JE#8

Because I am a Gender Studies Major and most of the classes I have taken were crossed with Chicano Studies I knew something about the Juarez murders. However, I do not think any professor that has discussed them in class ever went into how gender, the global economy, sexuality, and race play a huge role in the murder of these women. Both Lubheid's Entry Denied: Controlling Sexuality at the Border  and Gaspar de Alba's Desert Blood provide insight looks into these murders as well as created a huge emotional impact in my persona. I feel that both these books showed how  a woman's sexuality and reproductive activity is a huge threat to the dependent global economy exacerbated by NAFTA. I feel that NAFTA along with the colonized mind of the border dwellers established a disgusting foundation for the rational of femicide in Juarez. These women are being murdered because they counter the gender roles established by them through the history of colonization (Malinche vs. La Virgen), and how cultural norms have normalized violence against women, passivity, and domestication, and finally how the global economy has forced these women to dislocate towards area with jobs (Juarez and the Maquilas). These women are being so exploited to the extent to which their bodies, sexuality, and reproductive abilities are being controlled and abused. Because of all these factors playing on the lives of maquiladoras are being taken in the most brutal way ever. Furthermore, Nava's Bordertown I think was a disgraceful attempt to showcase the Juarez femicides. I feel that Nava and Jennifer Lopez appropriated the murders of these women in attempts to make some money off them. Furthermore, while Lauren was a fairly interesting character and fairly easy to place in Mestiza Consciousness, overall the characters and how they were presented really made for a blockbuster film. Furthermore, I feel that there was a huge privilege issue and disrespect towards the actual lives of the Maquiladoras. I just feel that Lauren navigated the border too easily and it seemed that the reason the Maquiladoras were attacked was because they weren't as smart as her, as willful, or as strong. It was just a weird movie.

 Lubheid's "Looking Like a Lesbian" is one chapter that really struck me. While I was raised at the border and was very used to navigate the border it was not until I got much older that my migrant family settled in Delano that I began to perform my sexuality. Therefor, my sexuality, what I perform in the privacy of my home, is a just cause to refuse me entrance to my home. This chapter also angered me because it shows how ingrained in society is on how women should be exacting. All women are subject to the heteropatriarchal norms of performativity and sexuality. We are not allowed to empower ourselves through our sexuality because we are terrorist. It is just so fucking stupid. Also, this article reminded of my aunt (the one no one talks about) because she is a lesbian. More than that she is a border crosser and dweller for as long as I can remember. She lives in both Mexicali and Calexico with her partner. I cannot begin to imagine all the terrible experiences she could have possible gone through during her constant crossings of the border.

In continuing with the sexuality theme, I feel that Desert Blood's Ivon's and J.W. antagonism towards each other really struck me. In conjunction with Lubheid's "Looking like a Lesbian" this story line made so much more sense. J.W. personal attack on Ivon went far beyond her rejection of him, and beyond just a homophobic dislike. It was a homophobic power dynamic that was an attempt to control and punish her sexuality. It was also a figurative rape of power to try and see that all this could have been avoided had she only been straight, its like he wanted to "fix" her in the most disgusting way possible.