminism or postmodernist feminism.

Some radical feminists hold ideas such as that male sexuality is aggressive and
even potentially lethal, compared to female sexuality that is oriented to interpersonal
relationships; that women are morally superior to men; that female oppression has
its cause in the suppression of the essence of women and, therefore, it is necessary
to accentuate the differences between the sexes and adopt lesbianism as an
alternative, since heterosexuality is condemned for its collusion with the male world.
In my opinion, these ideas not only reflect a biological determinism, but also fall into
the same errors as the dominant traditional thought; errors that, from its origins, the
feminist movement has tried to eradicate because they have been considered the
ideological basis of the patriarchal system. Defending that there is a feminine and a
masculine essence, that women are nature and men culture, or that women are
morally superior to men, is typical of the sexualized thinking that feminists have for
so long tried to deconstruct.

Feminist theory develops the notion of the sex-gender system (Casado, 2002),
understood as a conceptual matrix founded on sexual dimorphism, which through
various technologies is constituted as a normative structure that regulates the sex

3
It is called radical feminism because it aims to find the root of domination. PULEO H., Alicia: "The
personal is political: the emergence of radical feminism", in AMORÓS, Celia AND DE MIGUEL, Ana
(Eds.): Feminist theory: from the Enlightenment to Globalization, op. cit., p. 40.
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and gender relationship, producing dichotomous social representations (de Lauretis,

1989).

One of the first criticisms of the conception of the sex-gender system was that of
Monique Wittig, showing that it implies a dichotomous conception between
nature/culture. This is demonstrated if we consider that it was not until the 18th
century, with the emergence of science as a paradigm of knowledge, that the unisex
model was overcome and the notion of sexual dimorphism was established under
the conception of health, in which, from Statistical averages define a standard that
acquires the norm value, allowing to establish measurement parameters, which act
as normalizing power.

Following this line, Judith Butler (2007) argues that both sex and the body do not
have an origin with the culture and language, but are constructed through the same
discursive practices and gender expressions that operate through institutionalization
and repetition of certain gender norms. In this way, they end up constituting one of
the most consolidated regimes of truth in our cultures through what she calls the
“performativity of the body, sex and gender”. She proposes a reformulation of how
the body had been understood under the conception of the sex-gender system,
conceiving it now from a constructivist and dialogic conception. This meant an
epistemological break about the classic nature-culture dichotomy, which came to
question the essentialism of sexual categories, on which first and second wave
feminism had been based, transforming the meanings that were given to it.

Finally, I would like to introduce some notions that I believe are fundamental to the
formulation of queer theory by Beatriz Preciado(2003).

In this term, Beatriz Preciado proposes a proliferation of differences, or what is the

same, “a multitude of bodies: transgender bodies, penisless men, wolf balls,
cyborgs, femmes butchs, etc. The “sexual crowd appears as the possible subject of
queer politics” (Preciado, 2003). These identities are at all times mobile and
strategic, as long as they resist the normalization and the division of body organs,
which organizes all a body geography assigning different functions to each part of
the body. Because, as she says “todays sexuality always implies a precise
territorialization of the mouth, the vagina, the anus” (Preciado, 2003,).

Preciado not only talks about resistance to normalization, but also proposes the
reconversion of the technologies that produce normal and heterosexual bodies. In
this sense, he outlines “different notions in which through this notion of technology,
I'm talking about devices, not just endurance, but new production identities that
transform a technology of control and domination into something you could call
liberation technology, if you will ”(Preciado, 2004). The fight against construction sex
identities is also the struggle against capitalist sex politics, through the reconversion
of body production technologies and the use of strategic identities.
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PERFORMATIVITY, PERFORMANCE AND DRAG

In The Disputed Gender, Butler(2001) argues that the drag or transvestite serves as
the most instance of the "strange", generating an interpretation that questions the
naturalness of the two-sex system: "By imitating gender, the transvestite manifests
implicit in the structure of the genre itself, as well as its contingency”. Not only
reveals to the viewer the illusion of gender as an original and permanent identity, but
also serves to understand gender as an action rather than as an essence, that is, as
a "stylized repetition of acts".

