- Marilyn La Jeunesse
“As much as the [women in combat] were stepping out of a gender role, a lot of these women also went because of their gender role, as wife, as sister, as the person who does the work necessary for any of the Revolution to happen,” Fernández, tells Teen Vogue. “It’s not this really well orchestrated and processional military, [so] there is no way for these [revolutionary soldiers] to eat. If it were not for the women to perform the duty that they have always performed, they would have starved.”
“As much as the [women in combat] were stepping out of a gender role, a lot of these women also went because of their gender role, as wife, as sister, as the person who does the work necessary for any of the Revolution to happen,” Fernández, tells Teen Vogue. “It’s not this really well orchestrated and processional military, [so] there is no way for these [revolutionary soldiers] to eat. If it were not for the women to perform the duty that they have always performed, they would have starved.”
Yet the legacy of Las Soldaderas has been almost entirely redefined and retold through a primarily male perspective. It was even happening during the Revolution: Men would write songs about Las Soldaderas, emphasizing their femininity and overt sexuality, in order to diminish their military contributions and accomplishments, according to Fernández’s research. Their image was structured around these male-written corridos. Iconography surrounding Las Soldaderas often featured women dressed in low-cut, skin-tight outfits with ammunition-filled bandolier slung over their chests a la Cruz and Hayak’s Hollywood depictions. These depictions of Las Soldaderas would come to be known as Las Adelitas, named after the famed ballad La Adelita, which described an unknown soldadera who was as pretty as she was brave. Soon, the scandalous depictions of Las Adelitas would become synonymous with the worldwide image of Las Soldaderas.
But Las Soldaderas weren’t fighting for their country in brassieres — they were women often dressed like their male counterparts, in battle-ready trousers and long-sleeved shirts, with bullets strapped across their chest and guns holstered around their waists, although some did wear floor-length skirts. Under the leadership of Petra Herrera, perhaps the most well-known soldadera, a brigade of nearly 400 women aided revolutionary leader Pancho Villa, who wasn’t particularly fond of female soldiers, in his effort to take the city of Torreón from the federales. Others acted as spies across the country, nursed the wounded on both sides of the war, and even used their gender to escape from prison.
“It was hard for people to reconcile: ‘How do we remember these courageous women who were fighting in this war, but we also still continue to treat them badly?’ And one way to negate their contributions is to say, ‘Oh, these sex objects were there as well. These people are very nice to look at, and if you put a gun on them it makes them sexy and dangerous at the same time,’” Fernández says. “[This] really negates the ideas of the toughness, the mestizo toughness, the physical toughness that the women brought with them and their contributions.”
Yet the legacy of Las Soldaderas has been almost entirely redefined and retold through a primarily male perspective. It was even happening during the Revolution: Men would write songs about Las Soldaderas, emphasizing their femininity and overt sexuality, in order to diminish their military contributions and accomplishments, according to Fernández’s research. Their image was structured around these male-written corridos. Iconography surrounding Las Soldaderas often featured women dressed in low-cut, skin-tight outfits with ammunition-filled bandolier slung over their chests a la Cruz and Hayak’s Hollywood depictions. These depictions of Las Soldaderas would come to be known as Las Adelitas, named after the famed ballad La Adelita, which described an unknown soldadera who was as pretty as she was brave. Soon, the scandalous depictions of Las Adelitas would become synonymous with the worldwide image of Las Soldaderas.
But Las Soldaderas weren’t fighting for their country in brassieres — they were women often dressed like their male counterparts, in battle-ready trousers and long-sleeved shirts, with bullets strapped across their chest and guns holstered around their waists, although some did wear floor-length skirts. Under the leadership of Petra Herrera, perhaps the most well-known soldadera, a brigade of nearly 400 women aided revolutionary leader Pancho Villa, who wasn’t particularly fond of female soldiers, in his effort to take the city of Torreón from the federales. Others acted as spies across the country, nursed the wounded on both sides of the war, and even used their gender to escape from prison.
“It was hard for people to reconcile: ‘How do we remember these courageous women who were fighting in this war, but we also still continue to treat them badly?’ And one way to negate their contributions is to say, ‘Oh, these sex objects were there as well. These people are very nice to look at, and if you put a gun on them it makes them sexy and dangerous at the same time,’” Fernández says. “[This] really negates the ideas of the toughness, the mestizo toughness, the physical toughness that the women brought with them and their contributions…”
Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement 