Stuck Between a Chicano and the White Race
Chicana feminism was born out of Chicana women realizing that the Chicano Movement failed to acknowledge their struggles as women, and the Women’s Rights Movement was largely led by and focused on white women. Chicana women lived in a heterosexist and male dominant society, and faced sexism at home, even as they were expected to work for their husbands in the Chicano movement. They were also isolated from the Women’s Rights Movement because it focused largely on issues affecting First World white women, and Third World Chicanas’ needs conflicted with those of white women. The Chicana movement was hence centered around creating not only legal protections for Chicana women, but also around creating
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Chicana women were told to wait for their turn, because the issues affecting the whole race took precedence over them (Ruiz, 2008, 111). As Padilla points out, Chicano culture was patriarchal, and women were encouraged to be submissive to their machos. This led to feminine issues, like that of abortion, becoming something that actively defied Chicano culture, and made Chicanas traitors for buying into the American idea of a surgical abortion (Padilla, 1972, 121). Padilla states that discussions on how to have an abortion took place since the time of their viejitas, but these were treated as individual problems that could be taken care of at home, without involving a public doctor. Padilla then questions …show more content…
White feminists were happy to put portraits of Chicanas in their homes, but rarely addressed the issues faced by lower-class Chicana women (Ruiz 110). In the case of forced sterilizations, these class and race differences led to these two groups of women having directly conflicting positions. With the growing fear that America did not have the resources to feed its rising population, doctors started to offer tubectomies to working class women, and Latina women who did not speak English were coerced into signing consent forms that effectively sterilized them (No Más Bebes, 2015). This led the Chicana movement to advocate for waiting periods before an abortion or a tubectomy was performed, so that women could fully understand what they were consenting to. The mainstream feminist movement, on the other hand, wanted to remove such obstacles to a woman having the access to abortion (No Más Bebes, 2015). The policies that ensured one set of women’s autonomy over their bodies threatened to do the opposite to the other. To many mainstream white feminists, this experience was so far removed from their experiences that they had never considered that it could be an issue, and perceived it as a fringe issue that would only dilute their message for their struggle for a more significant right. Besides not affecting most white women, forced
Chapter eight form the book From Indians To Chicanos by Diego Vigil, talks about the intact and stable social order. There are three subtopics in this chapter the first one is the industrialism and urbanization in classes. The second one is assimilation vs acculturation and the third one is the color of the intergroup that has to do with racism. All these subtopics are important because it was what made the social classes get united or separated.
In Canada, women make up slightly more than half of the population. However, throughout Canadian history and modern day, women are needing to stand up for themselves and other women to bring about change. Canadian women are strong and have the power to work together and bring about change. Jennie Trout stood up for Canadian women that wanted to be in the medical field, women during WWI made a difference in their lives by entering the workplace and standing for their right to work, Nellie McClung was a leader for women’s suffrage, and The Famous Five campaigned and won The “Persons” Case allowing women to be considered persons under the Canadian Constitution. These women were instigators of change. Change for women only occurs when ambitious and courageous women stand up for a difference that they deserve.
Cheech Marin, a comedian actor and activist, said, “You have to want to be Chicano to be Chicano.” What Cheech Marin means by this is that being Chicano is something Chicanos feel and think instead of letting others give them that title. Before there were Aztecs and Chicanos there were the Mexica. The Mexica were natives who migrated all through out what is now known as Mexico. They each spread to different parts of the land. Most ended up in what is now present day Mexico City. Those Mexica later became the Aztecs. The Aztecs had a myth of how the earth and all living things were created. In the myth the Aztec sun god and the goddess of Earth both created all living things. Hence, making all Aztecs royalty. The city was then destroyed by the Spanish conquistadores. Although the Spaniards won the Aztecs didn’t go down without a fight.
Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood by Kristen Luker, analyzes the historical and complex sociology of abortion. Luker focuses on three important factors: a historical overview of abortion, the pro-life and pro-choice views, and the direction the abortion debates are going (11, Luker, Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood p. 000). Abortion has always been seen as murder and with the idea that those who are already living have more rights. Back in the days, the laws didn’t give fetus personhood. Also, the laws against abortions weren’t strictly enforced upon anyone. In addition, abortion didn’t seem to be a huge problem, which explains why abortion was ignored in the past.
In the film, No Mas Bebes, there are a lot of cases where the Hispanic females was forced into sterilization. They will sign an authorization were they weren’t well aware of its meaning since they didn’t know how to speak or read English. Most of them weren’t aware that they couldn’t have babies anymore. In 1973, when Roe v. Wade occurred, the Supreme Court decision for the first time Supreme Court made birth control legal. This meant women have control of their reproduction even the right to have an abortion. Hispanic women didn’t participate in the abortion right moment because the white women were fighting for the right to decide to abort a child. Many of women of color couldn’t have children and they saw that white women were trying the right abort a baby. Therefore, the “Pro-choice” campaign wasn’t a cause Hispanic women could relate to or associate with.
