Chicana/o-Latina/o Gender & Sexuality

The article by Trujillo "Chicana Lesbians: Fear and Loathing in the Chicano Community" was very interesting to me. Even though the article was about Chicana lesbians, it related to me in so many ways. The line "just didn't look down there" made me laugh because that's exactly how I was when I was younger. I was never told by my mother or anyone that we need to explore our bodies and know about our bodies to fully understand who we are as women. Our bodies, as women, was always a topic in my house that was never talked about. When I started developing and maturing my mother got me all the essentials but never talked to me about any of it. And I believe this hurt me as a women because not understanding my body when I was younger made me not love my body when I was with a guy in a relationship.
Another passage in this reading that caught my attention was "A Chicana lesbian must learn to love herself, both as a woman and a sexual being, before she can love another." This passage is very true not only for lesbians but for all women. When I was in high school I was in a relationship from the 8th grade to senior year and when people thought of me they always attached me to my boyfriend. And my boyfriend always made comments that he liked when I dressed nice, that he liked my hair a certain way or that he liked when I was skinnier and I would always do things that he wanted because that is what I was "supposed" to do as a woman for a man. Once we broke up I developed greatly. I found my own identity and started loving myself for who I am. Now I'm in a new relationship and I don't let him push me around with what I should look like or what I should wear and he still loves me for who I am. Both of these passages caught my eye in this article and they both made me realize that even though lesbian and heterosexual women have different sexualities, they go through similar processes and adventures while finding/forming their identities as women.

Posted by Purple 30 at 1:53 PM | Permalink

After discussing the readings on the politics of silence and the construction of sexual and gender identities I would like you to think about the following questions. How/why does silence function in the Western construction of sexuality? Using Zavella and Chavez Leyva's articles explore how silence continues to shape your own experiences of sexuality and how this is similar or different from the accounts that these women both lay out in terms of their own research. Remember to explore the various aspects of silence as both negative and positive avenues for sexual expression and feel free to bring in any materials and/or concepts from any class readings.

Posted by Kandace Creel Falcón at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I was reading some excerpts from “We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know: White Teachers, Multiracial Schools� by Gary Howard for my Service Learning in the Latino Community class and was reminded of many of the themes we have been discussing in class lately. The author is a white male and writes about his varied experiences as an activist and teacher grappling with white privilege, multiculturalism, and identity and raised the same issue that we have been reading Chicanas address of recognizing ones personal heritage and family history as a means of being more capable of navigating the world we live in and appreciating individuals beyond their place in the world as oppressed or oppressor, not only as an important act for Chicanos but for anyone regardless of race. Howard argues that in order to rethink how whites relate to the world it’s necessary for them to recognize the depth of their own personal history and move beyond the white guilt, because just as the historically oppressed are not defined by their oppression, the oppressors are not fully defined by their identities as the privileged. Which relates exactly to our discussion of intersectionality and the idea of identifying ones’ whiteness as a part of their identity as a means of de-centralizing it in race discourses. Howard relates this concept to education with the argument that alongside books revealing historical perspectives of various non-white ethnicities he has helped to publish, it was necessary to present information about the European American perspective in classrooms that recognizes a history of white dominance as well as the efforts of white men and women to end racism, so as to acknowledge the variance within this identity in itself and the idea that “we are all a part of the social justice agenda� and white privilege does not have to isolate whites into feelings of dominance and blame. I think this is a useful type of discourse to have, as white people are often paralyzed as to what they can really do to change this cycle, and along with learning the perspectives and struggles of minorities it is necessary for whites to recognize their own ignorance and fear of recognizing their role in perpetuating or ignoring race issues.

Posted by jrfta at 5:08 PM | Permalink

hi everyone,

so as to not take up our valuable class time shamelessly promoting an outside-of-class organizational activity, i am using our class blog as a means to do so!

i'm involved with an organization called the Twin Cities Avengers, an all-inclusive queer direct action group committed to dismantling all forms of oppression.

right now the Avengers have created an interactive map for folks to record personal experiences of "gender injustice" (or any kind/multiple kinds of "identity injustice") that limit your everyday mobility. we are operating from the assumption that instances of street harassment happen all the time, and for many reasons are not documented. once we have a substancial number of posts we hope to use our map to reclaim public space using a variety of methods. feel free to email suggestions for how to best act upon the results of your experiences to tcavengers@gmail.com. most of the posts already on the site are examples in which folks were verbally or physically harassed or attacked as a result of their sexuality, race, and/or gender presentation. we are open to any and all submissions. please read the posting guidelines. the link to the map is www.tinyurl.com/unbashtc