In Importing Bodies, on the other hand, responding to certain accusations, this

explanation of performativity becomes more complex by distinguishing between
gender as something "performative" ("the forced citation of a norm") and drag as a
"performance." ("the parodic quote of a rule"). What remains is the idea of drag as an
occasion for an interpretive act that allows us to see what we usually consider
permanent properties as a rather changing practice. The genre would be mandatory
in a way that drag is not, although both would be imitative performances devoid of an
original to imitate. The drag would be an artistic performance and not the
reproduction of content that is supposed to mimic.

But Butler does not postulate that gender identity is an "action," since that would
presuppose the existence of an acting subject or actor. What she claims is that it is
the "performance" that exists before the performer.

ETIC AND POLITIC

Butler has had an interest in grief over the development of a political ethic. She
argued that the violent revenge of the measures taken by the government of his
country not only denied the condition of the people but further threatened their
security.

The ethics that Butler began to develop in writings such as Precarious Life (2004;
Paidós, 2006) or Undoing Gender is potentially global and arises from a common
human experience of vulnerability and, in particular, vulnerability to violence.

Precarious Life contains a series of essays in which Butler reflects on politics after
the events, especially as a missed opportunity: when instead of trying to redefine
itself as part of the global community, a nationalist and older discourse is established
in the United States.

In one of his most recent books, Allied Bodies and Political Struggle (2015; Paidós,
2019), the main thesis is that acting together can question the distributions of power.
The union of bodies is itself a form of politics. She returns here to his notion of
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"performativity," but uses it to illuminate street politics. It urges us to think about the
political effects that appears when bodies appear in the public square. According to
Butler, bodies have a "significant effect," and even when people stand in silence,
their bodies "say" that they are not disposable.

CONCLUSIONS

From what has been written it is clearly deduced that Feminism, as a political and
social movement that fights for the emancipation of women, must be considered as a
multifaceted phenomenon. Feminists have had to analyze the realities of different
women from all those perspectives that favor female oppression. The study of Law,
Philosophy, Sociology, Medicine or Literature and practical actions aimed at raising
awareness and improving the lives of women are the logical consequence of the
system we face. Understanding that the oppression of women derives from the
confluence, specifically for us, of the patriarchal system and the capitalist system,
subordination in that sense shared with many men.

From some positions, the existence of Feminism as an organized movement is

questioned and it is considered that it is only possible to speak of currents of thought
that defend the rights of women, but without connection to each other. In this sense,
Isabel de Torres Ramírez affirms that “this diversification means that today we
cannot speak of feminism, but feminisms” and adds that nowadays no one disputes
that “Feminism has its own history, ideas and praxis, but that none of the three –
history, ideas and practice– can be shown as a unitary and totally constructed
whole, but rather as realities that are in continuous debate, embodied in various
manifestations” (Isabel de Torres, 2005).

Despite the difficulties in characterizing the theories and movements that encompass
it, I believe that it is possible to affirm the existence of the feminist movement if we
take into account all the common elements and objectives shared by feminisms. In
this sense, we can affirm that feminist proposals start from the analysis of the
situation of women in society and coincide, on the one hand, in denouncing the
relations of domination of the male sex over the female and, on the other, in the
consideration that this social organization, which is called patriarchy and which is
based on gender differences, is the result of a historical and social process and not a
natural fact.

Second, all feminisms share the ultimate goal of eradicating patriarchy and claiming
equality between women and men. It is true that there are a large number of diverse
proposals aimed at eliminating this subordination system, as well as that there is not
even a consensus in feminist theory regarding the concept of equality. However,
both are common goals of the entire feminist movement.
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Different feminisms that are constantly emerging and evolving in recent decades,
share the idea that women are primarily oppressed by the patriarchal system, as well
as the ultimate goal of achieving their liberation and equality for all people,
regardless of their sex, class, race or sexual orientation. In addition, they consider it
essential to know the history, the situation and the characteristics of women, so the
female experience is the starting point of their reflections.

In short, it is obvious that the fight for gender equality and for the emancipation of
women is still a pending task and that new strategies, methods and proposals are
required that, in the long term, radically transform social relations and systems. In
this sense, perhaps the greatest challenge that Feminism has to face is a true
awareness of citizenship, which encourages both women and men to understand
and defend that society will be infinitely better, if each and every one of human can
enjoy the same autonomy and freedom to carry out their life.

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