Abstract

KASNIK, Jan. Be marxist-leninist lesbian in Mexico city between 1978-1987: The complex activism of Yan María Castro. Humanidades [online]. 2023, vol.13, n.1, pp.122-139. ISSN 2215-3934.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/h.v13i1.52623.

The goal of this article is to rebuild the historical memory of lesbian activism of Yan María Castro in Mexico City, in order to understand the social and strategic role of the Marxist-Leninist ideology for the militant organizations led by her between 1978-1987. Adopting a gender perspective and parting from the analysis of eight historical documents, the goal is to show that the activism of Castro is inserted in a society that is based upon a profoundly unequal and hegemonic gender system, oppressive towards women and non-heterosexual sexual identities. Thus, we show that the Marxist-Leninist discourse was used as a strategic tool for social mobilization, without a real politic adhesion to such ideals. Moreover, a critical reflection is held about the homogenizing pretensions of Castro as the unique leader of the Mexican lesbian activism. The final part of this paper is dedicated to an observation about the methodological challenges that this historical research had to overcome.

Keywords : Marxism; feminism; Mexico; political movement.

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