Where Intersectional Activism Intersects: Comparing the Ecosexual and Occupy Movements

• In Event: 366 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session II
  In Refereed Roundtable: B. Table 25 Social Movement II

Abstract

In 2011, TIME magazine named “The Protester” as Person of the Year in tribute to the wave of global protest movements which rose up that year. Most of these–in particular Occupy and the Arab uprisings–have been intersectional; that is, a combination of seemingly disparate networks and movements working together toward the same social justice goals. “Intersectionality” began as a theory of how oppression works (Crenshaw 1989; Collins 1990), but it has developed into a conception of how people can fight it. The single identity that used to define identity politics has been challenged by scholars and activists who observe multiple and interlocking systems of inequality and oppression. This paradigmatic shift in understanding inequality focuses greater attention on interconnected systems rather than merely describing the characteristics that may distinguish them. Such critiques of identity politics have spurred new social movements that embrace multiple identities, networks, and even movement organizations. Drawing on four years of participant observations and social media analysis, my research provides a fuller understanding of the role of intersectionality by examining one of these emerging intersectional social movements, the ecosexual movement. The ecosexual movement is a growing grassroots, transnational movement that blends sustainability, environmental and climate justice with gender, sexual and reproductive rights activism. This paper focuses more specifically on comparing the ecosexual movement to the currently better known and more frequently analyzed intersectional social movement, Occupy Wall Street and the local Occupy group of which I gained the most personal experience and knowledge, Occupy Las Vegas.

Author

• Jennifer J. Reed, University of Nevada-Las Vegas