Sex in Revolution: Gender, Politics, and Power in Modern MexicoJocelyn H. Olcott, Mary Kay Vaughan, Gabriela Cano 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 católicas 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 postrevolutionary society. These essays illuminate emerging practices of femininity and masculinity, stressing the formation of subjectivity through civil-society mobilizations, spectatorship and entertainment, and locales such as workplaces, schools, churches, and homes. The volume’s epilogue examines how second-wave feminism catalyzed this revolutionary legacy, sparking widespread, more radically egalitarian rural women’s organizing in the wake of late-twentieth-century democratization campaigns. The conclusion considers the Mexican experience alongside those of other postrevolutionary societies, offering a critical comparative perspective. Contributors. Ann S. Blum, Kristina A. Boylan, Gabriela Cano, María Teresa Fernández Aceves, Heather Fowler-Salamini, Susan Gauss, Temma Kaplan, Carlos Monsiváis, Jocelyn Olcott, Anne Rubenstein, Patience Schell, Stephanie Smith, Lynn Stephen, Julia Tuñón, Mary Kay Vaughan |
Contents
Amelio Robless Transgender Masculinity in the Mexican Revolution | |
Modern Women and Their Enemies Mexico City 1924 | |
Film Representation by Emilio El Indio Fernández | 12 |
Reshaping the Domestic Sphere | 12 |
Divorce and Revolutionary State Formation in Yucatán | 12 |
Gender Class and Anxiety at the Gabriela Mistral Vocational School Revolutionary Mexico City | 12 |
Adoption and Public Welfare Mexico City 19381942 | 12 |
The Gendered Realm of Labor Organizing | 14 |
Gender and Industrial Modernization in the Textile Industry in Postrevolutionary Puebla | 14 |
Women and Revolutionary Politics | 27 |
Mexican Catholic Womens Activism 19171940 | 29 |
Women on Mexicos Popular Front | 53 |
Reframing the Nation from Below | |
Gender Chaos and Authority in Revolutionary Times | |
Bibliography | |
Contributors | |
The Struggle between the Metate and the Molinos de Nixtamal in Guadalajara 19201940 | 14 |
Gender Work Trade Unionism and WorkingClass Womens Culture in PostRevolutionary Veracruz | 14 |