http://www.tinyurl.com/unbashtc

Posted by barte102 at 3:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

After watching the movie "la operacion" in class, I was totally disgusted at how doctors abused their power and mislead many women into becoming sterilized. Doctors are supposed to be professionals who take an oath to help people. It made me mad and scared that doctors could be so inhumane. These women should have been informed of the procedure of sterilization and the pros and cons such that they could make an informed decision. It makes me mad to know that these women were taken advantage of because of their lack of knowledge on the subject and low economic status. It made me scarred to realize how lack of knowledge in a certain field could make me vulnerable to making uninformed decisions. I would like to think that my doctor had the best intentions for me and that he/she would recommend the best treatment for my medical concern. However, after watching this video I realized that I shouldn't be so naive and place full trust on my doctor. Sometimes it is best to do one's own research aside from doctor's recommendations in order to make a more well informed decision that might prevent future regrets.
Watching this video also brought back memories of how my mother was mistreated during two of her pregnancies. When my mother was pregnant with my brother, the doctor along with a social worker wanted her to give up my brother for adoption. Their reasoning was that my mother already had 3 children and that another child would be too much of an economic burden on her family. My mother thought they were crazy and didn't give up my brother for adoption. Another time, my mother was pregnant with my younger sister and the doctor urged her to have an abortion because according to some tests they had performed, the baby would be born with down syndrome. Being a devout Catholic, my mother refused to have an abortion. Later, my sister was born and she did not have down syndrome, she is a perfectly healthy child without any health problems. I think women should be able to choose whether they want to give up their children up for adoption or if they want to have an abortion. However, doctors should not have a say on the women's choice nor should they try to impose their personal views on them.

Posted by pati0025 at 8:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I feel like Federico y Elfiria really got into how sexual activity and representations of sexuality are policed and sanctioned as good or condemned as bad. While I was reading the story I was reminded of how Moraga had described lesbian sex as being outside of "sex as duty":

"Lesbianism as a sexual act can never be construed as reproductive sex. It is not work. It is purely about pleasure and intimacy. How this refutes, spits in the face of, the notion of sex as productive, sex as duty!"

When Federico describes how he sees an erotically charged film and then comes home to Elfiria and comes onto her, he talks about how even though she physically resists, she doesn't say no " 'cause she was a good girl and s'posed to let her husband do things like that." However after the act is over he is bothered because she has a hicky, which culturally marks her as a sexual person, even though he acknowledges that since they are married it should not be such a big deal, he stays mad for a week avoiding her, and they eventually have sex again. But even though no hicky results from the act this time, he is still bothered by the fact that she was the one who initiated it and wanted to have sex. After he finds out that she is pregnant he becomes ok with her again, until she begins to initiate it and he is uncomfortable with that. I feel Moraga's point about how once sex is not reproductive and is about intimacy and pleasure, especially about the woman's pleasure, sex becomes something deviant or that "bad girls" do, is especially relevant in this short story. Elfiria wants to have sex for pleasure, not just because it is her wifely "duty". Also the way that Federico describes Elfiria at the beginning, saying that she "just went home from school and did what her parents said" and therefore was a good girl, reminded me of a lot of the stories told in Voicing Chicana Feminisms, of how parents policed girls' sexualities by creating strict rules and curfews.

Posted by nowak039 at 7:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So, this should be a comment on shoes but that seemed confusing, it's going to be an entry instead.

As a taller female, heels become an even more complicated issue. Based on societies typical gender norms, females are supposed to be “damsels in distress� and in need of men to protect them, making them feel threatened by a female that towers over them. Sometimes taunts when I was younger referred to my height as making me more masculine, while others would tell me that I could be a “super model� I was so tall. So if super models are tall, why is it manly to be tall? I do wear heels on occasion, but I know that when I do women envy my excessive height much more than men appreciate it. In class readings, the issue of heels related to Chicanas claiming their sexuality and altering the norms of the quinceanera, and in a way when taller women brave to tower over the world even more than usual, they too are defying the physical reflection of gender norms as defined by the heterosexual world, that women should be smaller than their partners. In terms of height issues alone, wearing heels can be seen as a physical representation of any female of her power, because having towered over a good part of the male population for a while, one notices that they are intimidated by mere physical representation of a woman's power, and even for shorter women this is a way of asserting themselves more than they are permitted by their own physical stature on a daily basis.

