Hola and hello! I hope everyone is staying warm out there in TexMexlandia!! This little announcement might warm your heart anyway: I was recently asked to grant an interview with the fine folks at Artisanjoy.com. Artisan Joy is a website that celebrates exactly what you would expect: The joy of being an artisan!
Being the attention-depraved soul that I am, I leaped at the chance for some spotlight! They were kind enough to make me come across as way more professional than I actually am…which is very much appreciated!
Anyhoo, instead of reading the interview here, I will send you over to their website where they highlight different artist/entrepreneurs like me who make a living out of art! Maybe even subscribe 😜 because I know you will love their articles!
Click Here for the direct link to my interview…and as always, Gracias and Thanks!
A ‘mujer’ is a woman. There you have it. Case Closed. Gracias and Thanks! to our friends at @ChingonaDefinition
NONE of the following chingona cabronas are Frida Kahlo…although Frida and lesbianism was/will be a common theme in this post You will see a little of Frida, but a lot more of her lifelong love, Diego Rivera weaving his way in and out of stories of these magnificent ladies’ lives. First and most closely being the life of our first Grand Dame…
Dolores Olmedo
María de los Dolores Olmedo y Patiño Suárez (yes, that’s her full name 1908-2002) known as Doña Lola- I have a girl crush on this Girl Boss Broad. And yes, I can call her that because when a broad recognizes the broadiness in the soul of another, it must be shouted out.
Mrs. Olmedo loved flaunting her independence. Once asked how she would like to be remembered, she replied: ”Just as I am — a woman who did whatever she felt like doing, and luckily succeeded at it.” #micdrop
Doña Lola (as we will call her) grew up in Mexico City during the Mexican Revolution. Then her dad died and starvation and danger were issues for her and her brothers. Evidently she was always independent, a force to be reckoned with, revolutionary, and basically bad ass from the get go. She credited her mom for everything she did, stating:
I am the product of the efforts of a Mexican woman, taught by another Mexican woman to love her country above all things.
Doña Lola, Bitches!
Our girl was super educated, studying law at a time when few women reached university level education. However, her lifelong passion for the arts and culture of Mexico led her away from law and into a career in art. She quit law to study at the National School of Music and the Academy of Saint Carlos…which is evidently a pretty big deal.
Doña Lola was 17 when she and her mother had a chance run in on an elevator with Diego Rivera. Then he was a renowned artist in his 40’s working on murals in the building. ”He asked my mother if he could make some drawings of me. She agreed without knowing that I would pose nude.” OOPS!
(Left) Older Doña with her Mexican Hairless dog at her Hacienda Home, now museum and (Right) Younger Doña posing for Diego Rivera for his most famous painting of her | Photos: MXCity
She had a close friendship with Diego, but not necessarily his wife, Frida Kahlo. Rivera painted our Doña as a Tehuana, (see photo above) idealizing her as the beauty of the ultimate Mexican woman…so I’m sure that never went over really well with Frida. We’ll get back to this storyline in a moment.
After Frida died, Diego was a broke ass bitch and so he asked his longtime “friend” to buy all of Frida’s and his collection pieces since he know Doña would take care of the joint collection. Then she was accused of having grossly underpaid for Frida’s shit by other Mexican art collectors. Stories swirled that Doña was jealous and trying to sabotage Kahlo’s legacy. She actually conceded in an interview with The New York Times,
”I was never a friend of Frida Kahlo. Frida Kahlo liked women. I liked men.”
Diego specifically! #baller
After divorcing some dude in the 1940’s, she became one of the first Mexican women to succeed in real estate development and construction. Women did not run companies in México back then, especially construction companies! She started networking with leading industrialists and politicians which fueled rumors that she was banging several Mexican presidents. Doña Lola coyly denied these rumors, but ended up marrying and divorcing three times. #queseráserá
All of these factors left her with some serious ‘dinero’ so she bought an 8 acre property where her current kick ass museum is located is in Xochimilco, in the southern part of Mexico City. It’s a hacienda from the 16th century which was named La Noria (The Well) by someone at some point, but is now the Dolores Olmeda Patiño Museum.
She purchased the “farm” in 1962, remodeled it, and moved in circa 1964. In the mid-1980’s she announced that she would convert her home into a museum and then donate her collection for permanent display there. During the renovations, the architects discovered some serious f-ing problems. Eager to get their grubby hands on her collection and the revenue the new museum would generate…the government paid the renovation costs, and in late 1994 the museum opened.
