I’d like to congratulate las mujeres on this blog for taking a stance on the subject of the representation of women in poetry journals. And I’d like to invite the other men on this blog to speak up. Thus far, it’s been interesting to see how our postings intersect or run along parallel lines, but this particular subject should be important to all of us.
I’d also like to stay on topic and add my two centavos worth about las mujeres. With all due respect to those who participated in the comment boxes, it’s too easy to say “Well, what about this group or that group?” It’s clear this conversation is about women. Not Latinos. I don’t particularly care for tailgating, nor in participating in an echo chamber, so I’d like to say that this gender disparity exists across the board, even in Chicano/Latino letters. Just because we are a group in solidarity through concerns about race does not mean we can’t learn to better ourselves through exploring issues of gender.
I do know the following: that when I speak up politically, my arguments, complex as they may be, are reduced to “he’s accusing us of racism.” I already see the same thing happening here: a woman speaks up and “she’s accusing us of sexism.” How facile a tactic to not listen, not to examine the issues as closely as they’re being examined by those who point out the issues in the first place.
(And that annoying word, “essentialism”—a term conveniently and erroneously used against the group that uses it to articulate the power of the oppression. Don’t get me started on “political correctness.”)
In Chicano/Latino letters, we already know what sad representation we have in publishing venues, small or large. That’s as a group, both male and female. But those publishing poetry are mostly men. That’s a fact. There are more men publishing poetry than women in Chicano/Latino literature. The pool is rather manageable, so you can confirm it for yourselves by looking at all the poetry books written by Chicanos/Latinos in the last few decades.
The tide shifts if you look at books of prose, but only slightly, and this other imbalance (more women than men are publishing prose in Chicano/Latino letters) is only more apparent because of the high visibility of a select few Chicana/Latina prose writers.
But this is just publishing. And since not everybody who writes gets published, we can assume that there are indeed just as many Chicana/Latina poets and just as many Chicano/Latino prose writers. Frankly, some are not very good writers. Some don’t have the level of mentorship or opportunities made available to them. And then there’s the case of journals, which publish more men than women. So the doors are lessened even more for Chicana/Latina writers.
The good news is that people already know we exist as a group and as a group of writers, but let’s be careful how we use that strength as a flag-waving opportunity to express a communal struggle. Las mujeres have longer battles to fight.
In the end, are these discussions pleas for representation? No. They shouldn’t be. They should be awareness-building conversations, which lead to change, not easy solutions.
Quick remedies are nothing but bandages. Institutional changes need to last and these lasting changes do not happen with gestures, with “all-women” or “all-Latino” special journal issues. Those baby steps are condescending and offensive.
“I do know the following: that when I speak up politically, my arguments, complex as they may be, are reduced to “he’s accusing us of racism.” I already see the same thing happening here: a woman speaks up and “she’s accusing us of sexism.” How facile a tactic to not listen, not to examine the issues as closely as they’re being examined by those who point out the issues in the first place.”
Posted By: Reb Livingston on November 5, 2007 at 12:25 pmVery true. Quite difficult to have a discussion with someone whose response consists only of personal defense. What exactly is being protected by dismissing these kinds of arguments from the get-go?
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Rigoberto, Thanks for this post, for bringing up the fact that race and gender are not mutually exclusive categories, Those of us who are women and of color are kind of falling through the cracks or being largely ignored or rendered invisible, precisely because folks can’t perceive of this “third” category, and/or have no place for us on their literary road maps.
Posted By: barbara jane on November 5, 2007 at 3:35 pmAs I type this I think of how even using the term “third” is problematic.
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Rigoberto!
Posted By: Sheryl on November 5, 2007 at 4:02 pmWhat a terrific post. So many talented Chicanas/Latinas are writing and in a sense the frustration I myself have felt at a sense of marginalization. I appreciate greatly your desire to listen to the voices of women and that is a crucial step. I appreciate your shout outs of Latinas like the one you did about Brenda Cardenas earlier.
I think sometimes excessive self-promoting Latinos who mean well drown out a lot of poets, many of them women who are less visible, with less cash and less time on their hands. And this is why I appreciate your steadfast support of Latina poets.
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Excuse the fragment sentence. I meant so many talented Chicanas/Latinas are writing and in a sense the frustration I myself have felt at a sense of marginalization is silenced.
Posted By: Sheryl on November 5, 2007 at 4:14 pmReport this comment
rigoberto,
Posted By: oscar on November 5, 2007 at 9:20 pmthank you for keeping the conversation moving forward and for examining the issue at hand from a variety of angles.
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Vaya Rigoberto, and Barbara. I echo your sentiments here…and I’ll point out that while I have a LOT of fun in various Latino echo chambers here and elsewhere, I certainly didn’t mean to drown out the point of Emily’s post.
Posted By: Rich Villar on November 5, 2007 at 9:52 pmI turn to the Nuyorican voice a lot while I ponder my own poetic project…with the full knowledge that the original Nuyorican Poetry anthology (1975) had a grand total of six women in it; and that our very own Julia de Burgos was buried in a potters’ field. That shames me as a Puerto Rican poet, and it’s a legacy that needs to be examined and remedied. (de Burgos’ work in SONG OF THE SIMPLE TRUTH, edited by Jack Agueros, goes a long way to do that.)
I’m glad that Cashman’s 1999 essay on bilingualism centered on LATINA narrative. And Lisa Sanchez-Gonzalez’ book, BORICUA LITERATURE, points out that the first/original feminist and (somewhat) modernist Boricua writer was Luisa Capetillo. And here’s to more critical studies on Sandra Maria Esteves, Nicholasa Mohr, Magdalena Gomez. And to all the research and reading yet to come.
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Otras! Inspiring books by Mujeres!
Posted By: Rich Yanez on November 6, 2007 at 12:56 amIN AN ANGRY SEASON by Lisa Chavez
THE DEVIL’S WORKSHOP by Demetria Martinez
HOW LONG SHE’LL LAST IN THIS WORLD by Maria Melendez
AQUA SANTA by Pat Mora
THE KEEPSAKE STORM by Gina Franco
THIS SIDE OF SKIN by Deborah Paredez
… y todavia mas y mas…
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