Posted by jrfta at 8:34 PM | Permalink

I don't feel that my gender had anything to do with the way my parents raised me. It was just my sister and so I don't have a brother to compare my life with. My parents let me do whatever I wanted basically. My mom openly told me about puberty and becoming a woman. I don't remember ever actually having a sex talk with my parents but I learned all of that information in school. I wasn't allowed to go on a date until I was sixteen but I manuevered around that rule by hanging out with boys in large groups of friends. I had a boyfriend before I turned sixteen and my parents didn't really care. They gave me all the necessary knowledge to make my own decisions. They taught me how to be responsible with whatever I chose to do but gave the opportunity to make my own decisions. I don't feel that I would have been treated any differently if I had been a boy. I believe i would have had just as much freedom either way. My parents are very big believers in equality and wanted their daughters to grow up equally.

Posted by swen0441 at 8:24 PM | Permalink

The line in chapter eight from the book, Voicing Chicana Feminisms, "men who were important in making them feminists" really got to me today. It made me think about my own father and how he has had an impact on my life. I thought it was interesting how the author said that many of the respondents talked about being their father's son and daughter. In my family by brother is seven years older than me so when I was just starting to find my own identity by brother was out of the house. After reading this section of the chapter I feel like my father had a lot to do with how I am now. For example, in one part of the reading one of the respondents talked about cutting lawn and doing the opposite gender roles in the house and that was me. I've been the one who has cut the lawn and taken out the garbage ever since my brother has been gone. Also my father always pushed me in sports and away from boys. In high school he always told me to focus on my sports and not worry about any boys because I did not need them. He told me that I shouldn't date boys or think about them until I was 25. I know he was joking in some sense because I know he wants me to have someone in my life to love me but I also know that he was letting me know that I didn't have to depend on men and that I should do what I enjoy and accomplish my dreams before I worry about men. This reading has really made me appreciate my father more for always pushing me and guiding me to be stronger. I think there are a lot of people out there who don't appreciate their fathers as much as they should and don't realize how much of an influence they are even if it's hidden under their actions.

Posted by Purple 30 at 1:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We have spent a considerable amount of time in this class discussing the roles of religion (specifically the organized institution of the Catholic Church) in relation to Chicanas' expression of their gender and sexuality. How does Hurtado make similar claims about Chicanas' roles as workers in relation to gender and/or sexuality? Why do you think Hurtado wants us to think about this along side religious beliefs and her chapter on lovers? Ultimately, I want to know how do our identities as workers influence our identities that we construct around gender and sexuality?

Feel free to explore the chapter and then add your own experiences as a way of relating back to the general concepts of how our status as "workers" become gendered processes. (It is always about connections though, do not simply write your experience without any analysis and/or as a way to re-center whiteness.)

Posted by Kandace Creel Falcón at 10:30 AM | Permalink

My experience with starting to menstruate has similar aspects to those in Hurtado's Voicing Chicana Feminisms but it was also very different. I was so excited when I got mine. I think that my experience was different because in my family I have one sister, a mom and a dad. There is only one male in the house, even all of our pets were girls! I was one of the last of my friends to get it, so when I got it I felt relived that I was finally "a woman". I had been literally practicing for that day. I wore pads before I even had my period. I asked my mom about everything before it happened, or was even close to happening. I remember the day that I got it my sister got a phone call from her friend and I answered the phone, "Brenna! Guess what?!? I got my period today!" It is hard to remember, but I am fairly sure that I told my mom to tell my dad too...although I did not tell him myself which is a very large difference. It did not change my relationship with him though, like some women in the reading.

As far as when I lost my virginity goes, that is a different story. I hear the women in Hurtado's book loud and clear regarding the value of virginity in the family. My dad is a pastor. Enough said, right? My mom was always very open to making sure I knew that if anything "bad" were to happen (i.e. get pregnant) I would be out on the streets. Now, if she would have really done that I am not sure, but she sure did threaten. It was not that she did not want me to have sex, it was that she did not want me to bring "shame" to our family being that everyone knows our business in church. It would be catastrophic to our family if I got pregnant out of marriage. That made the issue of sex silent in the house when my dad was around. Because the silence comes far more from my dad than my mom my experience seems to be similar to the women Hurtado speaks with and at the same time different. My mom speaking with me about it does open up the fact that there was not complete silence on the topic. That type of parenting is right in line with the cultural norm that women deal with the kids while men do not have to.

