Debra Blake Quote

To start off Chapter One, there is a quote by Richard Terdiman that is introduced: "History is a theory machine. And theories are memory machines." This quote does a very good job of summarizing the main premise of the book. Debra Blake's Chicana Sexuality and Gender focuses on the history of four cultural and historical female figures. These figures are La Malinche, La Virgen de Guadalupe, La Llorona, and the Mexica earth goddess. All of these women are very important in Chicana culture and often guide the upbringing of young Chicana women.

In relation to this quote, the book brings up a point that history is often decided by the victors of wars. In this instance, that would be the Spanish conquerors. The book mentions that early indigenous stories were passed down orally, especially by male priests. The Spanish made an effort to kill these priests to keep these stories from being passed down, but eventually realized the decline in culture. Instead, the Spanish controlled the narratives that shaped the stories of these four historical women.

Perhaps the best example of how this impacts young Chicana women is the story of La Virgen de Guadalupe. La Virgen de Guadalupe is a perfect symbol of the conqueror's religion, used to subjugate and pacify the indigenous peoples. She reinforces the idea that women are property and that their value lies in their ability to abstain from sex until marriage.

The great thing about Blake's book is that it allows Mexicanas to rewrite these stories in a way that they have control over. For the longest time, figures like La Virgen de Guadalupe controlled the way young Chicanas were seen. It removed their own voice from their own story, and Blake gives them their voice back.