Sexual Assault and Pregnancy
The significance of Castañeda’s article “Sexual Violence in the Politics and Policies of Conquest” cannot be overstated, as it highlights one of the major issues that existed during the conquest of California. What adds value to the topic under discussion and the article itself is that the problem was never eliminated, and many modern women are raped by men who are willing to prove their authority. The author says that sexual assaults were males’ “instrument of sociopolitical terrorism and control,” and it is quite interesting to consider this fact and evaluate the motives of contemporary men raping women (Castañeda 29). The article allows for drawing these parallels and comparing the past and the present; the fact that the issue still exists makes it all the more essential to finally address it properly.
Motherhood in Lesbians
Further, in her piece “Lesbians Don’t Make Babies with Our Lovers,” Moraga summarizes her story of lesbian relationships and, most importantly, motherhood. It is possible to connect the articles by Castañeda and Moraga since both authors mention pregnancy. Thus, Castañeda states that those Indian women who got pregnant after being raped could never raise these children because the babies were always “strangled and buried” (17).
However, for Moraga, it was a severe challenge to realize she could have a child and then to finally become pregnant. What is given to almost all heterosexual women is not always available to lesbian women, making them suffer from the inability to fulfill their motherly duty. Therefore, what was not welcomed and expected by the raped Indian women was what was needed and demanded by Moraga.
Queer Latino Experiences
Finally, in his writing “That’s My Place!,” Ramírez outlines a story of people’s experiences in the Gay Latino Alliance (GALA). During the 1960s and 1970s, it was not easy for gay people to find a place where they would be welcomed. However, GALA provided “political space and demands specifically for lesbian Latinas and gay male Latinos” and “proved to be the foundation for a local social movement that integrated racial, gender, and sexual politics” (Ramírez 225). The alliance was one of the first steps in the fight against gay discrimination and for the rights of LGBTQIA+ communities.
Works Cited
Castañeda, Antonia I. “Sexual Violence in the Politics and Policies of Conquest: Amerindian Women and the Spanish Conquest of Alta California.” Building with Our Hands: New Directions in Chicana Studies, edited by Adela de la Torre and Beatriz M. Pesquera, University of California Press, 1993, pp. 15-33.
Moraga, Cherrie. “Lesbians Don’t Make Babies with Our Lovers.” Waiting in the Wings: Portrait of a Queer Motherhood, Firebrand Books, 1997, pp. 15-22.
Ramírez, Horacio N. Roque. “That’s My Place!”: Negotiating Racial, Sexual, and Gender Politics in San Francisco’s Gay Latino Alliance, 1975–1983.” Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 12, No. 2, 2003, pp. 224-258.