A Rebellion for Love

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In the late 1970s, Yan María Castro embarked on a pioneering endeavor by establishing the inaugural lesbian-feminist group in Mexico. Operating within an environment fraught with systemic discrimination and state repression, Yan María and her cohort embarked on a multifaceted campaign aimed at securing their rightful position within Mexican society.

This documentary chronicles the journey undertaken by Yan María and her compatriots as they navigated the complexities of activism in an era marked by social upheaval and resistance. Through archival footage and insightful interviews, the film explores the strategies for challenging prevailing norms.

With a keen academic lens, the film explores the socio-political context that informed Yan María's activism, at the intersections of gender, sexuality, and power. By shedding light on this pivotal moment in Mexico's LGBTQ+ history, the film offers insights into the dynamics of social change and collective mobilization.

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Main credits

Castillo, Tania Claudia (film director)
Castillo, Tania Claudia (screenwriter)
Hernández Vázquez, Carlos (film producer)
Gavica, Gabriela (film producer)
Castro, Yan María (on-screen participant)

Other credits

Cinematography, Natali Montell García; editing, Tania Claudia Castillo; music, Alejandro Preisser.

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

gender,sexuality,gender roles,gender identity,sexual orientation,gender equality,gender pronouns,gender studies,gender spectrum,gender norms,gender roles,gender stereotypes,sexual selection,sexualization,sexual awakening,puberty,pubescence,activism,activist,digital activism,advocacy,advocate,involvement,militancy,militant,logrolling,striking,boycotting,championing,champion,effecting change,engagement,supporter,protest,protester,demonstrator,organizing,labor organizing,revolution,revolutionary,community organizing,effecting change,striking,labor strike,labor organizing,women,womanhood,gender,girl,girlhood,mother,motherhood,female,cis woman,cis female,trans woman,trans female,women’s rights,women’s issues,lady,ladies,gentlewoman,madame,miss,missus,mrs.,dame,damsel,ingenue,lass,maid,maiden,belle,gal,ladyfriend,girlfriend,dear,darling,widow,matron,dowager,gender,gender equality,gender pay gap,women’s liberation,women’s rights,biography,autobiography,biopic,memoir,life history,bio,biographer,biographical,personal account,personal history,diary,personal narrative,sketch,profile,personal letters,letters,journal,personal record,latin american studies,caribbean american studies,island studies,latin american culture,latin american history,latin american politics, caribbean american culture,caribbean american history,caribbean american politics, latin american languages,latin american and caribbean studies,hispanic american studies,hispanic people,hispanic culture,hispanic politics,north america,america,us,usa,united states,united states of america,us mexico and canada,map of north america,north american countries,states of north america,provinces of north america,countries of north america,continental america,,sociology,anthropology,psychology,sociological,sociological perspectives,conflict theory,human conflicts,sociological thinking,conflict perspective,topics in sociology,sociology topics,sociology studies,social studies,people and cultures,human relations,human relationships,cultural studies,culture studies ; "A Rebellion for Love"; Pragda Films

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A Rebellion for Love

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Imagine, for the first time in Mexico’s history,

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for the very first time,

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Mexican lesbians rallied in the streets.

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Imagine that.

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Many were wearing masks or balaclavas,

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the famous ones.

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There are many pictures of women wearing those.

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They couldn’t show their faces
for fear of loosing their jobs

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or being rejected from their families.

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There were several who were mothers.

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They would wear the balaclava when marching

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to protect their children,

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because after every protest,

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it's unbelievable,

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after every protest,

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many women were rejected from their families.

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So after the protest they would
come to our places

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carrying a little suitcase saying,
“I’ve been kicked out”.

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We would take in 15 to 20 of them,

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the ones who showed their faces.

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Ever since I was in kindergarten
I fell in love with my teachers.

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And I suffered from that because I used to think

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“When I grow up
I’m going to ask her to be my girlfriend”.

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We all felt like we were abnormal.

