Essay Questions: "Out of the House, the Halo, and the Whores Mask" and "There's No Place Like Aztlán"

After reading the essay "Out of the House, the Halo, and the Whore's Mask", I learned a lot about Chicana art and the representations of Chicano and Chicana artists. I was actually quite shocked to learn that although the CARA exhibit was designed to bring attention to Chicana artists, the majority of the work that was displayed was done by male artists. I didn't really understand why there was such a present difference in the presented work of female artists in an exhibit that was designed to showcase "Chicana art". From my understanding, it shows that Chicana woman and their art were unappreciated because of the patriarchal background of the Chicano community. I strongly encourage the equality of male and females partially because I am a gender studies major and have educated my self enough to know that occasionally, more than needed, female counterparts are looked down upon in multiple aspects of life. 

My question is regarding the patriarchally defined identities. The essay states that Chicana women were either defined as "Adelitas" or "Malinches". Adelitas are described as the loyal supporters or followers of their men, where as Malinches were depicted as traitors pursuing their own individual interests. I do not quite understand why they are limiting Chicana woman to only two categories of an identity. Why are they being classified as a

"good woman" or in harsh words a "traitor whore". I do not understand why there was only two categories a chicana woman could fall under and where these identities stemmed from. 

There's No Place Like Aztlán

Aztlán is much like Kansas for Dorothy. For the Chicano community Aztlán is their lost homeland, is it the basis of what Chicanismo is formed off of. However, Aztlán is not a real place it is a myth. Why is it that Chicano/a individuals yearned so badly to represent a place that is not factually available? I thought it was interesting how there was a paradigm formed called "Place-Based Aesthetics" that basically placed individuals in different categories of aesthetics depending on the category of the art and their ethnicity. Chicano artists were placed under the category of "Aztlán Aesthetics" thus taking me back to my initial question. What created such a drive in the Chicano community to connect themselves to their lost homeland of Aztlán.