Sex in Revolution

"Sex in Revolution" challenges the prevailing narrative of the Mexican Revolution and post-revolutionary state formation by placing women centre stage. Bringing to bear decades of feminist scholarship and cultural approaches to Mexican history, these essays 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 trans-gendered 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 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. 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 post-revolutionary societies, offering a critical comparative perspective.