Introduction, 1920S Working-Class Masculinity in the Distrito Federal
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Abstract Title of Dissertation: ‘HE LOVES THE LITTLE ONES AND DOESN’T BEAT THEM’: WORKING CLASS MASCULINITY IN MEXICO CITY, 1917-1929 Reid Erec Gustafson, Doctor of Philosophy, 2014 Dissertation Directed by: Professor Mary Kay Vaughan, Department of History This dissertation examines how Mexico City workers, workers’ families, state officials, unions, employers, and others perceived, performed, and shaped masculinity during the period of the Mexican Revolution. I argue that Mexico City’s workers, officials, and employers negotiated working-class gender beliefs in such a way as to express multiple, performed, and distinctly working-class masculinities and sexualities. Scholars who study gender in Mexico argue that during the 1930s a particular type of working-class masculinity became dominant: the idea of the male worker as a muscular breadwinner who controlled both machines and women. I agree with this claim, but the existing scholarship fails to explain how this “proletarian masculinity” developed prior to the 1930s. My dissertation studies the period right before this proletarian masculinity became dominant and explains the processes through which it gradually developed. During the 1920s, the state held a relatively unstable position of power and was consequently forced to negotiate terms of rule with popular classes. I demonstrate that the 1920s represent a period when no one form of masculinity predominated. A complex range of multiple masculine behaviors and beliefs developed through the everyday activities of the working class, employers, officials, and unions. A Catholic union might represent a rival union as possessing an irresponsible form of manhood, a young man might use bravado and voice pitch to enact a homosexual identity, and a single father might enact a nurturing, self-sacrificing form of manhood. My sources include labor arbitration board records, court records, newspapers, plays, poetry, and reports by social workers, police, doctors, labor inspectors, juvenile court judges, and Diversions Department inspectors. Each chapter in this dissertation analyzes a particular facet of workers’ masculinity, including worker’s masculine behaviors among youth, within the family, in the workplace, in popular entertainment venues, and within unions. ‘HE LOVES THE LITTLE ONES AND DOESN’T BEAT THEM’: WORKING CLASS MASCULINITY IN MEXICO CITY, 1917-1929 By Reid Erec Gustafson Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2014 Advisory Committee Professor Mary Kay Vaughan, Chair Professor Julie Greene Professor Roberto Patricio Korzeniewicz Professor Karin Rosemblatt Professor David Sartorius ©Copyright by Reid Erec Gustafson 2014 ii Acknowledgements It is a truism that scholarly endeavors are never individual efforts. This dissertation is the result of a great deal of hard work and assistance from a host of individuals. First and foremost, I’d like to thank my advisor, Mary Kay Vaughan. Over the last seven years her superb direction, recommendations, questions, comments, and feedback—chapter by chapter, revision by revision—were utterly helpful. I have been fortunate indeed to work with her. I would also like to thank the other committee members: Karin Rosemblatt, David Sartorius, Julie Greene, and Patricio Korzeniewicz. Their help has also been invaluable over the years. I’d also like to thank my MA advisor, Nancy van Deusen who successfully “mother henned” me to a successful thesis and the professor from whom I took my first graduate-level seminar on Latin American History, Chuck Bergquist. While an army of archivists in Mexico City aided my efforts, I’d like to give a special thanks those who I harassed the most at the AGN: Sala Seis’ Eva Ordaz Lira, Enrique Melgarejo Amezcua, and Fernando Pineda and Sala Dos’ Joel Zuñiga Torres, Celia Santander, and Degoi Alejandro Martínez. I’d also like to thank my mom, she read the entire dissertation and, as a former English teacher, provided invaluable feedback. I’d also like to thank colleagues who have read chapters over the years: Will Burghart; Ted Cohen, Joshua Walker; Shane Dillingham; Stephen Allen, Shari Orisich; Sarah Walsh; Brandi Townsend; Rodrigo Malgaháes; my sister, Renelle Gustafson; my dad, Richard Gustafson, for his help with the basketball material; Monet Muñoz, Elizabeth Connor; Amy Rutenberg; Ayah Nuriddin; Elizabeth Hyman; Stephen Duncan; Matthew Shifflet; Raino Isto; Thomas McCloskey; and those who attended the 2013 Emory Sports in Latin America Workshop. I also want to thank all those RMCLAS, iii AHA/CLAH, LASA, UMD, WWU, UW, UMBC, and AU colleagues, professors, and students who have aided me in innumerable ways over the years. Thank you everyone, this work would not have been possible without your assistance! iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. ii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... iv Table of Figures ................................................................................................................ vii Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Period and Region and of Study ..................................................................................... 8 Hegemonic Masculinity, Cultural Hegemony, and Machismo ..................................... 11 Defining Working Class, Gendered Performance, and Patriarchy ............................... 16 Historiography .............................................................................................................. 19 Chapter Roadmaps ........................................................................................................ 25 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 28 Chapter 1, Mexican Masculinities .................................................................................... 31 Clashing Views of Plebeian Masculinity ...................................................................... 33 Crisis of Masculinity ..................................................................................................... 39 Revolutionary Masculinity ........................................................................................... 42 Leisure Time and Entertainment Culture Masculinity ................................................. 45 Labor and State Masculinity ......................................................................................... 46 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 2, Youth Masculinities ........................................................................................ 55 The Mexico City Juvenile Court ................................................................................... 58 Homosexual Youth Subcultures ................................................................................... 70 Movie Theaters ............................................................................................................. 82 v Papeleros ....................................................................................................................... 89 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 92 Chapter 3, Family Masculinities ....................................................................................... 94 Plebeian Families ........................................................................................................ 100 Men as Partners: Marriage and Amasiato .................................................................. 106 Breakups and Divorce ................................................................................................. 114 Domestic Violence ...................................................................................................... 119 Men as Fathers: Working-Class Parenting ................................................................ 123 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 136 Chapter 4, Leisure Time and Entertainment Culture Masculinities ............................... 137 Mexico City Public Diversions Department ............................................................... 142 Drinking Venues ......................................................................................................... 145 Dance Halls, Public Street Dances, and Cabarets ....................................................... 155 Carpas and Theaters .................................................................................................... 162 Sports and Fitness ....................................................................................................... 170 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 184 Chapter 5, Union Masculinities ...................................................................................... 186 The Mexico City Labor Movement: Porfiriato to the 1920s ....................................