Homegirls language and cultural practice

Mendoza-Denton Homegirls: Language and Cultural Practice among Latina Youth Gangs

1. Drawing on the concept of Muy Macha as explained by T Rex, discuss four main ways in which Homegirls transgress societal gender norms in SJHS. What consequesnses do they suffer for these transgressions and do you think the punishments are justified for their actions.

In her book Homegirls: Language and Cultural Practice among Latina Youth Gangs Norma Mendoza-Denton presents “a linguistic ethnography of a subcultural group dynamic of Latina girls involved in gangs in the mid 1990s” (Mendoza-Denton, 1). She discusses the variety of themes such as linguistic patterns, gender and perfomativity as well as discourses of young gang members.

One of the most important topics discussed in this book refers to the notion of Muy Macha. As the author mentions, she has never heard this notion before this fieldwork (166) and was very interested in it. Her informant T Rex, one of the leaders of group of Norenas gang, describes Muy Macha in the following way: “A girl could be more macha than some guys. The way I act, the way I don’t let them step on me [makes me macha]” (Mendoza-Denton, 169). In this way, being macha is connected with the accumulation of power that enables girl to be inpendent and equal to men. One of the informants of Mendoza-Denton explains that being macha does not mean to be masculine or unfeminine, rather it is about “respect[ing] yourself, and stand[ing] up for yourself” (160) and “becoming independent and achieving an eligaritarian relationship with men” (70). In this way, the notion of macha is connected with the question of the power within the gender relations and confronts the traditional patriarchal idea that women should be subordinated to men. As Mendoza-Denton mentions, cholas “personify and to some extent dictate, what good girls are not” (161). So, cholas (gang girls) actively contradict the gender paradigm and express their gender and ethnic identities in various symbolic practices. According to Mendoza-Denton these girls are not only outside the mainstream models of gender behaviour, but also “actively rebel and contradict it” and do not want to be any part of it (155).

Mendoza-Denton describes different ways in which girls represent their nature as macha to the public. One of the most significant ways is their way of dressing. Usually cholas wear “big white T-shirts, pleated khaki pants (called Dickes)… wool jackets, black wool cap” (Mendoza-Denton, 158), as well as dark eyeliner. As the author’s informants mention this style does not include any traditional female jewellery: “we never wear earrings. It’s not our style to wear earrings” (Mendoza-Denton, 162). As Mandoza-Dention notices this clothing style became a marker of the belonging to cholas and is quite different from the mainstream women fashion, as well as from the traditional Mexican female dressing (159). On the one hand, it hides the figure of a girl, and on the other hand it shows that a girl has enough physical power.

One of the most important elements of the chola style is the make-up. As Mendoza mentions girls “literary paint gender and ethnicity on their bodies” (169). Different gangs use different colors of make-up, but one common thing is the heavy foundation for make-up that can be used to hide the results of fighting. The other important way of demonstration of the power is the body image. Chola girls are athletic, physical strong and “zaftig” (Mendoza-Denton, 151). According to cholas’ ideal the more physically powerful a girl looks like, the more sexual she is. This ideal clearly confronts with the common female image as thin and weak woman. In this way, also in the case of body image cholas contradict the mainstream and claim that they “feel proud” of themselves and their body (Mendoza-Denton, 165) and that is why they deny diets and other practices of food restrictions common for women.

The other important way cholas show their power is the way of the communication with the opposite gender. They deny flirt in any variations and prefer to act directly and be active. As one of the girls says: “if you see a dude that you like, don’t ever smile. Just walk up to him and kiss him” (Mendoza-Denton, 167). In this way, cholas tend to play an active role in relationships with men in any stage of the relationship. The idea that gang girls have enough power to be equal to men is also reflected in the way they move and speak in the public. As Memdoza-Denton mentions cholas use a special type of walking (“you walk slowly, just checking it out” (152) – says one of the informants), as well as a special type of looking that they call look it. This way of looking includes “tiling head back and looking along her nose” (Mendoza-Denton, 155). This way of looking demonstrates that a girl has power (“I never look down. It’s all about power” – says T Rex (156)) and confronts the traditional ideal of shy woman who puts her eyes down.

Despite the declared powerful position in the community or maybe exactly because of it, girls sometimes suffer from the lack of understanding of parents as well as men from the gang. So for example, the ex-boyfriend of T Rex was not able to recognize her as equal in the relationships. This means that for their independence girls should pay, but I don’t think that the price is too high: at least they are able to determine their present and future themselves.

In this way, Mendoza-Denton shows that chola girls confront the hegemonic perceptions about gender roles and right model of gender behaviour. These girls make use of clothing, makeup, body images and communication in order to demonstrate their power and high position within the community.

Work cited

Mendoza-Denton, Norma. Homegirls: Language and Cultural Practice among Latina Youth Gangs. Malden / Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. 2008. Print.