The global coalition-building non-profit organization WE, The World published an article in the Sep-Nov 2023 issue of its magazine Trends, authored by GALDEF Board member and Outreach Coordinator David Balashinsky, calling for closer collaboration between the genital autonomy movement and other social justice movements.

In the article, titled “From Exclusiveness to Unity: Building a World Where We Rise Together”, Balashinsky appealed for collaborations that “demonstrate the utility of rights organizations forming strategic partnerships.” He reminded readers of the well-supported evidence that “the objectives of socially conscious movements are not trivialized nor their impact diminished when they unite and make common cause with one another.” Balashinsky cites successful collaborations between women’s, LGBT and black civil rights movements. 

He also urges greater collaboration between those fighting genital cutting of girls, boys and intersex children, stating “If one accepts the premise that a medically unnecessary, nonconsensual body modification is a harm in and of itself because it violates a person’s rights to bodily integrity and self determination, it is difficult to see how can one look at FGC, MGC and IGC – practices that are identical in this fundamental respect – and not come to the same moral conclusions about them.” He continued “Either there is a fundamental right to bodily self-ownership that applies to everybody, regardless of sex, or there isn’t.”

Balashinsky also calls for integrating the genital autonomy movement into broader human rights and social reform movements. The full article can be viewed here. Your financial support today helps GALDEF to increase our outreach to other social reform movements.

WE, The World connects and promotes thousands of socially conscious organizations and businesses, representing millions of people, to amplify their efforts and generate public awareness and action for peace, justice, sustainability and transformation.  Advisors and supporters include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Jane Goodall, Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, Bill McKibben, Immaculee Ilibagiza, Daniel Ellsberg, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Patch Adams, Hazel Henderson, Robert Thurman and about 70 other visionary leaders from around the world.