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And the catholics felt they were sinners.

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That’s why there were many who killed themselves.

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Many others got married
and lived in hell with their husbands,

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even if they were nice people,

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because there was something inside you
telling you, “you’re sick”.

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Being a lesbian was the worst thing ever.

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You didn’t want to feel love for women.

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We wanted to rip from our souls
that love for women.

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Because it was wrong.

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It was sick,

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it was a crime.

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Oikabeth is a Mayan word that means

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“movement of warrior women
who build new paths and spread flowers”.

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The practical work consisted of everything,

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from cleaning the toilet,
sweeping and mopping our meeting place

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to creating the flyers with a typewriter,

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because there were no computers back then.

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After creating the flyer we would use a printer,

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the ones that you had to crank.

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So we would use a template
and print around 100 flyers

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but eventually the template would break,

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so we’d have to make another one,

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re-ink the printer and start cranking again
to print more.

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It was quite hard work.

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And so we would distribute our flyers
at subway stations,

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bus stops and busy neighborhoods.

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I mean, during 1978, 1979 and 1980,

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we worked very hard

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and were completely committed to this movement.

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We are women who have chosen a life of our own.

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Let’s break our isolation and share the world that is also ours.

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My parents died without accepting me as a lesbian.

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They found out when I did an interview on T.V.

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That day when I got home, my mom opened the door,

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looking like a corpse, her eyes were all black.

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She said, “Why did you say that on T.V?

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If that’s what you are,
you shouldn't have said it in public.”

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She told me that they were leaving the country,

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and they started packing up to go to the USA.

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And I never saw them again.

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My mother used to punish me
because of my low grades

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by locking me in a room.

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There were books in the room
and I started reading them.

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I was happy staying locked up reading.

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When I wasn't punished,

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I’d lock myself back in that room just to read.

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That’s why I’ve never watched T.V.

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Still to this day, I don’t watch T.V.

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Beautiful and well dressed women are lesbians and demand freedom.

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This is why I had a different view of the world,

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because I read about buddhism
and I became a buddhist.

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I was very little, I think 8 years old.

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And from 10 to 14 I dressed as a monk.

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My habit was all brown
and tied around my waist.

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And since my mom didn’t pay me any attention,

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I didn’t learn how to dress or comb my hair.

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My hair was a mess.

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I'm telling all this

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because my first girlfriend

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was the one who taught me how to dress properly.

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She told me to wash my hair with shampoo

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instead of a bar of soap.

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She educated me

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and taught me how to live like everyone else.

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She brought me out of my imaginary monastery.

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By then I had reached “Nirvana”,
but she got to me

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when she started hugging me, touching my hand

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and I remember how I would totally freeze up.

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She started kissing me here.

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It was tremendous.

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She made a big impression on me.

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I had been living in another world.

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She felt like she was making me sick,

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that it was her fault that I became a lesbian.

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So she moved away and got married

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to try to be “normal”.

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And then it happened.

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He would beat her repeatedly.

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And she'd run distraught to her mother’s place.

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She would stay there until he’d grab her back.

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And then he would beat her again.

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In a cycle of violence
you can be killed at any moment.

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She stayed in that violence for years
until she disappeared.

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Her mother kept calling with no answer.

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She went to her home but she wasn’t there.

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Later the husband called saying, “she’s dead”.

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“What do you mean 'she’s dead'?” She said.

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“Yes, she died. And she's already been cremated”.

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With the body cremated,
he had destroyed all evidence of the crime.

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There’s was no way to investigate

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because there was nothing left of her but ashes.

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THE POLITICAL FIGHT OF LESBIAN WOMEN

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LESBIANISM AND SOCIETY

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From the 1980 protest,

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the left-wing parties realized

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that lesbian groups were a very powerful
political movement.

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And that’s when they were opened up
to discussion

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on sexual identity and feminism,

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before that there was opposition to it,

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as well as lesbianism.