Mr. TexMex Fun Stuff and I went once and the grounds are as amazing as the collection inside… animals freely roam the grounds: peacocks, ducks, Canadian geese, chickens, turkeys and xoloitzcuintles—an endangered species of hairless, ugly as sin pre-Hispanic dogs called Xolos. Here are some shots…
Xolos hanging out by a statue of a Xolo/ Description of Xolos/ Me and a few friends hanging at the hacienda / Sculpture of Diego Rivera’s bust | Photos: TexMex Fun Stuff
As said in MyHero.com…”Doña Lola was not merely an art collector. She was a lover of art, of culture, of tradition. She was a highly successful businesswoman and industrialist. She was the beautiful muse of paintings. She was a philanthropist who bequeathed her collection to her Mexican peoples.” And a big time chingona!!! (they didn’t say that last part, I did).
Rosario (1927-present) is alive and kicking at 93-ish years of age. She is a four time candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize and was twice a candidate for the Presidency of México with the Revolutionary Workers Party (PRD). She never actually won either of them, but that never stopped her.
She and her husband and 4 kids lived in Saltillo, Coahuila, just 85 kilometers from Monterrey. Her work as an activist and politician began when on April 18, 1975 her son Jesús Piedra Ibarra was kidnapped for political reasons while he was studying medicine in Monterrey.
The second oldest of her four kids, 21-year-old Jesús was accused of belonging to a communist armed movement known as the Communist League September 23. He was arrested and was “disappeared” by federal police after the murder of a policeman, Guillermo Valdez Villarreal. We can only assume they used the murder of this officer to justify arresting alleged communists. Hard to say though, because Rosario’s husband (Jesus’ dad) had officially been affiliated with the Mexican Communist Party, but not Jesus to all known documentation. He just happened to be in Monterrey on April 18, 1975 …#badtiming
Fighting Lucha Mama Style! Take it to the streets, cabrona!! | Photos: Mexico Desconocido
Wkipedia tells us that…When her cries for resolution were unheard she formed the Comité Eureka de Desaparecidos (“The Eureka Committee of the Disappeared”) with about 100 other women in 1977. As a result of her efforts, including several hunger strikes, 148 out of 557 political prisoners on her lists were liberated during the López Portillo administration (1976–1982).
Their mantra was…
“They took them alive, we want them alive!”
#hellyes!
The movement was dedicated to protesting against the illegal arrests and killings of militants in opposition to the government in the chapter of Mexican history known as the Dirty War….Guerra Sucia…six-years of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz and Luis Echeverría Alvarez, following the persecution and illegal detention of militants of armed and social political movements.
45 years later, information on the fate of the poor kid has not been clarified. However, some files indicate that the young man was imprisoned and tortured in various underground prisons. The kidnapping was carried out by members of the Federal Directorate of Security in Monterrey….yikes.
Also, Rosario has fought for indigenous communities and against violence against women and electoral fraud. She joined the struggle to demand clarification of the women killed in Ciudad Juarez and the killings of indigenous people in Chiapas and Guerrero, during the six-year period of Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León.
She even went on a hunger strike for the release of political prisoners. In late 1978, the government issued an amnesty law, but the whereabouts of the disappeared persons were not clarified. The amnesty resulted in the release of 1,500 prisoners detained with irregularities, the return of 57 exiles and the cancellation of 2,000 arrest warrants.
In 1982 she became the first woman in Mexico to run for the presidency with the Workers Revolutionary Party (PRT), a Trotskyist party (remember Trostsky?). In 1988, she ran for the presidency a second time, again with the PRT. In 1994 she became a federal deputy of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). Needless to say, didn’t happen, but not for lack of trying.
In the current Prez of Mexico (AMLO)’s closing remarks during during his 2018 presidential campaign, he stated that on election day he would cross out his name on the ballot and, as a tribute, write in Rosario Ibarra de Piedra. …In 2019, AMLO and the Mexican Senate decorated her with the Dominguez Belisario Award (the highest award that Mexico gives to citizens for their contribution to the country) for her political activism and defense of human rights.
Silvia (1940-present) is the first Mexican woman to obtain a Doctorate in Astronomy. She is one of the most internationally recognized Mexican scientists for her research on interstellar matter.
When she was in high school, a teacher encouraged her to take science. So at 18 she began to study Physics at the Faculty of Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
The Astrophysics course that was taught at UNAM was attended by just four students: two men and two women. She was one of them. Silvia was already captivated by astronomy and had decided to get a doctorate. She soon found out that all the prestigious universities were in the United States AND that they only admitted men! #CHINGA!
Silvia tried to enroll at Caltech because she had a chance of being accepted there because her husband, Manuel Peimbert, also wanted to study astronomy and she could attend as his wife. Pfft.
However, instead of choosing Caltech, Señora Silvia scored a scholarship to University of California, Berkeley, where she could study for a doctorate in astronomy. This was at a time when women were not expected to have a career, so caring for their two children while continuing her career was a bit of a challenge. #GirlGoals
Silvia Torres was a pioneer in the use of satellites for her important observations. In early 2011, she won the L’Oréal-Unesco Prize awarded by the United Nations Organization in the category of “Women of Science”, due to her research on the chemical composition of planetary nebulae (?), which is considered essential to astronomer’s understanding of the beginning of the cosmos.
