"MOVIMIENTOS DE REBELDÍA Y LAS CULTURAS QUE TRAICIONAN" BY GLORIA ANZALDÚA

I felt very connected to all the cultural texts we read this semester that had to do with Mexico: it's not very common that my country is part of the required reading in a literature course.  I was especially delighted to find a woman's perspective on the patriarchal culture that weaves the country together. 

It's most refreshingly analyzed in Gloria Anzaldúa's "Movimientos de rebeldía y las culturas que traicionan", an essay on being a LGBT woman in the very macho-praising culture of Mexico.

Anzaldúa writes about the disappointment her family feels towards her, about how her family does not even consider her, now that she does not follow society's expectations of a Mexican young lady. 

"Me costó muy caro mi rebeldía—acalambrada con desvelos y dudas, sintiéndome inútil, estúpida e impotente."

Gloria Anzaldúa's texts in particular excited me, because I felt represented and validated in my disappointment with Mexico's tendencies to silence, berate, and be violent towards its women.  I particularly enjoyed the imagery Anzaldúa used throughout her works, to express her growing anger ("...debajo de mi humillada mirada está una cara insolente lista para explotar...") and to show how she defies the parts of her culture that she does not want to practice ("...Ya no soló paso toda mi vida botando las costumbres y los valores de mi cultura que me traicionan. También recojo las costumbres que por el tiempo se han provado y las costumbres de respeto a las mujeres...")

 Something I also enjoyed about reading Gloria Anzaldúa is how accessible she is. Without having to rely on archaic language to prove that she is worth listening to, she instead uses the power of her cause to shine through, even blending two of her languages, English and Spanish, to create a stronger argument.