Book Reviews

© 2008 The Author. Journal compilation © 2008 Society for Latin American StudiesBulletin of Latin American Research Vol. 27, No. 1 143

Olcott, Jocelyn, Vaughan, Mary Kay, and Cano, Ana Gabriela (2006) Sex in Revolu-tion: Gender, Politics, and Power in Modern Mexico , Duke University Press (Durham), ix + 320 pp. £60.00 hbk, £14.95 pbk.

The edited volume Sex in Revolution: Gender, Politics, and Power in Modern Mexico provides an original and conceptually sophisticated exploration of changes in the Mex-ican gender order during the Mexican Revolution and the processes of modernisation and post-revolutionary state formation in its immediate aftermath. One of the book ’ s

Book Reviews

© 2008 The Author. Journal compilation © 2008 Society for Latin American Studies144 Bulletin of Latin American Research Vol. 27, No. 1

most notable qualities lies in the way in which it emphasises women ’ s agency in the re-negotiation of hegemonic gendered practices and cultural patterns in a variety of social situations and localities, thus contesting dominant narratives of the revolution-ary period.

The book ’ s different contributions cover the period from approximately 1915 to 1950. They are divided into six parts. A foreword by Carlos Monsiváis and an intro-duction by Mary Kay Vaughan outline the key topic areas and conceptual foci. A common theme in their accounts is the attempt to maintain women ’ s marginal position in public life. This involves the construction of women as a historic presence in the military and political struggles of the Mexican Revolution as adelitas or soldaderas . Efforts to restrict women to the margins of public life in the context of the ‘ postrevo-lutionary patriarchal contract ’ through measures of the emergent state and sometimes violent acts of repression in daily life are another important issue that both authors examine. Vaughan and Monsiváis devote substantial attention to patterns of contesta-tion of these repressive efforts.

One important factor is the development of Mexican feminism between successful resistance and marginalisation, for example with regard to the relationships of differ-ent sectors of the feminist movements with the post-revolutionary state. In the context of their exploration of women ’ s political agency, Monsiváis and Vaughan also con-sider the dynamics of right-wing and religiously motivated groups, such as the Damas Católicas [Catholic Ladies], and their advocacy of ‘ traditional ’ social values. Another important topic explored by both scholars concerns the increasing opportunities for women ’ s active involvement in public life during the political chaos of the revolution-ary period, processes of urbanisation and the spread of consumer culture.

The subsequent contributions explore these core themes from various perspec-tives. They range from an analysis of fi lm representations of femininity and indige-nist discourse in the work of Emilio ‘ El Indio ’ Fernández to the analysis of the life history of a transgendered offi cer fi ghting on the side of the Zapatistas. The book ’ s second part, containing papers by Gabriela Cano, Anne Rubenstein, and Julia Tuñón, examines questions of gender and embodiment in the context of revolutionary culture. The book ’ s third part then looks at the reorganisation of domestic life based on contributions by Stephanie Smith, Patience Schell and Ann Blum. In Part 4, Kris-tina Boylan examines the political activism of conservative Catholic women between 1917 and 1940, while Jocelyn Olcott considers the dynamics and constraints of women ’ s equal rights movement in the Sole Front for Women ’ s Rights in the 1930s. In the epilogue, contributions by Lynn Stephen and Temma Kaplan provide a general refl ection on questions of revolutionary chaos, social order, and social struggles over patriarchy, linking the book ’ s themes to contemporary issues in women ’ s activism in Mexico.

Sex in Revolution thus constitutes an important contribution to discussions about historical patterns of gender, politics, and women ’ s agency and activism in Mexico. The different chapters explore these issues from a wide variety of standpoints and based on a range of evidence, from textual data in newspapers, fi lms, magazines and photographs to interview materials. Based on this diversity of standpoints, the book succeeds in bringing to the fore the variable, localised forms of hegemonic patriarchal

Book Reviews

© 2008 The Author. Journal compilation © 2008 Society for Latin American StudiesBulletin of Latin American Research Vol. 27, No. 1 145

social patterns against the backdrop of the Revolution and the emergence of the post-revolutionary state. By explicitly acknowledging the importance of women ’ s activism both in the challenge of patriarchy and in support of right-wing, religiously moti-vated practices, the authors render visible the wide variety of forms of women’s agency in the public sphere. In spite of the disparate, localised foci of most contribu-tions, the book acquires argumentative cohesion from the introductory and conclud-ing chapters, which spell out its main themes and explore them in general socio-historical terms.

Daniel Nehring 1 University of Essex