In 2012, she was chosen by the General Assembly of the “International Astronomical Union” to be President of the organization from 2015 to 2018- she is the first Mexican to be honored with this position. Basically the IAU comes up with the names of planets and other celestial objects, as well as standards in astronomy. #nottooshabby
She is also the past editor of the Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the past President of the International Astrological Union being only the second women to preside over this organization based in Paris, France that brings together more than 11,000 specialists from 90 countries. Plus she raised two kids. How on earth?
Dolores El Río (1904-1983) was an actress, singer and dancer who’s career spanned more than 50 years. She is known as the first Latin American actress to cross over into Hollywood and who paved the way for María Félix and Katy Jurado. Some films include The Fugitive with Henry Fonda and Flaming Star with Elvis.
When Dolores was 15 years old she asked her mother if she could take dance lessons, but she was stricken with insecurity because she felt like an “ugly duckling”. Her mother commissioned famous artist Alfredo Ramos Martínez to paint a portrait of her daughter to show her how beautiful she really was.
The portrait helped Dolores overcome her insecurities and she is now considered a mythical figure of American and Mexican cinema, and a quintessential representation of the female face of Mexico in the world. She was considered a female Latin Lover…here’s why…
“The most beautiful, the most gorgeous of the west, east, north and south. I’m in love with her as 40 million Mexicans and 120 million Americans who can’t be wrong”
Diego Rivera
(Left) with Orson Welles (Center) Original portrait of DDR by THE Diego Rivera and finally (Right) Diego, Frida and Dolores – Frida looks thrilled. |Photo Credits: Google Arts & Culture
In 1930, Dolores met Cedric Gibbons , artistic director of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at a party at Hearst Castle. The couple began a brief romance that culminated in marriage months later. Dolores’s marriage to one of the most important Hollywood Hombres helped her career for a while (as the infamous “they” say).
In 1940, with her career declining, she met actor and director Orson Welles . Welles had been hot for her for several years and feeling a mutual attraction, the couple began a torrid affair, which lead to the divorce of old Cedric. For Welles, Dolores abandoned her acting career to be by his side during the filming of his masterpiece: Citizen Kane.
Later Welles went to South America, as a Goodwill Ambassador to counter the spread of communism…Buuuuut, Welles went really wild at Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, like a crazy whore. Dolores then decided to dump his ass through a telegram that Orson never bothered to answer. #brutal
Then came the death of her father in México. Faced with this situation, the actress decided to cancel Hollywood altogether:
Divorced again, without the figure of my father, a movie where I hardly appeared, and another where they showed me the way of art. I wanted to follow the path of art. Stop being a star to become an actress, and that could only be achieved in Mexico. I wanted to return to Mexico, a country that was mine and that I did not know. I felt the need to return to my country …
#vivamexico
She was never nominated for an Academy Award, but on the day of her death, she received in the mail an invitation to attend the Oscars. #alittletoolittlealittletoolate Buuuuuuuut, she banged Orson Welles for 3 years…so there’s that.
Again with these crazy names… Hélène Elizabeth Louise Amélie Paula Dolores Poniatowska (1932-present) or Elena as we will call her, was born in Paris after her mother fled México during the Revolution. Luckily, she was born into French and Polish (distant) royalty! Sadly, the whole family had to escape back to México when Elena was ten because of the start of WWII in Europe. She never went to college, BUT is trilingual (English, French, Spanish) and a bad ass writer! Shit ain’t gonna write itself! #chinga!
She got married in 1968 and then on On October 2, 1968 she was in México City at home with her 4 month old and outside there were protests. 10,000 university and high school students were marching and protesting against México investing $150 million to bring the Olympics to the city.
There was a heavy police presence that night and helicopters circling above the crowd when a large white sheet was thrown from one of the helicopters towards a section of the crowd. The white sheet was a signal to the snipers on the rooftop to start firing where the sheet lands. That was the night of the Tlatelolco Massacre when federal snipers killed 300-400 people/presumably students in the crowd.
Elena raced to the scene and with blood on the streets she started interviewing people. Her book titled, La Noche de Tlatelolco (The Night of Tlateloco )…translated to English readers as “Massacre in México” was the only book published about this night for 20 years…contradicting the government’s account of the events and the number dead.