The Chicano Movement was a time that pressed forth for the equal opportunity of the Latino community and proved to America that Mexican Americans were a force to be reckoned with. In the documentary Latino Americans – Episode 5: Prejudice and Pride, it centralizes on the success of the oppressed community through significant leaders in that period. Union activists César Chavez, along with Dolores Huerta, playwright Luis Valdez, teacher Sal Castro, US Congressman Herman Ballido, and political activist José Ángel Gutiérrez all contributed to egalitarianism of Latinos across the nation. This documentary reflects on the importance of equal prospects within the workplace, the academic setting, and the social and political features in society.
Nevertheless, Cisneros’s experience with two cultures has given her a chance to see how Latino women are treated and perceived. Therefore, she uses her writing to give women a voice and to speak out against the unfairness. As a result, Cisneros’ story “Woman Hollering Creek” demonstrates a distinction between the life women dream of and the life they often have in reality.
Feminism and Indigenous women activism is two separate topics although they sound very similar. In indigenous women’s eyes feminism is bashing men, although Indigenous women respect their men and do not want to be a part of a women’s culture who bring their men down. Feminism is defined as “The advocacy of women 's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.” In theory feminism sounds delightful despite the approaches most feminists use such as wrong-full speaking of the opposite gender. Supposedly, feminism is not needed as a result of Indigenous women being treated with respect prior to colonization. Thus, any Native woman who calls herself a feminist is often condemned as being “white”. This essay argues that Indigenous women may
Each and every day is hard to live through since whatever that can happen to my family absolutely terrifies me. Being a Chicana in the late 1960s hasn’t been a bed of rose petals, but I’m seizing every opportunity America will grant me. One of the biggest challenges is arriving home one day and my family is no longer there and they’re deported back to Mexico. Another huge obstacle is discrimination, we’re often called demeaning terms by complete strangers and it’s difficult to understand why or how they could be so cruel to someone they don’t know. It’s been tough to also learn a whole new language than the one I had been accustomed to. English is difficult with their pronunciations and strange spelling
The 1960s was a very progressive era for the mexican americans that inhabited the United States, It was very a progressive era but with every progressive era there are also a lot of hardships leading up to it there were also a lot of tough battle to be fought. The 1960s was a tough time for Mexican Americans living in America, They were discriminated for their cultural differences and were stripped of their rights because their parents weren 't Native born.
The Chicano Movement, like many other civil rights movements, gained motivation from the everyday struggles that the people had to endure in the United States due to society. Mexican-Americans, like many other ethnicities, were viewed as an inferior group compared to white Americans. Mexican-Americans sought to make a change with the Chicano Movement and “the energy generated by the movement focused national attention on the needs of Mexican-Americans” (Bloom 65). The Mexican-American Movement had four main issues that it aimed to resolve and they ranged from “restoration of la...
Introduction to Chicano Studies or Chicano Studies 1A is an introductory course at UC Santa Barbara on the historical development of Chicano people that covers topics ranging from the Aztec Society to the contemporary Latino Generation. The class includes a lecture, with 500 students, and is taught by Professor Mario T. Garcia. It is held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:00 to 3:15 PM in Isla Vista Theater 1. There is also a mandatory section which is taught by a teacher’s assistant. The section is 50 minutes long, and in my case led by Sarah Latanyshyn on Friday afternoons in Girvetz Hall.
Armando Rendon in his landmark 1970 wrote the book I am a Chicano. This book is about how activist in the Chicano movement pointed to an empty monolog of the word Chicano. Chicano means an activist. Chicanos describes themselves it was a form of self-affirmation; it reflected the consciousness that their experiences. Chicanos means, nations, histories, and cultures. This book talks about how Mexican American also used the term of Chicano to describe them, and usually in a lighthearted way, or as a term of endearment. In a text it talks how Chicanos haven’t forgotten their Mexican origins, and how they become a unique community. The book talks about how Mexican American community’s long-suffering history of racism and discrimination, disenfranchisement, and economic exploitation in the United States. The
In 1900 a law was passed banning women from having an abortion. Before 1900, abortions were a common practice and usually performed by a midwife, but doctors saw this as a financial threat and pushed for a law making abortions illegal. From 1900 until 1973, when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a women’s right to have an abortion, women who wanted to have an abortion did so secretly. These secret abortions were performed
Again we would see the celebration of Dia De Los Muertos. In the 1970s, Self Help helped encourage the art that participated. It helped bring to community together and create large ensemble of art, parades, and festivals revolving around in the Chicano community.