an archive of (mal)criadería.
Mother isn’t allowed to give any permission without first consulting with father,
in fact mother must consult or report all decisions made to el jefe de la casa.
Teenage girl must be back before midnight and must not go anywhere alone,
whereas teenage boy has to learn how to moverse como hombre, así que que se maneje el solo.
They tell girls to cross their legs, to never answer back,
calladita te ves mas linda. Monja? Y los hijos?
Ah but if you can’t find a man to give you children,
ahi si, no hay duda alguna, devota al Señor.
Father has a study, mother’s desk is in the kitchen,
father sits at the head of the table, mother does not sit until everyone is served.
On a nuclear scale, women are brought up by their families to be niñas bien.
Abuelas tell girls to behave, to be prim and proper,
una damita, para que un caballero algun dia la salve, la cuide y le de muchas bendiciones,
bendiciones of course meaning kids.
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Y asi el jefe de casa, se vuelve el jefe del pais.
Women are rarely given a seat at the table of power. Abortions are still illegal, rape is still justified,
y si mija, con esa falda que esperaba,
como vas a decir “ni una menos” si tu ni menos te pones ropa mija.
We are still being killed.
Crimes of passion they say, feminicidio decimos nosotras.
Y, ojo, yo tengo la dicha.
Dicha of being a white, privileged, niñita bien.
Dicha of having the ability to remove myself from that reality and be critical of it.
Dicha of standing here, in front of you, and having the ability to speak up and speak out.
Asi que ahi va, here goes, an attempt to break that tinted glass that is blinding us
from seeing our own realities. Of course I on my own will not be successful
and the unfortunate reality is that it may take an insufferable long time for it to break.
But here’s my attempt at breaking that paradigm for myself, and perhaps for those around me.
My hope is that the generations after me, raised by those who might see this
will not raise niñas bien or machos que se respetan.
My hope is that they raise malcriadas, to the point where one day
they will hopefully be able to erase the mal that precedes their identity.