She did it again in 1985 after the Mexico City earthquake with Nada, Nadie, Las Voces del Temblor (Nothing, No one, Voices from the Earthquake). This book was a compilation of eyewitness accounts not only to the destruction of the earthquake, but also to the incompetence and corruption of the government afterwards. #Cabronamove
These books cemented her as the voice for the disenfranchised people of México uncovering social and human rights atrocities against women and the poor especially. Despite the lack of opportunity for women from the 1950s to the 1970s, Elena wrote essays and articles in newspapers and magazines and books both fiction and nonfiction:
Two of her short stories were about Diego Rivera (again with that guy). The first one was Dos Veces Unica (Twice Unique) about his relationship with his first wife Lupe Marin and then Querido Diego, Te Abraza Quiela (Dearest Diego, Quiela hugs you) about his second wife, Russian painter Angelina Beloff. Elena’s goal was to “de-iconize” him since he was so douchey to Lupe, Angelina (nicknamed Quiela)…and all of his wives. #takethatdiego
And in one of her most bad ass moves, she turned down the title of Princess of Poland that she inherited through her father’s royal family! Very Meghan Markle of her.
She is considered to be “Mexico’s grande dame of letters” and is still an active writer living in Mexico City. She was the first woman to receive the National Journalism Award and is one of the founders of La Jornada newspaper, Fem, a feminist magazine, Siglo XXI a publishing house and the Cineteca Nacional, the national film institute. For over thirty years, she has taught a weekly writing workshop, cuz girl gets shit done. SO THERE!
Norma Romero Vázquez and her family live in the town of La Patrona, Veracruz. I didn’t know where the hell that was either, but evidently all trains from Central and South American countries eventually pass through it and specifically they pass 1/2 block away from Norma’s house.
“The Route”. All northbound routes go through their town in Veracruz. | Photo Credit: Arquitectos con la Gente
On October 8, 1994 Norma and her sister-in-law were returning from the store with food for breakfast when the train passed by slowly. The train was packed full of people migrating from the southern border of México to the US in search of the “American Dream”. These people were screaming and begging for food so Norma and her sis-in-law threw what they had just purchased to the strangers on the train. #instinctiveactofkindness That was just the beginning…
Since then, Norma, mama, sis-in-law and a group of volunteer gals prepare between 15 and 20 kilos of beans and rice and deliver about 300 daily lunches. They are now known as “Las Patronas” or the Patron Saints of Migrants. This train route has many names, Las Patronas call it “Death Train”, but most call it La Bestia (“The Beast”). It is basically a network of cargo trains that carry fuel, supplies and about 400,000 to 500,000 migrants annually up north.
When La Bestia passes, Las Patronas approach the tracks and have approximately 15 minutes to throw the bags of food they have prepared, as well as bottles of water, so that the migrants can catch the food from the moving train. After so many years, they now have sponsors and numerous donations, among them are large companies such as MASECA MEXICO and CHEDRAUI….it ain’t easy for a pinche gang of chingonas to get this type of corporate assistance!
In 2013, Norma was awarded México’s National Human Rights Award and the Sergio Méndez Arceo National Human Rights Prize. In August 2015, Las Patronas were nominated for the Princess of Asturias Award in Spain which recognizes outstanding achievement in cultural, social and human work. They’ve also been the subject of numerous documentaries, including De nadie (2005) and Llévate mis amores (2014).
Norma and Las Patronas serving thousands on their way to the US of A. via the Train of Death| Photo Credits: Wikipedia
Lydia Cacho (1963-Alive and Hot) is described by Amnesty International as “perhaps Mexico’s most famous investigative journalist and women’s rights advocate” and her reporting focuses on violence against women and sexual abuse against women and children. She is an expert in research into gender-based violence, health, children and organized crime. She is also a renowned specialist in journalistic coverage in risky situations and survivor of police torture due to her professional work.
She’s been threatened, persecuted, kidnapped and tortured for uncovering and calling out child sex trafficking and femicide (or feminicide is a sex-based hate crime term, broadly defined as “the intentional killing of females (women or girls) because they are females). In fact her efforts resulted in Mexico’s first conviction for child pornography and sex trafficking.
Her book, The Demons of Eden: The Power that Protects Child Pornography specifically called out rich businessmen and Mexican politicians who coordinate rings to kidnap, traffic, generate child pornography and sexually abuse children. #boom
She has written 12 books in her 25+ years as a journalist, and is the most awarded Mexican journalist with 55 international medals. Newsweek and The Daily Beast consider her one of 100 women that move the world.
Lydia doin’ what she does: Busting Balls and Lookin’ good doing it! | Photos: Público.com
She is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Agency on Drugs and Crime. For 25 years she has been an editor and contributor on radio and television as well as in various national and international newspapers and magazines. She is co-founder of the Network of Journalists of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. She founded the women’s care center and her victims of violence CIAM Cancun A.C., certified by the National Training Center for Domestic and Sexual Violence.
Some of my favorite quotes from this Latina Lovely are:
Prostitution is a social instrument to give pleasure to men and to subdue women.
The cost I have paid to be a good reporter and human rights defender is enormous.
