"Las Soldaderas: Women of the Mexican Revolution"

AK Press describes the book like this: "Without the soldaderas there is no Mexican Revolution—they kept it alive and fertile, like the earth. They would be sent ahead of the rest to gather firewood and to light the fire. They kept it stoked during the long years of war. Without the soldaderas, the drafted soldiers would have deserted. During the Spanish Civil War in 1936, the militiamen couldn't understand why they shouldn't return to their homes at night. They would abandon their posts, leaving the trenches, watchtowers and barracks empty, and head home to their own beds without a care in the world. In Mexico, in 1910, had the soldiers not carried their homes on their backs—their soldadera with their folding beds, blankets, pots and provisions—the number of men who would have taken off to shelter themselves in a warm corner somewhere would have meant the end of their armies. This is the English edition of this remarkable collaboration between Mexico's best independent press, Ediciones ERA, and Mexico's Institute of Anthropology and History. The photographs in Las Soldaderas and Elena Poniatowska's commentary rescue the women of the Mexican Revolution from the dust and oblivion of history. These are the Adelitas and Valentinas celebrated in famous corridos mexicanos, but whose destiny was much more profound and tragic than the idealistic words of ballads. The photographs remind Poniatowska of the trail of women warriors that begins with the Spanish Conquest and continues to Mexico's violent revolution."





I read "Here's To You, Jesusa" by Elena Poniatowska. "Here's To You" is a novel about an extremely courageous and humble woman who becomes part of the Mexican Revolution because she had to follow her father and later her husband into the war to take care of their domestic needs. After reading the novel I realized that the only image I had seen of a woman in the Mexican Revolution was on a movie poster for the classic Mexican film "Los de Abajo" (it was a hand drawn image). I was so excited to see the photos above in the "Las Soldaderas" book because it made the lives of those women real. It is important for me to find images like this because I didn't feel like I grew up with images of strong, important women. If I have children I think it will be even more important that I can introduce them to the images of real life heroines who have contributed to human history because I imagine that our visual world will be even more saturated with images of women that sexualize their bodies. I would hope that the movements for greater gender equality will help to counteract some of the effects that advertising can have on women by the time I have kids, but I know that it is my responsibility to find those visuals that can give my kids an alternative view of society-- one in which intelligence, perseverance and conviction are to be respected, regardless of a woman's aesthetic appearance. Because role models are essential to good self-esteem.