Feminist, Transgender, and Intersex Visions of a Gender-Free Society and the Legal Category of Sex.

A gender-free society is one of the visions that have been developed in feminist, transgender and intersex theory as an alternative to the existing gender order. These visions depart from the idea that through social change, gender can be "undone" to the point that it is not relevant any more as a normalising instrument prescribing the classification into either male or female and heterosexuality as a norm. In this utopian state of society, being "female", "intersex" or "transgender" is no reason for disadvantages or discrimination - or more radically, these classifications do not exist anymore. The paper explores how this vision could be used on one hand as a tool for reflection on the current use of the categories of sex and gender in law as well as in gender and law scholarship. On the other hand it might serve as a direction for legal reform for the 21st century. Thereby one of sociology of law's "classical" issues has to be addressed: the question of the use of law as an instrument of social change. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]