Being a feminist is to accompany girls and young people, show them paths of freedom, teach them to discuss and argue their own ideas; share the secrets of how you overcome obstacles and then withdraw. Yes, let them shine with their own light, show their leadership style, see them break their teachers’ schemes. That is the true liberating feminism
I would be remiss if I did not sneak in Martha Debayle.
My Mexican bestie, Julissa Garcia, would fucking kill me for not mentioning MB. After all, it is her podcast that led me to the Wellness Clinic in Mexico City that diagnosed my hypothyroidism and gluten intolerance!
Also, Martha Debayle is hot and a powerhouse broad known to women and men all over Mexico. She talks about girly things, sexy things, motherhood things, womanhood things, you get it. Everyone who listens to her loves her.
Martha Debayle: Power Boss & Podcaster | Photo Cred: Encacha.mx
Buuuuuuuuut, as Julissa says, Martha was born in Nicaragua and raised in Long Island, NY before being brought to Mexico City at the age of 12. She has a great voice and is bilingual which has led to her amazing radio, podcast and TV presenting career. Buuuuuuuut, that does not make her chingona…it makes her talented, smart and hot. Please take note that I mentioned her. My thyroid and I thank you.
THE END
So there you have it. Are these chingonas bad ass or what?! Thank you for reading and agreeing.
This is my list of the most Badass Chingonas of México who shaped and/or continue to shape this beautiful country. I chose to leave Frida off of the list because what could I possibly write about Frida that hasn’t already been written?!?! She has always been México’s most famous chingona, but what I’ve learned is that there are AT LEAST 16 other women whose stories of badassery you simply must hear…I’m only covering 8 of them today…
Each woman on this list deserves their own blog post, but I’ve written a brief overview of why I think they are chingonas or “cabronas” as my badass friend, Julissa says. We will use these two words interchangeably through this post so be prepared! #CHINGA!
As reclaimed specifically by Latina Badass, Melinda Duarte of Coachella Valley, California. Latinas claiming their badassery! | Photo: Medium.com
I also added a link to the best article I found on each of these hotties in case you want to dive deeper into their stories… I hope you do…
Sister Marcella ‘Clarissa’ of Querétaro
Clarissa (1700’s) is famous for being a hot nun who tricked a rich guy into constructing a 6 mile aqueduct so that the people of Querétaro could have fresh water. Clarissa was a very beautiful Capuchin nun (very austere sect and which cappuccinos are named after. Yes, it’s true.) Her aunt was married to a very rich dude from Mexico City. In 1721, she convinced her aunt to help her and her nun friends “spread the word of God” to Querétaro and set up a new convent there. Q-town was an up and coming city just northwest of México City.
Clarissa’s aunt was La Marquesa who was married to El Marques Juan Antonio de Urrutia y Arana. Let’s just call him El Marques. La Marquesa proposes to El Marques that since they are so loaded, they should build and then visit this new convent in Q-town every year. So El Marques agrees and buys some land to build the convent and a house to stay during their annual visits.
No pictures are available of this nun with a cause, but the waterway she convinced a Marquis to build for her and the people are well photographed. Also, there are many historical markers of the rich, married dude who wanted to have sex with his niece/nun…claro que si. |Photos: Historical Marker Database
In the meantime, El Marques falls in love with his niece-by-marriage, our lovely Clarissa. He professes his love and faith to her, but being dedicated to her aunt and married to God, she did not accept any relationship with him. She did notice that the water in Q-town was shitty, due to old pipes and a long distance to clean fresh water, so she decides to make a deal with El Marques : If he designed, funded and built an aqueduct to provide clean water to the city, she would leave the convent for him. Easy peasy!
On October 22, 1735 water finally flowed into the city, but Clarissa had other plans. She broke her promise to El Marques and stayed with the convent. Bit of a nut punch, but Clarissa got want she really wanted…clean water for her city. Sneaky nun! #cockblock
(1768-1829) Aka La Corregidora de Querétaro – aka The Mother of México’s Nationhood – aka Dama de Badassery leading up to the War of Independence from Spain. Born in Morélia, Michoacán, her parents died when she was an infant so Josefa was raised by her older sister who got her into a college in México City (no small feat for a woman in the 1780’s!)
She married Miguel Dominguez, whom she met at college and 10 years later he was relegated by the Spanish colonial rulers to be the Mayor (Corregidor) of Querétaro…so off to Querétaro they went. Josefa had a big heart for indigenous Mexicans who were always treated like second class citizens by the Spaniards (who her husband worked for). She started helping her native Mexican conspirator friends plot a revolt of Independence from Spanish rule in México. This is how she met Miguel Hidalgo and Ignacio Allende (muy importante hombres!). Anyway…
Her husband, Miguel started getting onboard with the idea of Independence when all of a sudden the Spanish authorities asked him to conduct a search of Q-town in order to apprehend rebel leaders! So El Corregidor literally imprisoned our cabrona in their house to prevent her from exchanging info with her fellow conspirators! #awkward
Josefa (La Corregidora de Querétaro) and her husband , Miguel (El Corregidor) who jailed her in their house because he was a Spain-fearing pansy. What luck that their house was a government office AND a jail!?! Pinche pendejo. | Photos: davidestrada.org
HOWEVER, Josefa was able to get a message to Hidalgo to warn the conspirators that the Spanish were onto them and to start the revolt at warp speed instead of the usual “mañana, mañana” time frame that Mexicans are so famous for.
