Introduction

Gendered violence impacts countless people and can come in many different forms and varying degrees of severity. It affects women and those in the LGBTQ+ community through direct physical violence, institutionalized oppression, and societal standards. Latinx communities are no exception to this. Machismo and marianismo continue to exert influence, at times making this topic difficult to navigate within Latinx families. Additionally, fear of perpetuating negative stereotypes about Latinxs makes it difficult  to discuss these issues with non-Latinxs. Discussing gendered violence from a Latinx-centered perspective helps to address how violence targets and impacts Latinx people and how we can and do participate in changing sexist beliefs and behaviors.

In addition to behaviors and beliefs that shape gendered violence, we must consider how race also influences this violence. Transphobia, homophobia, and sexism are often worse for people of color, as they combine with racism to create more injustices and challenges. Topics addressed in this Mini-Reader range from structural violence, such as the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade in the United States, to physical violence, such as the rise in femicides in Latin America. This Mini-Reader shows the various ways gendered violence remains prominent in multiple countries and across many demographics.

How sexism and gendered violence works within and impacts the Latinx community is a topic well known to most Latinas and Latinx folk and has been heavily researched by scholars. Scholars have analyzed the roots of machismo in our culture, the many ways gendered violence has solidified its power in our society, and most importantly, the consequences that result from gendered violence. Research regarding gender and sexuality within Latinx studies is longstanding and continues today. For instance, Gloria Anzaldúa, in Borderlands/ La Frontera (1987), analyzes the ways sexism experienced in our community is rooted in colonialism and how this interacts with race, identity, and gender in Latinx culture. She looks at how the double standards that exist in our community force women to adhere to rigid expectations; any behavior deviating from this is considered shameful. Anzaldúa’s vast contributions continue to stand out as essentials in Chicanx and feminist research. MeXicana Encounters (2000) by Rosa Linda Fregoso considers race and economic status as influencing factors in the femicides in Juarez, Mexico, and discusses the sexist disparities in freedom that young Mexicanas and Latinas face. Furthermore, she considers how we can sensitively portray victims without perpetuating harmful Latinx stereotypes. Ana Y. Ramos- Zaya and Merida M. Rua’s Critical Dialogues in Latinx Studies (2021) includes Lorena Garcia’s chapter, “Now Why Do You Want to Know About That?” where she evaluates how sexism, heteronormativity, and race interact together and shape Latinx-majority high school sex education classes. Odilka S. Santiago’s chapter, “Regulating Space and Time” looks at how strict time and privacy regulations are used to manipulate Black and Latina women in homeless shelters to silence and force them to believe they are to blame for their situations. Finally, Jillian Hernandez’s chapter, “Chongivity Activity” analyzes the gender non-conforming “chonga” aesthetic built by Latinx women, and how this displays an act of resilience against cultural norms.

Many scholars have also elaborated on the shame and invisibility Latinx women often experience when having feminist conversations. In Living a Feminist Life (2017), Sara Ahmed evaluates what it means to be a feminist and challenges the idea that all feminists are inherently unhappy by deconstructing the stereotypes of feminist “killjoys” and “willful” women. In this “For My Sister: Smashing the Walls of Pretense and Shame” (2002),  Gloria E. Anzaldúa and Analouise Keating discuss the overlooked oppression and shame young women of color often face from internalized cultural expectations and external norms. Catriona Rueda Esquibel’s With Her Machete in Her Hand (2006) unearths Chicana lesbian literature and ties this to hidden histories of Chicana lesbian life. Yet, although Latina lesbians have gained public recognition in cultural discourse, as noted by Lourdes Torres and Inmaculada Pertusa, in Tortillera (2003) a majority of literary collections tend to include more work focused on male homosexuality, rather than female. These gaps are also present in our Mini-Reader, with few discussions of lesbian life or representation in past publications of Mujeres Talk and Latinx Talk.

