Sex in revolution : gender, politics, and power in modern Mexico / edited by Jocelyn Olcott, Mary Kay Vaughan, and Gabriela Cano foreword by Carlos Monsiváis.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Olcott, Jocelyn, 1970-

Vaughan, Mary K., 1942-

Cano, Gabriela.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women--Mexico--History--Congresses.

Women.

Women--Political activity--Mexico--History--Congresses.

Feminism--Mexico--History--Congresses.

Feminism.

Sex role--Mexico--History--Congresses.

Sex role.

History.

Women--Political activity.

Mexico.

Genre:

Conference papers and proceedings.

Physical Description:

x, 320 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Durham : Duke University Press, 2006.

Summary:

Sex in Revolution challenges the prevailing narratives of the Mexican Revolution and postrevolutionary state formation by placing women at center stage. Bringing to bear decades of feminist scholarship and cultural approaches to Mexican history, the essays in this book demonstrate how women seized opportunities created by modernization efforts and revolutionary upheaval to challenge conventions of sexuality, work, family life, religious practices, and civil rights.

Concentrating on episodes and phenomena that occurred between 1915 and 1950, the contributors deftly render experiences ranging from those of a transgendered Zapatista soldier to upright damas catolicas and Mexico City's chicas modernas pilloried by the press and male students. Women refashioned their lives by seeking relief from bad marriages through divorce courts and preparing for new employment opportunities through vocational education. Activists ranging from Catholics to Communists mobilized for political and social rights. Although forced to compromise in the face of fierce opposition, these women made an indelible imprint on post-revolutionary society.

Contents:

When Gender Can't Be Seen amid the Symbols: Women and the Mexican Revolution / Carlos Monsivais 1

Pancho Villa, the Daughters of Mary, and the Modern Woman: Gender in the Long Mexican Revolution / Mary Kay Vaughan 21

Part 1 Embodying Revolutionary Culture

Unconcealable Realities of Desire: Amelio Robles's (Transgender) Masculinity in the Mexican Revolution / Gabriela Cano 35

The War on Las Pelonas: Modern Women and Their Enemies, Mexico City, 1924 / Anne Rubenstein 57

Femininity, Indigenismo, and Nation: Film Representation by Emilio "El Indio" Fernandez / Julia Tunon 81

Part 2 Reshaping the Domestic Sphere

"If Love Enslaves...Love Be Damned!": Divorce and Revolutionary State Formation in Yucatan / Stephanie Smith 99

Gender, Class, and Anxiety at the Gabriela Mistral Vocational School, Revolutionary Mexico City / Patience A. Schell 112

Breaking and Making Families: Adoption and Public Welfare, Mexico City, 1938-1942 / Ann S. Blum 127

Part 3 The Gendered Realm of Labor Organizing

The Struggle between the Metate and the Molinos de Nixtamal in Guadalajara, 1920-1940 / Maria Teresa Fernandez-Aceves 147

Gender, Work, Trade Unionism, and Working-Class Women's Culture in Post-Revolutionary Veracruz / Heather Fowler-Salamini 162

Working-Class Masculinity and the Rationalized Sex: Gender and Industrial Modernization in the Textile Industry in Postrevolutionary Puebla / Susan M. Gauss 181

Part 4 Women and Revolutionary Politics

Gendering the Faith and Altering the Nation: Mexican Catholic Women's Activism, 1917-1940 / Kristina A. Boylan 199

The Center Cannot Hold: Women on Mexico's Popular Front / Jocelyn Olcott 223

Rural Women's Grassroots Activism, 1980-2000: Refraining the Nation from Below / Lynn Stephen 241

Final Reflections: Gender, Chaos, and Authority in Revolutionary Times / Temma Kaplan 261.

Notes:

Papers originally presented at a conference "Las Olvidadas: Gender and Women's History in Postrevolutionary Mexico," held at Yale University in May 2001.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [277]-301) and index.

ISBN:

082233884X

0822338998

OCLC:

70707785

Publisher Number:

9780822338840

9780822338994