Eventually, the Spanish figured out that Miguel, the misfit Corregidor was in on the conspiracy too, and imprisoned both him and La Corregidora separately…her in a monastery. At this time she was pregnant with her 13th child (!), but was still so rebellious that the monks kicked her out! Then she was sent to a convent/jail situation with mean nuns and was finally released when she promised to stop being so supportive of the rebellion and her own rebellious ways! #nunlife
She eventually gave birth, but never behaved, because why the hell should she?! Cabrona central. That’s exactly why she is one of the Badass Chingonas of México.
Babe with brains (1789-1842). She lived during the same time, but in a different place as the ‘Chingona Corregidora’ whom we just mentioned. Why bring up 2 bad asses from the same period with the same goals? Because if you think Latino societies treat women as lesser citizens than men now – imagine 200+ years ago! Plus, Leona was 20 years younger than Josefa at the time and she has a kick ass love story which includes NOT getting jailed by her spouse. #lowexpectations
Actually named María de la Soledad Leona Camila Vicario Fernández de San Salvador, we will refer to her as LV. LV was orphaned at 17 and she and her vast inherited fortune landed with her uncle in México City. Her uncle was an excellent lawyer and a powerful rancher (read RICH). He taught her social sciences, culture, literature and politics which was highly unusual for a girl at that time.
LV learned to think critically and became a journalist who wrote for big deal newspapers in México City. One of which was read by the Insurgents (revolutionary rebels). They contacted LV when the War of Independence was breaking out and she agreed to send them secretly coded messages THROUGH HER ARTICLES in the newspaper so they would know what was going on in the capital city.
Hottie Pants and Badass to boot! On the left is LV with Andrés Quintana Roo (aka Hubby) \ Photo: Biografiadee
She joined a secret political society called, “the Guadalupes” who were some of the richest and/or best connected women within México who sent letters with strategic information for the rebel forces; plus money, weapons, ammunition and medicine. LV specifically gave shelter to fugitives, sent a shit ton of her inheritance for guns and ammo and collaborated with the rebels to get them news and information about what was happening in the Big Town.
LV was thrown in jail for being an insurgent, but NOT by her husband, Andrés Quintana Roo! In fact, he helped her escape! You may recognize his name…He was from the Yúcatan, but came to México City to work with her uncle years prior as a poor legal apprentice. Andrés and LV were “en fuego” pretty much right away, but he was a broke ass bitch and LV was a very wealthy heiress, so her uncle didn’t want them to marry. Well, LV was a chingona after all and she said, “Fuck it!” Andrés also became very important in the fight for Independence in his own right, but we aren’t writing about cabrones right now.
Carmen Serdán
Carmen (1875-1948) founded the Revolutionary ‘Junta de Puebla’ which is the first batch of badass cabrones and cabronas that wanted an end to the non-stop Putin-like presidential administration of the times. She is known for her strength and courage in the fight against the regime of México’s President, Porfirio Díaz. Basically, Diaz was a pinche pendejo who was Prez for 31 years and he wanted to just keep rolling with it. Carmen and her amigas said, “Ay! No Mas!”
President Díaz learned that Carmen, her brothers and other like-minded folk planned to overthrow his regime so he staged an attack on the Serdán family residence/Anti-Diaz HQ in Puebla, Puebla. Now this was November, 1910 and the Anti Re-Electionists planned to start their revolution on November 20th. Diaz’s dudes stormed the Serdán home/HQ on the 18th at 8am – pre-coffee! #offensive
Carmen Serdán , the Heroine of the Mexican Revolution and her group of rebellious chingonas ready to stick it to the man! Diaz specifically. | Photos: Canal22
Carmen, her brother Aquiles and “La Junta de Puebla” started firing. Carmen ran to the balcony and yelled to the townspeople below, the great quote that earned her the title, ‘Heroine of the Mexican Revolution of 1910’…
Mexicans, stop living on your knees! Freedom is worth so much more than life!”
Boom goes the Chingona!
The “get off your knees” reference is kind of funny….if you are sick like me. In other news, the Serdán house, still riddled with bullet holes, was converted into the Museum of the Revolution of Puebla in 1960. You can get a bit more info on it at Casa De Los Hermanos Serdan / Museo Regional de la Revolución Mexicana
Elvia (1878-1968) founded the first feminist league in 1912 and was basically the most badass broad in the Yúcatan. Let’s go back to her days growing up in Motul, Yúcatan, a small pueblo outside of the capital city of Mérida…Elvia was a fiercely independent child from a big family.
