Feminism in Mexico: Proof of life

CW: armed violence, sexual violence

Dear friends,

Of the many conversations I’ve had about feminism in Mexico over the last 9 years, a particularly memorable one occurred early one evening in 2023.

Let's call him Saúl. We met at a bar around the corner from the Zócalo in Mexico City. Short and wiry with a crew cut, Saúl was a marine in the Mexican armed forces and he wanted to talk.

Saúl asked me what I had been doing before I arrived. I replied that I had been at a feminist protest event in said Zócalo, taking photos for an article I was writing.

"Weren’t you frightened?” he asked, looking slightly startled.

I stared at him, wondering if there was something I had missed in translation.

“No?”, I said.

“The feminists, they can get very violent,” he said, grimacing.

I blinked and leaned forward to read his face. Yes, he really did seem to think I might have been in some bodily danger attending a feminist protest.

In the marines for over a decade, Saúl was sat rigid in his seat. He had clocked the exits on the way in and shown me his military ID card before we started talking. He wore a beltbag that hung over his belly like a holster and he was visibly concerned that I had been at the feminist protest.

I checked his face again. Yes, this trained killer for a notoriously unaccountable state thought I should be scared of the feminists.