Take a cursory glance at the news right now and you’ll see that Mexico isn’t a fun place to be a young, or a woman. In September 43 teaching students were intercepted by police forces en route to a protest - all 43 were taken away by police and are now feared dead. And Mexico is widely regarded as one of the worst places in the world to be a women, with some of the strictest abortion laws in the world, and violence against women in the country has been described as a ‘pandemic’ by Ana Guezmez, Mexico's representative for United Nations Women, the U.N. entity for gender equality.
But while Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be born a girl, you dismiss Mexican women as faceless victims at your peril. Case in point: Sad Girls Y Que (Sad Girls And That), a stand-alone group of women offering an alternative way for young Mexican feminists. What began as an anonymous Facebook page for sex positive images and kitten memes and Sailor Moon illustrations evolved into a safe haven for girls to vent about gender discrimination, break ups and anxieties.
SGYQ promotes DIY education, humour and female empowerment on its now fully forged website. It’s ballsy and opinionated, but how did it start? We spoke to the girls who launched the group.
It was quite accidental,’ explains Anna, 25 from Mexican border town Tijuana (which is where all the girls live). 'We started hanging out together a lot last year, so I thought it would be fun if we had a platform online to just vent on an anonymous basis and post stuff that we wouldn’t put on our Facebook accounts online. It happened organically and wasn’t [intended as] a feminist blog or anything.'
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‘I think our surroundings and social spheres are mostly Conversative so we can’t just post stuff about or feelings,’ explains Ariana, a 23-year-old DJ. We set up this anonymous account so no-one would know it was us. But after we’d developed SGYQ we felt so much more comfortable that now we don’t care anymore.’
This freedom has allowed them to discuss issues they may have avoided before. ‘I’m barely getting into real Chica feminism,’ says Maite, 25. ‘Especially in our cultural context because we didn’t really grow up knowing many black people. If you’re in middle-class Tijuana, and white Mexican society, then the ‘cool,’ girl will always have light skin. In Mexico, there’s no education around feminism or black culture, you learn the history the government wants you to learn.’
Because you’re appropriating a culture that’s been oppressed, it’s obviously very wrong. I think it’s offensive it shouldn’t happen
The problems of so-called ‘white feminism’ and cultural appropriation are something all of the girls feel uneasy about. Given that Chicano culture is undoubtedly in vogue right now (remember all that Day of the Dead-themed Halloween makeup doing the round on Instagram?) do the girls think its lost anything in its journey into mainstream consciousness?
‘Because you’re appropriating a culture that’s been oppressed, it’s obviously very wrong. I think it’s offensive it shouldn’t happen,’ said Maite, decisively. And a prime offender? Lana del Rey. ‘She’s wearing things from every oppressed culture in the world. I think she's the perfect example of culture appropriation by white people because she's literally this blonde heiress who got a whole make over, and just began taking all these symbols from cultures that aren't hers just to make this cool aesthetic which is super shitty. It troubles all of us because she's such a role model for all these girls who think it's okay; "it's okay, it's just fashion – it's harmless!” People like her are not respecting cultures, using these symbols that mean so much.’
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‘If we're offended, imagine how actual Chola girls feel about her music videos where she's depicted sitting in the hood, wearing all these cut off shorts,’ adds Anna. ‘If we're disgusted by it, imagine how actual Chola girls feel about her just fetishising and eroticizing their whole world and the way that they live. It’s very accepted, it's very reductive and it's like a cartoon culture’.
Lana del Rey is wearing things from every oppressed culture in the world
Part of the problem, the girls believe, comes from the white Western slant of most modern feminism. ‘White feminism is still very imperialist in its views,’ says Arianne. ‘ Like how can I empower myself from these other sources without caring about the equal exchange, just taking and taking?’ It’s this Eat, Pray, Love empowerment when you travel to other counrties and the attitude is what can other countries do for you? What can other cultures do for me?’
'It’s like Vogue saying that Iggy Azalea is bringing the booty back,’ adds Maite. ‘This is masked as feminist body empowerment and shit like that but it totally ignores Latino and black culture, where these are normal things. But suddenly they’re embraced and there’s a white girl to take credit for it.’
Outspoken and opinionated, the girls of Sad Girl Y Que are certainly no victims. But only time will tell if they’re the start of a new generation of young women who will take down the country’s macho culture once and for all.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.