Her favorite sibling was brother Felipe, who later would become the governor of the state. Even as kids, these two were intelligent and sensitive enough to notice that the indigenous Mayans in their pueblo were not treated with the same dignity or given the same opportunities that more European/Mexican families were privileged with. They also noticed how differently males and females were educated and what roles they were encouraged to play. This shit didn’t sit well with these two badasses.
As per typical late 1800’s Mexico…Elvia was married off at the age of 13 to a much older man. She had a kid with him and after 8 years was a widow. Then she remarried. Then she divorced. Then she remarried AND divorced the same guy. Does this sound like an early 1900’s dame to you? No, it sounds like Elizabeth Taylor. CHINGONA!
Her struggle and social activism earned her the nickname of ‘The Red Nun of Mayab’. “Red” because of her socialistic views and “Mayab” because she furthered the native Mayan causes. Not sure where the nun part came from because she committed her life to achieve women’s suffrage, the emancipation of women and their rights in México. She was a teacher and poet, and an activist for birth control, sexual freedom, divorce and anti-religious oppression of the time. CABRONA!
Young, beautiful, feminist leaders were not known to come from small towns in southeast México! | Photos: FEMU A.C. and Grupo Marmor
Elvia founded family planning programs that instituted legalized birth control in México. She also shared her material with Margaret Sanger of the US, the founder of the American Birth Control League which was later renamed Planned Parenthood. #Badassconnection
In 1923, Elvia was named to the Yucatan congress during her brother’s tenure as governor, the first woman to hold a position in state legislature in México. Then Felipe was assassinated and ALL womens’ rights were stripped in the Yúcatan! Can you fucking believe that?! She loses her brother and all of the progress they had made together in one gunshot! So she said, “Fuck this!” and moved to San Luis Potosi to continue taking up the Chingona cause!
MF (1914-2002) short for mother fucking awesome, was originally named María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña. She was one of 16 siblings and one of the most successful Mexican actresses in the 1940’s and 50’s – the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema. MF earned the moniker, La Doña, from her character in the movie Doña Barbara. She was known for her strong character and intelligence…never letting herself be dominated by anyone and being very loyal to her ideals. MF became an indomitable example for Mexican women – CHINGA!
The two films that really shaped her career and reputation were La Mujer sin Alma (The Woman without a Soul, 1944) and La Devoradora (The Devourer of Men, 1946). As María Félix herself said,
“With these films, I became the number one enemy of the Mexican family morals. Somehow, I seduced the public, even those who criticize the conduct of my characters in the films. My legend began to take shape without moving a finger. The public imagination did everything for me.“
No citation needed, cabrons!
Movie Poster of her most famous role and María just being hottie pants MF! | Photos: IMDB and El Universal
This chick had some fucking opinions. Here are some of her greatest quotes: “Talking about me is very severe and difficult because I am so much better than I look.”
“The best way to love someone is to accept them as them as they are… it’s not easy, but just loving assholes is easy.”
“I’ve never cried for a man because the moment he doesn’t love me, I don’t want him anymore.”
“Don’t feel bad if someone rejects you, people usually reject the expensive because they can’t afford it.”
Hopefully these classic lines give you an idea of how much she embraced her inner cabrona. La Doña María went on to star in over 47 films across the globe. Her IMDB bio says it best…
More a star than an actress, she constructed an image of a tough woman, a sort of one-liner she-male that went beyond the traditional role of Latin American women. Her fame went beyond México to Latin America, Spain, France and Italy. She always refused to learn English, so she never acted in any English language movie. That’s the main reason why her fame was related almost exclusively to Latin countries.
Similar era…different kind of chingona! Chavela (1919-2012) was a gravely voiced Ranchera Singer, a lesbian with a long list of famous lovers and a shaman. Even as a teen she smoked and drank way too much, wore men’s clothing and carried a pistol. Fucking cabrona! The New Yorker Magazine called her, “México’s Magestic Lesbian Chanteuse.” Not a bad title!
Her real name was María Isabel Vargas. As it turns out, Chavela is a pet name for Isabel. She was born in Costa Rica, but moved to México when she was 17 years old because Costa Rica sucks for lesbians with pistols. She adopted México as her homeland and once declared, “I owe my whole life to México. And to myself.” Therefore, she makes the list.