Posted by snide040 at 6:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I too found it easy to relate to the experiences of chicana women that Hurtado describes. I have two brothers, one older and one my twin, and my parents (mainly my mom) have definitely held a double standard since we were adolescents. My mom’s founding argument has always been “but you can get pregnant!� and she claims that I will not be able to have male guests sleepover until I’m engaged. Although I have yet to test this ruling, both of my brothers had girlfriends in high school that would stay over on a regular basis, and I was always much more highly policed in high school in terms of curfews and staying over at friends’ houses. I’ve never even discussed the issue with my dad, as my mom has held the final word on most issues of disciplining us since we were teenagers; she’s the one who couldn’t sleep until we got home at night during high school, the one who would call my friends’ houses to be sure I wasn’t sneaking out to unknown destinations. I’m sure this is a concern of my dad’s, but he leaves most of my personal and social issues to my mom, which are obviously relayed to him at some point. I think this stems from the fact that my mom has always been much more concerned for how our friends’ families view ours, and issues such as teenage drinking or pregnancy are always the ones that become the talk of the town if somebody slips up. Obviously legitimate concern for our well-being is the main factor, but to me that helps to explain why my mom takes more responsibility for that sphere of our lives than my dad. The traditional gender ideal of the woman as the "home manager" leads to this idea that she must maintain the families reputation, and it's become so normalized in our society, as well as chicano society as we've read, that it is difficult for families to renegotiate that mentality.

Posted by jrfta at 4:22 PM | Permalink

This chapter in Aida Hurtado's book was really entertaining and relatable. Every woman had to go through this phase in life, and every woman was affected by it differently. For me, I would have to say my experiences with the first time I got my period were pretty similar to how Aida put it. I remember pulling my mom aside and making her promise on EVERYTHING that she would not tell my father. I don't know why, but it was too terrifying and embarrassing to think that my dad could know that I had gotten my period. I don't know if I was afraid that our relationship would change, like some of her respondents in "Voicing Chicana Feminisms", but I am lucky that our relationship stayed in tact.
When it comes to the first time I had sex, I definitely didn't talk to my parents about it. I definitely never experienced a rigid upbringing, and didn't have a strong image that created a dichotomy (like La Virgen), but I think I definitely knew that that first time wasn't something I wanted to bring up to my parents. It wasn't a proud moment, and I think I just wanted to say I had done it to take the pressure off from my friends.

Posted by mccr0146 at 4:49 PM | Permalink

i'll kick off the "shoes are a feminist issue" discussion via this comment in hopes someone 1. reads it and 2. feels empowered to rant in response
are
how shoes, particularly high heels, a feminist issue? how is wearing heals subversive/oppressive? the shoes pictured below are from a popular online stripper store called trashy.com and cost $51 plus shipping. no one i know owns these particular shoes, but after looking in the closets of the stripper friends who have purchased items from trashy.com, it is safe to say all of their clothing is produced in taiwan. from what i know about the production of clothing, i would guess these shoes are produced by women of color who work under really horrendous conditions and and ultimately their bodies are exploited (or even exterminated) so that women in the first world can decorate their bodies in a certain way. what power do women in the united states have when negociating how to gender their bodies? how are potentially liberating practices also harmful to other women because of the ways in which global capitalism operates? what do shoes say about the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality as it relates to women's agency, privilege, and ability?

p.s. they're not vegan so if someone wants to explore how that's really cruel to animals and how that relates to the way women are exploited go for it otherwise i might do that later.

Posted by barte102 at 7:42 AM | Permalink

This is Jill's post (we're experiencing some technical difficulties):

"Before I read “Growing up Female� I expected my experience being policed by white suburban gender norms would stand in stark contrast to the experience of Chicanas as reported by ethnographic findings in Hurtado’s chapter. As I read, I was surprised by how much I could relate to some Chicana experiences with gender divisions of labor within households and the ways in heterosexuality is upheld as a cultural standard. While I am not one to support the notion of some sort of universal women’s experience, I appreciate learning how intersecting systems of power affect women in similar ways.

My parents’ household had a very rigid gendered division of labor that has since shifted now that my father is retired. Like several of the respondent’s in Hurtado’s chapter, I learned from a very young age to do chores that have been traditionally delegated as “female�. Like Soledad (Hurtado 43) I would also say that I had a lot of homework to do in order to avoid cleaning! My own preference for books instead of laundry was rewarded to some extent by my parents—who would rather see me get good grades and be “upwardly mobile� than traditionally gendered (or, ideally, I would be both).

To be sure region also shapes identity and cultural gender norms. Perhaps my experiences as a queer white woman-identified person growing up in my parent’s house has a lot to do also with the Midwest and the fact that my parents have lived in this region all their lives. They are SUPER non-confrontational and very concerned with being nice. Issues of gender identity, sexual preference, sexual practice, and puberty were policed by silence. How stifling! Undoubtedly, my family-specific silencing of sexual expression is wrapped up in maintaining cultural norms of heterosexuality. Similarly, many Chicana’s families were concerned with upholding the “cult of virginity� (61) which perpetuates culturally dominant ideologies about womanhood and female sexuality. "

Posted by Kandace Creel Falcón at 10:50 AM | Permalink