Nonetheless, in creating this Mini-Reader, we have carefully chosen pieces that address the varied factors impacting gendered violence within the Latinx community and varied forms of gendered violence, building upon the work of previous scholars discussed above. We hope these essays, and a discussion of them, can contribute to greater awareness and understanding among Latinx people on the topic of feminism and sexism within our community and bring attention to forms of structural misogyny and sexism as it intersects with race and ethnicity. The ten essays included here address government regulation of women’s bodies; physical violence against Latinxs in society, communities, and homes; and hypersexualization, stereotypes, and homophobia as factors that create dangerous environments for vulnerable groups.

The first section of the Mini-Reader discusses various ways institutional power is used to monitor the bodies of women and queer folk. “Latinas and Roe v Wade” by Elena R.Gutiérrez, discusses what the monumental Roe v. Wade case meant for Latinas in 2013 before it got overturned. In “Women of Color and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA),” Susan Mendez talks about the opposition to VAWA in 2012, a law aimed at expanding protections from violence for Native American women, undocumented women, and same-sex couples that also deemed stalking a form of domestic violence. Finally, in her 2020 interview, Patricia Zavella further elaborates on the surveillance of bodies in “Interview with Patricia Zavella, Author of The Movement for Reproductive Justice (NYU Press, 2020).” She discusses the heavily intersectional focus on reproductive rights that her research foregrounds and explains how feminism interacts with Latinidad. Understanding how governmental regulation impacts Latinas is vital to recognize the advances Latinas have made for reproductive rights.

The second section, regarding how physical violence within Latinx communities is handled, opens with Theresa Delgaillo’s 2012 essay, “Finding Missing Latinas.” She compares the missing Mexican women in Juarez to the missing Latinas from Albuquerque, New Mexico, who are the focus of an episode of “Dateline.” Shows like this expose how missing Latinas can be made a spectacle and how much violence against Latinas is ignored. Iris Lafé’s “Adam’s Rib: Island Taboo Unveiled” from 2014 provides first-hand accounts of domestic violence in Puerto Rican families and femicides plaguing the island. “Vulnerable Bodies: Domestic Violence in the Hispanic/Latinx Community During a Pandemic” from October 2020, by Karina Elizabeth Vázquez, Sadie Wenger, and Danny Frascella, notes how resources and access to help for domestic violence in the Latinx community has historically been limited and how the pandemic worsened many victim’s situations. Open conversations about violence happening both internationally and domestically are crucial to improving the help given to Latinxs but also to correct how we address those affected.

The final section of the Mini-Reader takes up the dangers of prejudices and stereotypes in fomenting gendered violence and the importance of this issue in the media. This section includes “Not Your Mami” from 2020 by Catalina Adragna who analyzes how the hypersexualization of women of color contributes to the dangers Latinas face from community outsiders, community members, and family. Elena R. Gutierrez’s “Commentary on ‘No Màs Bebés’” discusses the documentary No Más Bebés, which is about the forced sterilization that happened to women of Mexican descent in a Los Angeles hospital in the 1970s. Her 2016 piece shows Mexican women’s early involvement in the reproductive justice movement and how stereotypically-based depictions of Latinas can quickly lead to dangerous practices.  J. Frank Galarte shares a personal struggle in “Notes from a Trans* Chicana/o Survivor.” In their 2011 article, Galarte describes the confusion and exclusion many trans-identifying folk faces when deciding if they fit into “women-only spaces.” Finally, Marcia Ochoa’s “Toxic Masculinity and the Orlando Pulse Shooting” talks about the horrors of the Pulse shooting and analyzes how toxic masculinity/machismo had a role in this terrible act. Ochoa also brings attention to the worsening “social cleansing” taking place in Bogota, Colombia that has been targeting queer and trans folk, Indigenous people, labor leaders, and sex workers.

At the conclusion of this Mini-Reader, you will find a set of discussion questions that we hope allow you and your communities or classes to further flesh out the ideas that these authors raise.

Danitza Rodríguez Jiménez is currently an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison majoring in International Studies with certificates in Chican@ & Latin@ Studies and Art History.