Vargas was called “la voz áspera de la ternura”, the rough voice of tenderness. She was hugely successful during the 1950s, 60s, and the first half of the 70s, touring in México, the United States, France, and Spain. This is more or less the 25+ years where she drank more than most fish in the sea. Crazy-town alcoholism. Not her only open secret…
Chavela had many lesbian lovers including Frida Kahlo. Her hard living reputation was as sizzling and gravely as her voice and performances. Photos: Chavela Vargas Film
Long considered an open secret, she publicly came out as a lesbian at age 81 in her autobiography titled And If You Want to Know about My Past. She compiled an amorous résumé that ranks among the most distinguished in the history of twentieth-century lesbianism and why she is on my list of Badass Chingonas of México.
I recently watched a great documentary about her that detailed an intimate relationship with none other than Frida Kahlo. Sexy time.
“I live only for you and Diego,”
Frida Kahlo
In addition, she had an affair with the magnate and collector of Frida’s and Diego’s works, Dolores Olmedo. Diego definitely banged Dolores too and rumor has it that Frida tried to get into DO’s pants as well. SCANDALOUS! Rumor linked Chavela Chingona to fellow-divas Lola Beltrán and María Félix (our MF!).
But the most talked about ‘secret’ was when freaking Chavela went to “one of those parties where ‘we went in Saturday and went out Monday, all drunk’…she had an affair with Ava Gardner. It was at the wedding of Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Todd in 1957, in Acapulco, that she attended with Frida Kahlo. “Everyone dawned with everyone, I dawned with Ava Gardner,” she says. Not kidding.
She was in her 90’s on a trip to Spain when she fell ill and spent 10 days in the hospital. When she regained enough strength, the Mexican Government sent a repatriate flight to bring her back “to die in my own country.” Her final words on the day she died in Cuernavaca, Morelos, México were, “I go with México in my heart.”
Yalitza (1993-present) rose to stratospheric fame after starring in her film debut as the lead in Alfonso Cuarón’s 2018 drama, Roma. If you haven’t seen it yet, stop reading and go to Netflix right fucking now. Our Oaxacan princess was raised by her single mother who worked as a maid and by her older sister. Her sister was going to the Roma auditions in their town and dragged Yalitza along (even though she had no acting training at all).
Of course, she was fabulous in it and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the first Indigenous woman and the second Mexican woman to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination (following Salma Hayek for her role in 2002’s Frida). So what makes her Chingona material?
Do you know how much shit she received from her fellow Mexicans for being highlighted as an actress and model hottie? Racism is sadly everywhere and México is no different. Between the Spain-ish Mexicans (read light skinned/white) who have mostly just European blood lines to meztizos (European and Indigenous mixed race) who are certainly lighter skinned than the truly Indigenous/solely native Mexicans…it seems that the fairer skinned Mexicans think they are better/classier/blahblahblah than those of native Mexican-only decent…
Our beautiful Yalitza in her first ever acting performance as the lead in ‘Roma’ and on the cover of Vogue México | Photos: Roma and Vogue
In a New York Times Op-ed, Yalitza wrote:
“I never thought that a movie alone could prompt social awareness and change. That’s exactly what happened. Suddenly people in my home country of México were talking about issues that have long been taboo here — racism, discrimination toward Indigenous communities and especially the rights of domestic workers, a group that has been historically disenfranchised in Mexican society.”
However, Aparicio said that the kinds of prejudice challenged by the movie plagued her in real life once she received the Best Actress Academy Award nomination.
“I have firsthand experience with this kind of discrimination. After I was nominated for an Academy Award for portraying Cleo, racist comments began to circulate on social media. Commenters questioned why I was nominated, making references to my social and ethnic background. ‘An Indigenous woman was not a worthy representative of the country,’ some said. It was hard for me to see and hear these sorts of statements.”
This poor girl just went to a casting call and accidentally booked a role in a film that ended up being really important…THEN she ends up being recognized as a badass Latina by Vogue…THEN had to endure a shit storm by uppity fuck nuts who can’t see the beauty of her indigenous Oaxacan heritage. #Annoying.
How did she handle the backlash of her fame? By giving the haters a big “Fuck You!”, that’s how! In 2019, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. On October 4, 2019 she was named UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Indigenous Peoples – so there! She has not filmed a single thing since Roma, choosing instead to use her voice for activism.
One little diddy about Salma (1966-present) …Hottie Hayek was born in Veracruz and began her career in México acting in Telenovelas. She moved to Hollywood in 1991. In 2002 she landed her breakthrough role in Frida and was nominated for the Best Actress for the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award. She is super hot and accomplished, but we have so many actresses to cover in this blog, y’all! #lovemesomesalma
In conclusion…this post is part 1 of a 2 part series on Badass Chingonas of México! So even if we didn’t cover Frida Kahlo, we sort of did. And even though we didn’t cover Salma Hayek who portrayed Frida Kahlo in Frida, we sort of did. Did we mention that Chavela Vargas also starred in Frida? No? Hmmm. Stay tuned for the other half of this list! Gracias and thanks!
