Plotting Women: Gender and Representation in Mexico

Mexican culture remains so strongly steeped in the mores of patriarchy that there is not much available on Women's issues in that country, whether in English or Spanish. However, this book serves as a nice introduction to some of the problems facing Mexican women as well as those who are learning about the culture. The book includes some quick analyses of several Mexican authors, few of whom are likely to be recognized by American readers. SHe does briefly discuss some of Octavio Paz' work, and she spends (far too little unfortunately) time on the difficultly that Frida Kahlo had as a woman of strong character in patriarchal Mexico, a mere half-century ago. Franco's analysis begins with a look at Sor Juana, the nun and Baroque poet who was quite revolutionary in her day in her questioning of the few roles allowed women in the counter-reformation society of colonial Mexico. Another important archetype which the book then touches on is that of La Malinche, or the woman who acted as Cortes' translator on the invasion, and who is thereby seen as the great betrayer of the Mexican people ( which of course dovetails nicely with the patriarchal view that all women are dissemblers and not to be trusted). Franco's overall thesis is that Mexican women have had difficulty in writing themselves into narratives that fit them better than the gross distortions of humanity "awarded" them by the masculine narratives of Mexico. As Mexico is truly only becoming democratic and modern in the last 30 years, the women's movement there is only in its beginning, and Franco's work reflects that. However, she is trying to set the ground work for some future analysis of how women can imagine themselves as masters of their own destiny. Further, given the enormous class and racial divides in Mexico, there are other issues that Franco cannot really go into as her work is more culturally focused rather than economically. There is no Marxist analysis in here, unfortunately; Franco does however address such issues in her book "decline and fall of the lettered city," also excellent. In any case, Mexican (middle class ) women are indeed questioning their culture and searching for ways out of patriarchy, but they are just at the beginning of that search and this book points that out. I take off one star only because I would have liked Franco to go into greater depth in her analysis; I think because her insights are excellent, I simply wanted more of them. Upon lately re-reading Paz' laberinto de soledad I am struck by how outdated that work is, having been written in the early '60, an eternity ago in terms of the development of a "modern" Mexican society since that time. Franco's work begins to approach updating Paz' analysis, but there is so much room for more...